Ultimately, this masterpiece is one of the best antiwar songs ever written. Some ignorant people think it's some kind of anthem for the glory of the old South, but it's about the effects the war had on a regular person and the personal cost on him.
Makes me emotional. I love our History. Breaks my heart modern people tore down statues and anything confederate. My own county courthouse removed a memorial plaque commemorating the heroes of the civil war. It just broke my heart.💔 Joan Baez sang that song so beautifully.
What a beautiful song from Robbie Robertson, who wrote this classic. And what a beautiful cover version by the great Joan Baez. Such a beautiful, classic song.
PUHLEEESE! Instead of listening to 'covers' try listening to the ORIGINAL! The Band, in their movie 'The Last Waltz', had the DEFINITIVE version of this song. Levon Helm's powerful vocals convey the powerful emotions of someone who was there. Despite Joan having a GREAT voice, I don't like her changing the lyrics from The Band's original ones.
Robert E Lee marched in front of my family's home in Nashville Tennessee... it burned down due to an electrical short, it was an historical landmark. I feel every statue of every war should not be taken away, like they never happened, whichever side it represents.
"I think it wiser ... not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.” - Robert E. Lee on confederate statues
I learned just this weekend what this song was really about. I was in Danville, Virginia this past weekend and looked up the town for its history. It’s an old town from the late 1700s on the Dan River. They used this river to transport munitions by boat to Danville, because a few major railways went through there, so they could transfers the ammunition by railway. Between Danville and Richmond somewhere, the Union soldiers tore up the railroad tracks so the trains could not be used. Hence, they ‘drove Dixie down.’ Interesting history in that town, and the setting is lovely right on the Dan River.
Very correct. Im from virginia and i admire your desire to educate yourself on history. Its something i do too when visiting a new place. We should never forget history, a lesson lately that seems to take a revisionist theme.
my favorite picture was the one of the confederate flag! i 100% love being reminded that my ancestors were owned and tortured by racists that used that flag to represent themselves!!
@@malenadonovan411 if you're going to be listening to a sing about dixie and the american civil war dont be surprised to see the confederate battle flag.
I like this Civil War song. The man Virgil Caine tells about the war as he saw and experienced it. There are other versions of this song which seems more appropriate for a man but for me Joan Baez's version is the best. She sings with such feeling and charisma she really nails it and squarely.
The lyrics tell of the last days of the American Civil War and the suffering of the South. The song hits me deeply as I can remember being hungry more than once in my life...hunger is a fierce thing and every war results in the defeated ones starving to death. I'm a Canadian veteran and I've seen starvation caused by war and conflict...those visions became nightmares and I am wracked by ptsd. Only thing war ever taught me is that we ALL bleed red...
@@mikepreston-engel8869 We all are made of flesh, bones and blood. We all can feel pain and joy. So, better not to cause pain or minimize the pain as much as possible and try to share joy with others and help them when you can.
