The Band (J. Robbie Robertson)
Virgil Caine is my name and I served on the Danville train
Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65 we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the 10th Richmond had fell, it was a night I remember oh so well.
Chorus:
The night they drove old Dixie down and all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down and all the people were singing
They went, Na nana...
Back with my wife in Tennessee when one day she called to me
`Virgil, quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee'
Now I don't mind choppin' wood and I don't care if the money's no good
Ya take what ya need and leave the rest, but they should never
have taken the very best.
Chorus
Like my father before me I will work the land
Like my brother above me who took a rebel stand
He was just 18, proud and brave, but a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet, you can't raise a Caine
back up when he's in defeat.
Chorus (twice)