lyrics analysis: "Drove Old Dixie Down"

[Mark Spahn]

When the mafia dramatic series "The Sopranos" was on TV, after every episode you could find online an interesting analysis of the episode.  Was this true of the "Breaking Bad" series too?

To change the topic slightly, is the same true for song lyrics?  In 1971 there was a song called "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".   I never stopped to listen closely to it, but it seems like a worthwhile poem.  Here are the lyrics (accompanied by a Joan Baez rendition in a peculiarly warbling voice):

https://genius.com/Joan-baez-the-night-they-drove-old-dixie-down-lyrics

[Verse 1]
Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train
Till so much cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of 'sixty-five, we were hungry, just barely alive
I took the train to Richmond that fell
It was a time I remember, oh, so well

[Chorus]
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:
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la

[Verse 2]
Back with my wife in Tennessee
And one day she said to me
Virgil, quick come see
There goes the Robert E. Lee
Now I don't mind 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

[Chorus]
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:
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la

[Verse 3]
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 Caine back up when he's in defeat

[Chorus]
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:
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la

- - - - -

What is this song about?  It seems to be set in the era of the U.S. Civil War, or shortly thereafter.  Let's take it stanza by stanza...

Who is Virgil Caine?  A famous person from history?  A fictional character?  What is the Danville train?  What does it mean to "drive on" (not ride on) a train?  Is Virgil Cain the engineer of this train?  What is this cavalry?  And why are they tearing up the tracks again?  Why did they do it the first time?  What is  "the winter of 'sixty-five"?  Does this mean January-February 1865, when the War Between the States is still going on?  Or is this winter in December 1865, when the Civil War has been over for half a year.  "I took the train to Richmond [, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy]"  As a passenger?  Why take a train to a "that fell" to an enemy attack?

The chorus refers to "the night they drove old Dixie down".  Does Dixie mean the Confederate States of America? What does it mean to drive old Dixie down?  And who are "they"? What bells are ringing, and why?  All what people were singing what?  Just the nonsense syllables "La la la"?

Virgil's wife says, "Quick come see; there goes the Robert E. Lee."  What is the Robert E. Lee?  A riverboat on the Mississippi?  A train?  Who took the very best (the very best of what), which they should not have taken?

In Verse 3, Virgil's older brother, who like Virgil joined the rebel (CSA) cause, was killed by a Yankee in the Civil War.  "You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat":  What does this mean?  that when a  Cain is defeated, he stays defeated and does not seek revenge?

-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)

P.S.  In another search (this one including the search term "wikipedia"), I found:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_They_Drove_Old_Dixie_Down

"The song is a first-person narrative relating the economic and social distress experienced by the protagonist, a poor white Southerner, during the last year of the American Civil War, when George Stoneman was raiding southwest Virginia."

"The last time the song was performed by Helm was in The Last Waltz. Helm refused to play the song afterwards. Although it has long been believed that the reason for Helm's refusal to play the song was a dispute with Robertson over songwriting credits, according to Garth Hudson the refusal was due to Helm's dislike for Joan Baez's version.^[6]"   If you don't like some other singer's version of a song, why would *you* refuse to play that song?  Non sequitur.

21st century political criticism

Wokery strikes!  (Read there)

"The 1972 song "Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb" ("On the Day That Conny Kramer Died"), which uses the tune of the song, was a number-one hit in West Germany for singer Juliane Werding. The lyrics are about a young man dying because of his drug addiction. 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")."

Let's try to find that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w65nxvwJ7UI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD8-q-Zey7Q

Also, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_They_Drove_Old_Dixie_Down

answers some of my questions:

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (sinngemäß: Die Nacht, in der der Alte Süden zu Grabe getragen wurde)

Der Erzähler des Textes stellt sich als Virgil Caine, Soldat der konföderierten Armee von General Robert E. Lee, vor. Der englischsprachige Name Caine steht für den biblischen Kain, der seinen Bruder Abel erschlug und dafür von Gott verstoßen wurde. Der Krieg zwischen den Nord- und den Südstaaten wurde oft als Brudermord bezeichnet.  [overinterpretation?]