Growing up in the 60's and having had older siblings who always had their radios blaring, I had been exposed to the music that they listened to (The Beatles, etc.) on AM radio. (Yep, AM radio is mostly what we kids had to listen to back in the day.) But, still being a child, and not having neared adolesence yet or having had my musical tastes mature and develop enough at the ages that I was during the '60's, those awesome years of older sibling's music was all just background noise to me back then.. And then I came into my own.......... I remember it like it was last month. On a warm summer day in August of 1971, I found myself in the rare situation of having the whole house to myself for awhile. Everyone was gone, off doing something else, including my mom (who was a single mom raising 4 kids.) There I was, sitting in the living room all by myself, and I turned on the family stereo, and suddenly became spellbound by the music that KFRC (in San Francisco, where we lived at the time) was putting out on the airwaves in a way that gripped me like I had never been gripped by anything before. I started grooving to song after song. I couldn't turn it off--and I didn't all afternoon. I sat there for hours, listening to the Top 20 (or so) tunes, until they started repeating them all. (I soon also found KYA, the competition to KFRC, which then became the two stations that proceeeded to work my wrist out on a daily basis by turning the radio dial back and forth between the two stations for the next several years.) My intense love for pop/rock music began with a bang on that day--and with good reason. (More on that in a minute.) Starting right then at the tender age of 10, I began listening to AM radio in earnest on the family stereo that we had in our living room at the time, shortly before this song by Joan Baez entered the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. I have always tended to use that chart as what I consider to be the best "measuring stick" of pop/rock/Top 40 music from 1955 (around the time of the birth of Rock 'N Roll) all the way to present day. I don't know if younger generations can really even appreciate what I'm about to say, but if you were around and listening to mainstream Top 40 music during the 60's, 70's, and 80's (my favorite decades) and you want to get a grasp of my fascination level with the music that the radio stations were playing back on that day in August of 1971 (and then going forward after that for many years), I urge you to have a look at the Billboard Hot 100 chart, beginning in August, 1971. It's very easy to see the archived charts by running a search for "the Billboard Hot 100", and then indicating the time frame that you are interested in. The charts were updated weekly, and you can likewise research them on a weekly basis going way back.. You can see which songs were in the Top 10 from one week to the next by examining any weeks that you'd like to when you're on the Hot 100 website (or Top 20, etc. ........you can scour the entire Top 100, if you'd like). To this day, I think that the particular period of music that was on the charts right when I started listening to it was one of the best periods EVER. 1971 was, without a doubt, one of the best years ever for pop music, and a fantastic year that was rich with great songs that crowded the Top 20 with wonderful music--if you were into that sort of thing--which, like I said, I found myself deleriously INTO , BIG TIME, starting on that warm summer day. Just peruse the charts beginning in the summer of '71 (and of course, for years both BEFORE AND AFTER, as well, as your particular soft spot may have been the music from a different era and set of years)--but if you remember all the music that I'm talking about from the aforementioned decades, just check out what I'm saying. I think many would agree, the songs that you'll find from the charts in 1971 would be REAL hard to beat. But then, of course, '72 was also great, as was '73, '74, '75, etc.--so, bottom line, I got in at a PERFECT time to enjoy years and years of great pop/Top 40 by getting into it right when I did. This song by Joan Baez was one of the very early entries into my newfound fascination with music back then. I've always thought it quite interesting that she's a girl (woman) singing a man's tune--that is, a tune that by its lyrics, literally implies that a man is singing it--and yet, as far as I know, her version of it absolutely blew the doors off of anyone else's version of it--EVER--and hers was the most successful version "chart-wise" of this song in history. Enough said for now. Happy listening!
I was born in 1992 and was raised on my mom’s music. 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, the occasional 90’s. Back when Napster was still a thing, my aunt burned a ton of CD’s with so many great classics. This song was one of them! What solidified my musical taste happened when I was only two years old. My dad bought my mom the Carpenters Singles 1969-1973 CD. My identical twin and I pretty much demanded that ‘Sing’ be played at all hours of the day. We listened to it on repeat in the car. When I was about five or so, I decided to listen to the entire CD and realized for sure that Karen Carpenter was my favorite singer of all time. I remember asking my mom if I could go to a Carpenters concert, only to be told that Karen had been dead for over ten years. Such a sad thing to learn. I wish I could have been alive when my mom was a kid. The things she did, the songs that were popular on the radio, the bands she saw live. Must have been something special. My generation of music is garbage for the most part. There are a few good songs here and there, but none of it is real. It’s all auto tuned garbage. Thank you for sharing your experience with someone like me!
I was 10 years old in 1971....I had 4 siblings.....mother was single raising 5 kids alone....The time frame (music) from 1971-1975 was ABSOLUTELY LIFE CHANGING TO ME.....I agree that this music is the best humans will ever know...the song writing, the emotions captured, the chorus'...just beautiful....Thank God for RUclips.....I almost NEVER WATCH TV or listen to music from today.....IT IS MOSTLY CRAP COMPARED to what we knew as kids growing up....
