"I Sang Dixie" is a song written and recorded by country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist Dwight Yoakam

Dwight Yoakam

Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...

. It is the second single released from his 1988 album Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room

Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room

Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room is the third consecutive No. 1 Billboard Country Album by Dwight Yoakam. It features Yoakam's first two No. 1 Hot Country Singles hits. The first was "Streets of Bakersfield," a duet with country music veteran Buck Owens, and the second was Yoakam's own...

. It peaked at #1 in the United States in 1989.

Content

The song's narrator describes meeting a man from the southern United States dying on a street in Los Angeles. The narrator ,while crying, holds the man and sings 'Dixie' to comfort him as he dies. He goes on to describe how others "walk on by" ignoring the mans suffering. The dying man warns the narrator with his final words to "run back home to that southern land" and escape "what life here has done to me".

Chart performance

Chart (1988–1989)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1

Demo Version

Yoakam originally recorded a demo version of the song in 1981. It can be found on his 2002 boxed set

Boxed set

A box set is a compilation of various musical recordings, films, television programs, or other collection of related items that are contained in a box.-Music box sets:...

, Reprise Please,Baby and on the 2004 compilation

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

, Dwight's Used Records.