Joan Baez - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 1971 HD

Joan Baez sings 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' This song was first a 1971 single and on the Vanguard album 'Blessed Are ' It was a hit reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart This song written by Robbie Robertson of the Band is a remarkable song painting an authentic and detailed picture of life on the home front for a poor Southerner in the dire last year of the Civil War This video attempts to use images photographed during the Civil War to portray the words of the song as accurately as possible The trains shown are Southern trains and the city ruins are of Richmond that fell There goes the Robert E Lee has a picture of Lee on his horse Traveller from 1866 The lines Just take what you need and leave the rest But they should never have taken the very best show army wagons taking goods from the citizens to supply the troops though I believe both pictures are of Union and not Confederate wagons none available and the lines could also refer to taking the best young men The lyrics are in the video and listed below along with some notes on the song from Wikipedia CD Lyrics 33-Images The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian-American roots rock group the Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album Levon Helm provided the lead vocals The song is a first-person narrative relating the economic and social distress experienced by the protagonist a poor white Southerner during the last year of the American Civil War Frequently appearing on lists of the best rock songs of all time it has been cited as an early example of the genre known as roots rock Joan Baez recorded a version of the song that became a top-five chart hit in late 1971 Levon Helm a native of Arkansas stated that he assisted in the research for the lyrics In his 1993 autobiography This Wheel's on Fire Helm wrote Robbie and I worked on 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' up in Woodstock I remember taking him to the library so he could research the history and geography of the era and make General Robert E Lee come out with all due respect Dixie is the historical nickname for the states making up the Confederate States of America The first lines of the lyrics refer to one of George Stoneman's raids behind Confederate lines attacking the railroads of Danville Virginia at the end of the Civil War in 1865 Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train Till Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again Note that Baez sings drove on the Danville train Till so much cavalry came The most successful version of the song was released by Joan Baez in 1971 It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US in October that year and spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart Billboard ranked it as the No 20 song for 1971 The version reached number six in the pop charts in the UK in October 1971 The song became a Gold record The Baez recording had some changes in the lyrics Baez later told Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder that she initially learned the song by listening to the recording on the Band's album and had never seen the printed lyrics at the time she recorded it and thus sang the lyrics as she had mis heard them In more recent years in her concerts Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down Singer - Joan Baez Virgil Caine is my name And I drove on the Danville train Till so much cavalry came And tore up the tracks again In the winter of '65 We were hungry just barely alive I took the train to Richmond that fell It 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 Na na na Back with my wife in Tennessee And one day she said to me Virgil quick come see There goes the Robert E Lee Now I don't mind them chopping wood And I don't care if the money's no good Just 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 Like my father before me I'm a working man And like my brother before me I took a rebel stand Well 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 the Caine back up when it'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 Songwriter Robbie Robertson Warner Chappell Music Inc Lyrics from LyricFind

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