That was a great post, and took me back down memory lane. I'm guessing that I am about 10 years older than you, so I grew up listening to Elvis and others. THEN the '60's hit, and the British Invasion. I remember our whole family sitting around the tv to watch The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show, because we had been hearing so much in the news about them. I believe that the '60s and '70s were by far, the best music decades ever. I see constant posts from young people who have discovered that music, and love it. Consider this: for all of their extensive catalog of great songs, Creedence Clearwater Revival NEVER had a number 1 hit. That fact alone, shows how much great music was out there back then. Since you love Joan Baez's version of this song so much, do yourself a favor, and listen to the original version of it by The Band. Their best version is from their movie, The Last Waltz.
Neither can I. As a matter of fact the song was playing in my head when I woke up this morning so when I got up naturally I grabbed my phone, found the song and played it!
Passionate song. Lyrics say it all. Some don't understand the suffering that has stood time. My family was never in the war yet I know others who have suffered. Family plots I've visited. Much respect. Much heartache shared
I remember this song when I was a teenagers never gave it much thought back then . Always Loved it .Joan baez's best song ever. I think it's kinda sad that they tore down all the statues of Confederate it's still history and they were all Americans.
@@rarmai That's what the freedom of the slaves was all about.Why do people keep bringing it up today? Why don't you offer them your money and your time if you feel so bad about it ? Do you know that every slave was treated like property or badly? Slavery is a reality and it still goes on in the world today in places like Africa. At least the U.S. tried to do something about it. Deal in the here and now not in the then and gone.
@@patcola7335 _"Deal in the here and now not in the then and gone"_ makes no sense when the conversation is *history...* It's specifically about the "then."
A beautiful song from the era when singers could actually sing. Joans vocal control is absolutely amazing. Soon, nobody will be singing, it will all be AI.
This song peaked at number 1 the week I was in the hospital recovering from near crippling back surgery. Such powerful memories. Everytime I think of or hear some things from that month and year, and how I later recovered by hard work, dedication, diet and martial arts that most people would dream of achieving, I re-dedicate myself to taking care of myself. Now at 64, and able to retire quite well off financially, I am not going to go the drugs or alcohol or overweight path. I got a pass by being in beyond All American shape just prior to my back injury which allowed me to help recover after the surgery. I still remember people around the recovery room crying when I asked how soon would I be able to play hockey again? The consensus was they doubted I would walk again. Well, I walked, ran, wrestled, golfed, Tae Kwon Do'd, passed the US Air Force fitness tests, graduated from Officer Training School, left service as a Captain, and did just about every sport out there.
Good for you. You are a living example of the poem “It couldn’t be done”. Here’s the first and last verses. “Somebody said it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That maybe it couldn’t but he wouldn’t be one Who would say so until he had tried So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin On his face if he worried he hid it He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done and he did it. -- There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done There are thousands to prophesy failure There are thousands to point out to you one by one The dangers that wait to assail you But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin And take off your coat and go to it Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing That “cannot be done” and you’ll do it.
great song . Exciting song . very emotional Lyrics Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train 'Til so much cavalry came and tore up the tracks again In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive I took the train to Richmond that fell It was a time I remember, oh so well 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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na" "Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na" Back with my wife in Tennessee and one day she said to me "Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee" Now, I don't mind, I'm 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 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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na" "Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na" Like my father before me, I'm a workin' man And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand Well, 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 the Cain back up when it's in defeat 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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na" "Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na"
It's so sad to see all of these historical houses and buildings destroyed. I'm Southern, and very proud of it. As a whole, we are a very strong and intelligent people, although some make all of us look like idiots. I have always been against slavery, and what was done to people of a different color, and I still am. Everybody deserves to live a life that they can be proud of, and one that makes a difference.
