Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train

'Til 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 ringin'

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singin'

They went, "Na, na, na, na, na, na..."

 

Back with my wife in Tennessee

And one day she said to me,

"Virgil, quick! Come see!

There goes Robert E. Lee."

Now I don't mind, I'm 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 ringin'

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singin'

They went, "Na, na, na, na, na, na..."

 

Like my father before me, I'm a working man

And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand

Oh, 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 Cane back up when he's in defeat

 

Sit down I think I love you, anyway, I'd like to try. 

I can't stop thinkin' of ya, if you go I know I'll cry. 

If you want someone to love ya, pretty baby make it me. 

It's not much I'm asking of ya, just try me and you'll see. 

Baby, can't ya see that I'm a desperate man, 

I get high, just a-thinkin' about ya.

You know what they say about the bird in the hand,

And that's why, I, ain't leavin' without ya.

 

Baby, can't ya see that I'm a desperate man,

I get high, just athinkin' about ya.

You know what they say about the bird in the hand,

And that's why, I, ain't leavin' without ya.

 

Sit down I think I love ya, anyway, I'd like to try.

I can't stop thinkin' of ya, if you go I know I'll cry.

Sit down, I think I love ya,

Sit down, I think I love ya..

 

And all the bells were ringin'

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singin'

They went, "Na, na, na, na, na, na