Virgil Caine is my name and I worked on the Danville train
'Till Sherman'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
Was a time I remember oh so well

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, nah, nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah...

Back with my wife in Tennessee
So one day she says to me
"Virgil, quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee"
Well I don't mind chopping wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
You take what you can and leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best

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, nah, nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah...
Like my father before me
I will work the land
Like my brother below me
I took a rebel stand
He was just 18, proud and brave
But a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud beneath my feet
You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat

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, nah, nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah

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, nah, nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah