Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train,
Till Stoneman's Cavalry came an' tore up the tracks again
In the winter of sixty-five, we were hungry, just barely alive.
By May the tenth Richmond had fell; Its a time I remember, oh, so well.
(CHORUS)
The night they drove old Dixi down
And the bells were ringin';
The night they drove old Dixi 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, 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.
Like my father before me I will work the land
Just like my brother above me, who took a Rebel stand;
He was just eighteen, my 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.