The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Johnny Cash

Tom: D

Bm     D                      G                      Bm    D 
Virgil Cain is my name, and I served on the Danville train  
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Till Stonewall's cavalry came, and tore up the tracks again  
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In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive  
            G                  
By May 10th, Richmond had fell  
           D       Bm             E  
And it's a time, I remember oh so well. 
 
    D           Bm        G     D  
The Night, They Drove Old Dixie Down 
            Bm  
And all the bells were ringin'  
    D           Bm        G     D  
The Night, They Drove Old Dixie Down 
            Bm  
And all the people were singing they went  
D           Bm       E              G         D C# B A D D C# B A 
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na.   
 
Bm                   D               G                      Bm D 
Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day, she called to me  
        Bm              G                               Bm  G 
Virgil, quick come see, Virgil there goes the Robert E. Lee  
                 D  
Now I don't mind choppin' wood  
    Bm                   G  
And I don't care if the money's no good  
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Just take what you need and you leave the rest  
         D                 Bm              E 
But they never should have taken, the very best.  
 
Chorus:  
 
Bm               D       G                Bm   D  
Like my father before me, I will work the land  
                     Bm     G                 Bm  
And like my brother above me, he took a rebel stand  
       G       D 
He was just 18 proud and brave  
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And a Yankee, laid him in his grave  
  Bm                 G 
I swear my the mud below my feet  
    D                         Bm                E 
You can't raise the king back up when he's in defeat.  
 
Chorus: