The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Encyclopedia
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written by Canadian musician Robbie Robertson
, first recorded by The Band
in 1969 and released on their self-titled second album
. Joan Baez
' cover of the song was a top-five chart hit in late 1971.
The lyrics tell of the last days of the American Civil War
and the suffering of the South. Dixie
is a nickname for the Southern Confederate states
. Confederate
soldier Virgil Caine "served on the Danville
train" (the Richmond and Danville Railroad
, a main supply line into the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia
from Danville, Virginia, and by connection, the rest of the South). Union cavalry regularly tore up Confederate rail lines to prevent the movement of men and material to the front where Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was besieged at Siege of Petersburg
. As part of the offensive campaign, Union Army
General George Stoneman
's forces "tore up the track again".
The song's lyrics refer to conditions in the Southern states in the winter of early 1865 ("We were hungry / Just barely alive"); the Confederacy is starving and on the verge of defeat. Reference is made to the date May 10, 1865, by which time the Confederate capital of Richmond had long since fallen (in April); May 10 marked the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the definitive end of the Confederacy.
There is some poetic license in the song's dates and events, for instance the reference to Virgil Caine being home with his wife in Tennessee and seeing Robert E. Lee
(Later performances, including the Joan Baez recording and some live versions by The Band themselves, added "the" before "Robert E. Lee", making it seem to relate to the Confederate ship the Robert E. Lee
, and not the person, passing by). Virgil also relates and mourns the loss of his brother: "He was just eighteen, proud and brave / But a Yankee
laid him in his grave".
Ralph J. Gleason
(in the review in Rolling Stone (US edition only) of October 1969) explains why this song has such an impact on listeners:
Robertson claimed that he had the music to the song in his head but had no idea what it was to be about: "At some point [the concept] blurted out to me. Then I went and I did some research and I wrote the lyrics to the song." Robertson continued:
, it has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on peoples, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana. Though never a major hit, "Dixie" was the centerpiece of the record, and, along with "The Weight
" from Music From Big Pink
, remains one of the songs most identified with the group.
The Band frequently performed the song in concert, and it can be found on the group's live albums Rock of Ages
(1972) and Before the Flood
(1974). It was also a highlight of their "farewell" concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976, and is featured in the documentary film about the concert, The Last Waltz
, as well as the soundtrack album from the film.
It was #245 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Pitchfork Media
named it the forty-second best song of the Sixties. The song is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's
"500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" and Time Magazine's All-Time 100.
The last time the song was performed by Levon Helm
, The Band's lead singer, was in The Last Waltz (1976). Helm, a native of Arkansas, has stated that he assisted in the research for the lyrics. In his 1993 book This Wheel's on Fire, Helm writes "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."
Helm has refused to play the song since 1976 even though Helm holds concerts, which he calls "Midnight Rambles", several times a month at his private residence in Woodstock, New York.
released in 1971, which 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. Baez's version made some changes to the song lyric; The second line "Till Stoneman's cavalry came". Baez sings "Till so much cavalry came". She also changed "May the tenth" to "I took the train". In addition, the line "like my father before me, I will work the land" was changed to "like my father before me, I'm a working man", changing the narrator from a farmer to a laborer. In the last verse she changed "the mud below my feet" to "the blood below my feet". 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'd (mis)heard them. In more recent years in her concerts, Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson. The song became highest charting U.S. single of Baez' career, and remained a staple of her concert set list, from that point forward.
Johnny Cash
covered the song on his 1975 album John R. Cash
. Old-time musician Jimmy Arnold recorded the song on his album "Southern Soul," which was composed of songs associated with the Southern side of the Civil War. Don Rich
and the Buckaroos covered the track. Steve Young
recorded the song on his 1975 album Honky Tonk Man
. The song also appears on the album Whose Garden Was This by John Denver
, released in 1970. It was also included in his 2001 release, John Denver The Greatest Collection. The Allman Brothers Band
covered the song for the 2007 album Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
. The Jerry Garcia Band also covered the song live for over 20 years and it is still held as a fan favorite today.