@@Firevest I agree. I am white. When I go to art museums I see statues of Roman emperors that are 2,500 years old. They owned white slaves and treated them very badly but I see no reason to demolish those statues.
she sings "till so much Calvary came and tore up the tracks again" I heard it sung elsewhere as "Till Stoneman's Cavalry came and they tore up the tracks again", which is more historically accurate. But she makes up for it with the passion and feeling she puts into her version.
I'm embarrassed, I had to look up what a pushbike was in Oz. Here in Murica we just call them bikes, but even back then ours had pedals on them, so we could sit on them and ride, instead pushing them around. ; )
I was 5 when Joan released this. I can remember sitting in the backseat of my Uncle Don's car. Him and my Aunt Pat, singing this together, as it played on the radio. We were in Spotswood, NJ. 1971.
The war ended in April 1865. No tracks were torn up in December. Robert E. Lee never went to Tennessee. (Longstreet did). But the song is VERY cool. Love it.
A good song that really doesn't talk about the morality of slavery, but a personal story of one man's experience of the Civil War. Many times it was brother against brother. My mom had relatives from Mississippi who didn't speak to each other because of their positions on the Civil War.
For as much criticism as you can give to the south for their pro-slavery stance, remember too that they and the native Americans were strong allies, as the Indians had long been oppressed by the federal government, and the CSA had promised the indians that they could have their own land as an independent country.
woo woo! definitely make a compilation of civil war statues before they are taken down for celebrating racism!!! or don't make one, that would probably be best.
@@patcola7335 The democrats of the day were fighting for less federal power and more individual state power which is a central tenet of the opposite of each party today. It's inaccurate to say they simply flipped, but it's even more illogical to say they stayed the same.
My G-G-Grandfather, John W. McCall enlisted as a private with Company H, 10th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Wilcox County Rifles, on 20 May, 1861. He was promoted to 4th Corporal on 15 June, 1861 and to First Lieutenant on 2 December, 1864. John W. McCall saw action in the following engagements: Seven Days Battle; Gettysburg; The Wilderness; Spotsylvania Court House; and the Shendandoah Valley Campaign.
I am from NY and have always loved this song. It's about pride of their land by the common person (who was not a slave owner}. Play it load with pride! Some of the Union commanders not only wanted to fight but they enjoyed the destruction of a persons sole by destroying their homes, land and pride. I live in the south now and I do love this land. Most of the people in the south fought for their love of the land and probably never would have gone to war except for the few who declared it. Isn't that the way it always is ???? Push people to hard down to the ground and sooner or later we all will fight or be crushed. No one really won....they all lost !!!!!! They were all soldiers doing their job they were told to do. Very sad it was their own friends and family they were forced to kill. Most of the slave owners became the commanders who sent others in to do their work...Sound familiar? The common man paid the toll.......home family & lives (on both sides).
Gwenhamara actually to an old unrepentant rebel such as myself, it ain’t over yet! I’d never met a Yankee until I joined The Marine Corps. Was a spoiled sheltered Mississippi boy whose mama hid behind her apron strings from all the bad the world has to offer! I would soon see it first hand and shared it with those northern boys I came to love as brothers. They were from South Philly and Pittsburg and New York! A war divided us once but I had not been raised to believe I was better than anybody but rather to be a servant to all that live in this great nation. We never discussed the war only those that pertained to us. Those actions of the modern day that killed a few of us and crippled a few more. Only once did another Marine who was from New York make reference to the Civil War and the fact the North won. Sneered at me when he said it and my reply was the same as here! The war ain’t over yet! SEMPER FIDELIS.
