Virgil Caine is the 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 tenth, Richmond had fell   It's a time I remember, oh so well      The night they drove old Dixie down   And the bells were ringing   The night they drove old Dixie down   And the people were singing   They went, "La, la, la"      Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me   "Virgil, quick, come see, there go the 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 ya leave the rest   But they should never have taken the very best      The night they drove old Dixie down   And the bells were ringing   The night they drove old Dixie down   And all the people were singing   They went, "La, la, la"      Like my father before me, I will work the land   And like my brother above me, who took a rebel stand   He was just eighteen, 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      The night they drove old Dixie down   And the bells were ringing   The night they drove old Dixie down   And all the people were singing   They went, "Na, na, na"      The night they drove old Dixie down   And all the bells were ringing   The night they drove old Dixie down   And the people were singing   They went, "Na, na, na"