Left wing Rat icon Joan Baez is clearly a racist for singing this song in 1971.
She MUST be shamed, excoriated, whipped, totured, burned, lynched........let’s see, did I forget anything?
I liked the song. That was back in the time when the South was viewed as a victim of the oppressive North. It was a time when Johnny Reb was admired in the movies.
I like The Band’s version much better. Levon Helm’s voice was perfect for this song.
The song was written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian-American roots rock group the Band.....................She just did a cover.............
I’ve never been a fan of folk music, but this is a beautiful song.
Who doesn’t love that song!
The Band did it better.
Baez, btw, misheard the lyrics and recorded the song from memory. So she says, “Til so much cavalry came” rather than “Til Stoneman’s cavalry came”. She made another blunder or two but I’m too lazy to look it up. I still like her version a great deal though.
Live Norway 1978 Baez “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTNirVqTepE
And at least one voice of sanity.
Kid Rock Tells Protestors to ‘Kiss My Ass’ Over Confederate Flag
I was thinking about this just the other day. How dare she sing a song like that!
the version by Levon Helm a7 the BAND was better.
Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train
'Till 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 singin' they went
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me
"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes 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 the people were singin' they went
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
Like my father before me, I will work the land
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 singin', they went
Na, la, na, la, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, 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 singin', they went
Na, la, na, la, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singin’. they went La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,”
always wondered why the people would be singing la la la when their homes are being destroyed...
Here is the best version ever of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by the people who wrote and first produced the song.
Robbie Robertson wrote the song and is/was performed by The Band.
Robbie and The Band were/are Canadian, the lead vocals were done by Levon Helm, the only American in the group.
Joan Baez's version was copied from these guys and when asked why her words are different, she replied, "I sang it as I heard it".
George Stoneman, (the calvary leader, from NY, who tore up the RR tracks) went on to become the 15th governor of California.
(Just a little , FYI)
Great song. Always wondered why the hippies loved it - it cast the slave-holding southerners in a good light.
I have walked the tracks of the Danville train.
Guess we have to tear them up again.........
That’s a spooky song. It gives me goose bumps.