Virgil Caine is my name and I drove 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's 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, "Na,na,na.na
Na na na na na na na na na.''
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 I'm choppin' wood, and I don't care if the money's no good
You take what you need 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, "Na,na,na na
'Na,na,na.na na na na na na..'
Like my father before me, I will work the land
And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave
But a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the blood below 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, "Na, na, na na ... "
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, na, na na ..."