In 1972, a cover of the song called "Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb" (translation: "On the Day that Conny Kramer Died") was a number-one hit in West Germany
for singer Juliane Werding
. For this version, the lyrics were not translated but rather changed completely to an anti-drug anthem about a young man dying because of his drug addiction - an extremely hot topic in that year, when heroin was making the first big inroads in Germany
. In 1986, the German band Die Goldenen Zitronen
made a parody version of this song with the title "Am Tag als Thomas Anders
starb" ("On the Day that Thomas Anders Died").
A fairly large-scale orchestrated version of the song appears on the little-known 1971 concept album California '99 (ABC Records, ABC728) by composer/arranger/producer Jimmie Haskell, with lead vocal by Jimmy Witherspoon
.
Charlie Daniels Band, Big Country
, Dave Brockie, Richie Havens
, Black Crowes and Zac Brown Band
have included covers on live albums.
Robbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, first recorded by The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
in 1969 and released on their self-titled second album
The Band (album)
- Bonus Track listing from 2000 re-release :All songs by Robbie Robertson unless otherwise noted. The 2000 re-release has also been packaged as a double CD with The Band's debut album Music from Big Pink.- Personnel :...
. Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
' cover of the song was a top-five chart hit in late 1971.
Meaning of song
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and the suffering of the South. Dixie
Dixie
Dixie is a nickname for the Southern United States.- Origin of the name :According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins of this nickname remain obscure. According to A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles , by Mitford M...
is a nickname for the Southern Confederate states
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
soldier Virgil Caine "served on the Danville
Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
train" (the Richmond and Danville Railroad
Richmond and Danville Railroad
The Richmond and Danville Railroad was chartered in Virginia in the United States in 1847. The portion between Richmond and Danville, Virginia was completed in 1856...
, a main supply line into the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
from Danville, Virginia, and by connection, the rest of the South). Union cavalry regularly tore up Confederate rail lines to prevent the movement of men and material to the front where Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was besieged at Siege of Petersburg
Siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...
. As part of the offensive campaign, Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
General George Stoneman
George Stoneman
George Stoneman, Jr. was a career United States Army officer, a Union cavalry general in the American Civil War, and the 15th Governor of California between 1883 and 1887.-Early life:...
's forces "tore up the track again".
The song's lyrics refer to conditions in the Southern states in the winter of early 1865 ("We were hungry / Just barely alive"); the Confederacy is starving and on the verge of defeat. Reference is made to the date May 10, 1865, by which time the Confederate capital of Richmond had long since fallen (in April); May 10 marked the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the definitive end of the Confederacy.
There is some poetic license in the song's dates and events, for instance the reference to Virgil Caine being home with his wife in Tennessee and seeing Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
(Later performances, including the Joan Baez recording and some live versions by The Band themselves, added "the" before "Robert E. Lee", making it seem to relate to the Confederate ship the Robert E. Lee
CSS Robert E. Lee
CSS Robert E. Lee was a blockade runner for the Confederate States during the American Civil War that later served in the United States Navy as USS Fort Donelson and in the Chilean Navy as Concepción.-CSS Robert E. Lee:Robert E...
, and not the person, passing by). Virgil also relates and mourns the loss of his brother: "He was just eighteen, proud and brave / But a Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
laid him in his grave".
Ralph J. Gleason
Ralph J. Gleason
Ralph Joseph Gleason was an influential American jazz and pop music critic. He contributed for many years to the San Francisco Chronicle, was a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and cofounder of the Monterey Jazz Festival.-Biography:Gleason was born in New York City and attended Columbia...
(in the review in Rolling Stone (US edition only) of October 1969) explains why this song has such an impact on listeners:
Nothing I have read … has brought home the overwhelming human sense of history that this song does. The only thing I can relate it to at all is The Red Badge of CourageThe Red Badge of CourageThe Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane . Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound—a "red badge of courage"—to...
. It's a remarkable song, the rhythmic structure, the voice of Levon and the bass line with the drum accents and then the heavy close harmony of Levon, Richard and Rick in the theme, make it seem impossible that this isn't some traditional material handed down from father to son straight from that winter of 1865 to today. It has that ring of truth and the whole aura of authenticity.
Robertson claimed that he had the music to the song in his head but had no idea what it was to be about: "At some point [the concept] blurted out to me. Then I went and I did some research and I wrote the lyrics to the song." Robertson continued:
When I first went down South, I remember that a quite common expression would be, "Well don't worry, the South's gonna rise again." At one point when I heard it I thought it was kind of a funny statement and then I heard it another time and I was really touched by it. I thought, "God, because I keep hearing this, there's pain here, there is a sadness here." In Americana land, it's a kind of a beautiful sadness.
Context within the album and The Band's history
According to Rob Bowman's liner notes to the 2000 reissue of The Band's second album, The BandThe Band (album)
- Bonus Track listing from 2000 re-release :All songs by Robbie Robertson unless otherwise noted. The 2000 re-release has also been packaged as a double CD with The Band's debut album Music from Big Pink.- Personnel :...
, it has been viewed as a concept album, with the songs focusing on peoples, places and traditions associated with an older version of Americana. Though never a major hit, "Dixie" was the centerpiece of the record, and, along with "The Weight
The Weight
"The Weight" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was released by The Band as Capitol Records single 2269 in 1968, and appeared one week later on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. The song is listed as #41 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004, and...
" from Music From Big Pink
Music from Big Pink
Music from Big Pink is the 1968 debut album by rock band The Band. It features the well-known song, "The Weight". The music was composed partly in 'Big Pink', a house shared by Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Garth Hudson in West Saugerties, in upstate New York...
, remains one of the songs most identified with the group.
The Band frequently performed the song in concert, and it can be found on the group's live albums Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages (album)
-Side two:-Side three:-Side four:-2001 bonus disc track listing:-Personnel:* Rick Danko - vocal, bass, violin* Levon Helm - vocal, drums, mandolin* Garth Hudson - organ, piano, accordion, tenor saxophone and soprano saxophone solos...
(1972) and Before the Flood
Before the Flood
Side threeSide four-Personnel:* Bob Dylan – vocal, guitars, harmonica, piano* Robbie Robertson – electric guitar, backing vocal* Richard Manuel – vocal, piano, electric piano, organ, drums* Garth Hudson – Lowrey organ, clavinet, piano, synthesizer, saxophone...
(1974). It was also a highlight of their "farewell" concert on Thanksgiving Day 1976, and is featured in the documentary film about the concert, The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
, as well as the soundtrack album from the film.
It was #245 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
named it the forty-second best song of the Sixties. The song is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
"500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" and Time Magazine's All-Time 100.
The last time the song was performed by Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
, The Band's lead singer, was in The Last Waltz (1976). Helm, a native of Arkansas, has stated that he assisted in the research for the lyrics. In his 1993 book This Wheel's on Fire, Helm writes "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."
Helm has refused to play the song since 1976 even though Helm holds concerts, which he calls "Midnight Rambles", several times a month at his private residence in Woodstock, New York.
Covers of the song
The most successful English-language cover of the song was a version by Joan BaezJoan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
released in 1971, which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in the US in October that year and spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart. Baez's version made some changes to the song lyric; The second line "Till Stoneman's cavalry came". Baez sings "Till so much cavalry came". She also changed "May the tenth" to "I took the train". In addition, the line "like my father before me, I will work the land" was changed to "like my father before me, I'm a working man", changing the narrator from a farmer to a laborer. In the last verse she changed "the mud below my feet" to "the blood below my feet". Baez later told Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder is an American film critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary". He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos on...