Well said. Wounds have healed for the most part, many in my family are still Democrats because the Republicans were all Yankees. My uncle quit speaking to me in 2001 because I said I thought Bush did a OK job as governor in my Texas, (now, not so much, in fact he disgusts me) we never spoke again. This is the legacy still today 153 years later. Anyway, there is truth in why the south was fighting because of the North's policies and taxes which were not apportioned across the United States, this will piss people off. So the, "elite southerners" revolted and yes, the common man paid. Blacks, and Hispanics served in the South too but you won't hear it as history is written, produced, and scripted by the winners. The South wanted what was guaranteed by the Constitution, and The Bill of Rights, which frankly we still don't have in purity. In the end I'll say this, I have many Yankee friends still in MA, MI, NY, and PA and now down here and I love them and they all agree that the South was right. Men want freedom and liberty and to be unmolested, and they will kill if it is taken away.
IM FROM JASPER, AL. THIS SONG BREAKS MY HEART. SO MANY STORIES IVE BEEN TOLD. THE SOUTH SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRIED TO REBEL. SO MUCH BLOOD SOAKED IN THE EARTH HERE. THE LAND WILL NEVER HEAL. MY DADDYS NAME WAS VIRGIL....
I was born in Texas and my father as from La, with that said......No, the South should have rebelled and won the War. I have Confederate blood in my veins, one great uncle served in artillery under Gen. Polk, and the other two, one cavalvy and on infantry at Chickamauga. The South should've won not the damned blue bellies.
@@adamerickson8720 then they should have been able to exercise State's rights. This war was about machinery and money, it was NEVER about slavery. Lincoln smartly "used" the issue of the day to gain Northern support. A video about that would be interesting.
@Steve Brown Google is a verb! You can look it up, it became about slavery when it was useful as a cause for Lincoln. It was a war of industrialization. Which was a good thing in the end but they might of we'll have salted the earth on their March to the sea.
I saw the comment about who wrote it. Did Robert E Lee ever make it over to Tennessee. I thought he stayed with The Army of Northern Virginia in the east. It was a bit of a trip over to Tennessee in those days. If the writer is referring to The Robert E Lee steamboat it could have been on the Mississippi river as we all know it borders the west side of Tennessee.
shagwellington the reference is to The Robert E Lee a train known as tbe General. Lovely rendition but she gets the words wrong eg: it's the Stoneman's cavalry - reference to a Yankee general and it's not till so much cavalry , as well as The Robert E Lee not the individual as stated earlier.
If the writer.( who was a Canadian Civil War buff) meant a train, the lyrics are total fiction. In the song Virgil says he joined his wife in Tennessee after Richmond fell. Richmond was the most heavily defended objective of that war. It didn't fall to Northern forces until April 3rd, 1865, right before the end of the war. One of the first things the North did was destroy all of the Confederate railroads. There could not have been any trains running south of the Mason/Dixon line after Richmond fell. Hence his wife would not have seen any train named after Robert E Lee.
Wrong about there being no trains in the South at the end of the war . Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Government evacuated Richmond and headed to Danville , Va. , the last capitol of the Confederacy ,via The Richmond & Danville RR . The remaining Confederates burned the bridge spanning the James River after the southbound train had passed . Davis and his cabinet met , for the last time , in the Sutherlin Mansion in Danville .
I read Robbie Robertsons original words were "there goes Robert E Lee". It was drawn to his attention it didn't fit in time frame or geographic .So was changed to "The Robert E Lee" .the paddle steamer which fitted in time & location.
Always thought the phrase was "Stoneman's cavalry". Stoneman was a Union cavalry officer who led a raid through Danville, Virginia in early 1865 -- to destroy the railroad that Confederates might use to escape from Richmond.
You are spot on. The true lyrics are "Stoneman's cavalry", a reference to an actual historical figure. Although I love Joan's voice and the backing vocals on this, not all the words are correct.
Joan has a great voice, and does a solid job with this song, BUT I wish that she had not changed the lyrics from The Band's original lyrics. They made more sense. I heard Joan's version first. It didn't make a whole lot of sense. Why/how did she "take the train to Richmond" after the tracks were torn up? In the original, Stoneman's cavalry, not so much cavalry tore up the tracks, which is historically accurate. And the next line goes "By May the 10th, Richmond had fell". That makes so much more sense. The first time I heard The Band's version, it all came clear. And Levon Helm's powerful vocals make you feel really Virgil's pain, in the South's losing war effort.
