The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Intro

[c {sustain for 2 beats}, d, e, f, g]

Verse 1

Am C/G F F/E Dm

Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train

Am C/G F F/E Dm

'Til Stoneman's Cavalry came and tore up the tracks a-gain

Am/E F C Dm

In the Winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive

Am/E F C Dm D

By May the tenth Richmond had fell, it's a time I re-member, oh, so well

Chorus

C/G Fmaj7 C/G Fmaj7

The night they drove Old Dixie down and the bells were ringing

C/G Fmaj7 C/G Fmaj7

The night they drove Old Dixie down and all the people were singing

C/G Am Gsus4 F

They went, "La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la"

Lead-in to verse 2

[c, e, g, c {sustain for six beats}, d, e, f, g]

Verse 2

Am C F F/E Dm

Back with my wife in Tennessee when one day she called to me

Am C F F/E Dm

"Virgil quick come see, there goes the Robert E. Lee"

Am/E F C Dm

Now, I don't mind choppin' wood and I don't care if the money's no good

Am/E F

Ya' take what ya' need and ya' leave the rest

C Dm D

But they should never have taken the very best

Repeat chorus

Lead-in to verse 3

[c, e, g, c] F, C, [c, e, g, c {sustain for 6 beats} c, e, f, g]

Verse 3; repeat verse 2 chord progression

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

(Repeat chorus)

Lead-in to repeat chorus

[c, e, g, c] Bm, Bb, Am, Ab(b5), C/G, D/F#

(Repeat chorus)