The German text is more informative than the English Wikipedia:

Caine war an der Bahnstrecke Danville–Richmond, einer der zentralen Versorgungslinien des Südens, im Einsatz, bis diese durch die Kavallerietruppen von George Stoneman zerstört wurden. Caine blickt zurück auf das Leid unter seinen Kameraden im Winter 1865 („In the winter of ’65, we were hungry, just barely alive.“), auf den Fall Richmonds, der das Ende des Krieges einläutete, und den Tag der Gefangennahme von Jefferson Davis.

Die zweite Strophe spielt nach dem Ende des Krieges. Caine ist zurück bei seiner Frau in Tennessee, als diese eines Tages glaubt, Robert E. Lee zu sehen, [Robert E. Lee himself, not a riverboat or train named after him] der für viele weiße Südstaatler noch heute als Held gilt, der nur durch unglückliche Umstände verloren habe. Die Erwähnung Lees wirkt hier wie ein Symbol für die erwartete Wiederauferstehung des Südens.

Caine stellt sich selbst als einen Mann dar, dem schwere Arbeit und schlechter Verdienst nichts ausmachen („Now I don’t mind choppin’ wood, and I don’t care if the money’s no good.“). Trotz allem sitzt der Schmerz über die Niederlage noch tief („But they never should have taken the very best.“) In der dritten Strophe erfährt man, dass er aus einer Familie von Farmern stammt. Sein älterer Bruder war ebenfalls Soldat und wurde im Alter von nur 18 Jahren von einem Yankee getötet („He was just eighteen, proud and brave, But a Yankee laid him in his grave.“).

Robertson belässt es in seinem Text dabei, die Geschichte von Virgil Caine zu erzählen, ohne sie zu bewerten, dabei ist der amerikanische Bürgerkrieg lediglich eine Kulisse. Jason Ankeny schrieb für Allmusic: „… es scheint in erster Linie eine Charakterstudie über einen der vielen Soldaten zu sein, die ihr Leben im Namen des Kampfes für das, woran sie glaubten, riskierten, egal wie richtig oder falsch, und über die verheerenden Auswirkungen solcher Konflikte, unabhängig davon, welche Seite gewinnt.“ Der Grund für die Wahl der Kulisse war der aus Arkansas stammende Levon Helm. Jonathan Taplin (u. a. im Management von The Band) erinnert sich in einem Interview mit dem Musikkritiker Robert Palmer für den Rolling Stone: „… Ich ging zu Robbie und fragte ihn: "Wie ist das aus dir herausgekommen? Und er sagte einfach, dass er, nachdem er so lange in seinem Leben mit Levon zusammen war und zu dieser Zeit an diesem Ort war... Es war so sehr in ihm, dass er diesen Song direkt bei Levon schreiben wollte, um ihn wissen zu lassen, wie viel ihm diese Dinge bedeuteten..“^[2]

[Alan Siegrist]

Hi Mark,

 

I think this site here will answer most, if not all, of your questions:

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-band/the-night-they-drove-old-dixie-down

 

Best,

Alan Siegrist

Monterey, CA, USA

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[Mark Spahn]

Alan, Thanks for finding this.  Most of the information here is found in the German-language Wikipedia article about this song (but not in the English-language Wikipedia article).  Joan Baez apparently copied this song from a phonograph record, getting the words wrong "mondegreenily". 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen

Baez changed some of the lyrics on her version. For example, she sings, "Virgil Cain is my name and I drove on the Danville train. 'Til so much cavalry came and tore up the tracks again." The original lyrics are, "Virgil Cain is THE name and I SERVED on the Danville train. 'Til STONEMAN'S cavalry came and tore up the tracks again" referring to George Stoneman, who was a general in the Union army.