I descend from 6 great grandfathers who were members of the Continental Army and fought in the Revolutionary War in South & North Carolina. Blows my mind less than a century later, their descendants fought in the Confederate Army against the Union.
i hate to be the one to say this, but they were not men of honor, and not really something you should be proud of. unless you would like to own and torture people of color into doing your work with no pay.
@@malenadonovan411 You're not only wrong, you're also uneducated, torture was almost unheard of on the plantations. You should also be made aware of the fact that "Slavery" was not the reason the north went to war with us, it was only a political excuse made to elicit an emotional response and gain support that the northerners would not have given otherwise. Yes they were men of honor, have you ever heard of southerners raping and pillaging northern towns? Only the north did that, the very thing this song is about is "Sherman's march to the sea".
@@Oneamongthelegion im not quite sure im the uneducated one. i have done extensive research about the purpose of the civil war and it is all about how the union wanted to prevent the expansion of slave territory while the confederates wanted to expand their slave territories. Of course, there were more reasons but, the main one was slavery. if you were educated about the treatment of slaves during that time you would know about the brutal beatings, slave collars, murder, and rape. which, in my book, qualifies as torture. also, in no way am i excusing the horrible things that the north did as well. however, that is not the topic of discussion and the crimes of the north barely compare to the atrocity that took place in the south at the time.
@@malenadonovan411 Have you ever heard of something called,"King cotton"? That was the reason the north attacked the south, they wanted the money from the cotton export that had made the south rich. The ability to spout northern propaganda,(And yes, it is propaganda, the victors always get to write the history books) does not make you correct, the southerners were not the blood-thirsty monsters the history books says we were, the "Facts" you are quoting are nothing more then the successful culmination of a propaganda campaign launched 150 years ago. You think the war was over slavery? then why did the north still have slaves years after the end of the war? Did you also know the famous "Emancipation proclamation" only freed the southern slaves, not the northern ones.
@@southerngal4655 Lee fought for an enemy of the US that sought to keep human beings as chattel slaves. Best to not leave monuments to people like that.
Recognise the tune which same as the song "Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb" - seems strange listening to it with different words when the music is the same.
I'm sorry but i must respectfully disagree. I am a student of the civil war. Robert E Lee never marched or fought in Nashville Tennessee. Lee commanded in the eastern theater. Nashville us in the western theater. John Bell Hood was in command for the confederacy during the Franklin/Nashville campaign. Lee never fought or commanded in the western theater.
its a song about the US Civil War, from the perspective of the Confederates, who lost. it was a deadly, destructive war, and the conquering Union Army was ruthless in destroying the ability of the Confederates' to continue to resist. At the conclusion of the war, in the winter of 1864-1865, General Sherman and his soldiers sacked Atlanta, and then continued from there 250 miles to Savannah, destroying everything in their path, including railroads and infrastructure, torching buildings, etc. On December 22, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman wrote out the following now-famous note to President Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns & plenty of ammunition & also about 25000 bales of cotton”. Back to the song, it is a lament regarding the destruction.
I may be in the minority here, but I can’t help it. Baez’s version is a pale, tepid rendition of the great original recorded by The Band, written by Robbie Robertson. And she didn’t even get the words right: “Like my father before me, I will work the land”, not “I’m a working man”. “I swear by the MUD below my feet” not “blood”.
Ultimately, this masterpiece is one of the best antiwar songs ever written. Some ignorant people think it's some kind of anthem for the glory of the old South, but it's about the effects the war had on a regular person and the personal cost on him.
Long live old dixie.this song is brill.x u/ k.
Dixie ❤️
😅
Right!
Makes me emotional.
I love our History. Breaks my heart modern people tore down statues and anything confederate. My own county courthouse removed a memorial plaque commemorating the heroes of the civil war. It just broke my heart.💔
Joan Baez sang that song so beautifully.