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'd (mis)heard them. In more recent years in her concerts, Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson. The song became highest charting U.S. single of Baez' career, and remained a staple of her concert set list, from that point forward.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
covered the song on his 1975 album John R. Cash
John R. Cash
John R. Cash is an album by country singer Johnny Cash, released in 1975 on Columbia Records. The album consists mostly of covers of others' songs. The first track, a version of "My Old Kentucky Home", the state song of Kentucky, was released as a single, though "The Lady Came from Baltimore"...
. Old-time musician Jimmy Arnold recorded the song on his album "Southern Soul," which was composed of songs associated with the Southern side of the Civil War. Don Rich
Don Rich
Donald Eugene Ulrich, best known by the stage name Don Rich was a country musician who helped develop the Bakersfield sound in the early 1960s. He was a noted guitarist and fiddler, and a member of the Buckaroos, the backing band of country singer Buck Owens.-Biography:Donald Eugene Ulrich was...
and the Buckaroos covered the track. Steve Young
Steve Young (musician)
Steve Young is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist, known for his song "Seven Bridges Road"...
recorded the song on his 1975 album Honky Tonk Man
Honky Tonk Man (album)
Honky Tonk Man is the third album by pioneer Country rock musician Steve Young, although this album has more of a straight country sound.-Track listing:#"Honky Tonk Man" - 2:23...
. The song also appears on the album Whose Garden Was This by John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
, released in 1970. It was also included in his 2001 release, John Denver The Greatest Collection. The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band is an American rock/blues band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman , who were supported by Dickey Betts , Berry Oakley , Butch Trucks , and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe"...
covered the song for the 2007 album Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
Endless Highway: The Music of The Band
Endless Highway: The Music of the Band, a tribute to The Band, was released on 30 January 2007.-Track listing:All songs written by Robbie Robertson unless noted otherwise.#"This Wheel's on Fire" performed by Guster - 3:24...
. The Jerry Garcia Band also covered the song live for over 20 years and it is still held as a fan favorite today.
In 1972, a cover of the song called "Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb" (translation: "On the Day that Conny Kramer Died") was a number-one hit in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
for singer Juliane Werding
Juliane Werding
Juliane Werding is a German singer and heilpraktiker.- Life :Werding is a German singer. In 1972, she became in Germany famous for her song "Am Tag, als Conny Kramer starb" . Werding wrote several books and lives in Starnberg near Munich, where she works as heilpraktiker...
. For this version, the lyrics were not translated but rather changed completely to an anti-drug anthem about a young man dying because of his drug addiction - an extremely hot topic in that year, when heroin was making the first big inroads in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1986, the German band Die Goldenen Zitronen
Die Goldenen Zitronen
Die Goldenen Zitronen are a punk rock band from Hamburg, Germany that are known for their entertaining and politically relevant style. Their original name was Die Deutschen Nazikartoffeln . When the band formed in 1984 at the beginning of the “Fun-Punk”-movement, punk was their main style...
made a parody version of this song with the title "Am Tag als Thomas Anders
Thomas Anders
Thomas Anders is a German singer, composer and record producer. Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.-Early years:...
starb" ("On the Day that Thomas Anders Died").
A fairly large-scale orchestrated version of the song appears on the little-known 1971 concept album California '99 (ABC Records, ABC728) by composer/arranger/producer Jimmie Haskell, with lead vocal by Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
.
Charlie Daniels Band, Big Country
Big Country
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...
, Dave Brockie, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, Black Crowes and Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music, southern rock, and folk band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown , Jimmy De Martini , John Driskell Hopkins , Coy Bowles , Chris Fryar and Clay Cook...
have included covers on live albums.
Use in Film
The Band's version of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was used in the 1977 film "The Shadow of Chikara" (also titled "Curse Of Demon Mountain" and several other titles).Personnel on The Band version
- Rick DankoRick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
– Bass guitar, backing vocals - Levon HelmLevon HelmMark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
– Lead vocals, drums - Garth HudsonGarth HudsonEric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
– MelodicaMelodicaThe melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,...
, slide trumpet - Richard ManuelRichard ManuelRichard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
– Piano, backing vocals - Robbie RobertsonRobbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
– Acoustic guitar