Those memorials you like so much were put in place during the civil rights era, not the civil war era. Get over it. The confederacy LOST THE WAR.
A beautiful song that tells a true story. Many songs from the 1970s teach history better than schools do today.
Way better
What a beautiful song from Robbie Robertson, who wrote this classic. And what a beautiful cover version by the great Joan Baez. Such a beautiful, classic song.
A number of people have covered this song but no one sings it with the passion of Joan Baez classic
PUHLEEESE! Instead of listening to 'covers' try listening to the ORIGINAL! The Band, in their movie 'The Last Waltz', had the DEFINITIVE version of this song. Levon Helm's powerful vocals convey the powerful emotions of someone who was there.
Despite Joan having a GREAT voice, I don't like her changing the lyrics from The Band's original ones.
This is Levon's song period. I agree, he sang his heart out on the live Last Waltz version!
Yes this version for me is the best 😊
Joan’s rendition is different class
Robert E Lee marched in front of my family's home in Nashville Tennessee... it burned down due to an electrical short, it was an historical landmark. I feel every statue of every war should not be taken away, like they never happened, whichever side it represents.
Its in Nashville's historical society, it appeared in the newspaper ...
" Fontaine Farmhouse"
Thankyou, from Colin Glasgow, Scotland, pure history.
"I think it wiser ... not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”
- Robert E. Lee on confederate statues
Fair comment, sir, every soldier would I'm sure agree.
you are right it is history the good and the bad.
What an amazingly beautiful cover of the classic great song from Robbie Robertson and The Band. Thank you, Joan! Beautiful!
RIP Robbie and thank you for giving us such wonderful music ...
I learned just this weekend what this song was really about. I was in Danville, Virginia this past weekend and looked up the town for its history. It’s an old town from the late 1700s on the Dan River. They used this river to transport munitions by boat to Danville, because a few major railways went through there, so they could transfers the ammunition by railway. Between Danville and Richmond somewhere, the Union soldiers tore up the railroad tracks so the trains could not be used. Hence, they ‘drove Dixie down.’ Interesting history in that town, and the setting is lovely right on the Dan River.
Love to visit and learn more. Thank you for sharing.
Very correct. Im from virginia and i admire your desire to educate yourself on history. Its something i do too when visiting a new place. We should never forget history, a lesson lately that seems to take a revisionist theme.
Thanks for sharing
@@smokinC5 They removed Lee's statue in Richmond today. That will not change history! Not will removing others.
@@southerngal4655 smh. To be replaced with george floyd or some taliban chieftain im sure. Sad state of affairs, this country.
Great historic photos to go with Joan's beautiful voice.
my favorite picture was the one of the confederate flag! i 100% love being reminded that my ancestors were owned and tortured by racists that used that flag to represent themselves!!
@@malenadonovan411 if you're going to be listening to a sing about dixie and the american civil war dont be surprised to see the confederate battle flag.
Great Song + Photos here!
@@malenadonovan411 get over it!
I like this Civil War song. The man Virgil Caine tells about the war as he saw and experienced it. There are other versions of this song which seems more appropriate for a man but for me Joan Baez's version is the best. She sings with such feeling and charisma she really nails it and squarely.
The lyrics tell of the last days of the American Civil War and the suffering of the South.
The song hits me deeply as I can remember being hungry more than once in my life...hunger is a fierce thing and every war results in the defeated ones starving to death.
I'm a Canadian veteran and I've seen starvation caused by war and conflict...those visions became nightmares and I am wracked by ptsd.
Only thing war ever taught me is that we ALL bleed red...
@@mikepreston-engel8869 We all are made of flesh, bones and blood. We all can feel pain and joy. So, better not to cause pain or minimize the pain as much as possible and try to share joy with others and help them when you can.
AC G J I think he learned that lesson long ago.
agreed 100%
Beautiful woman, inside and out
what a voice, what a song.
Growing up in the 60's and having had older siblings who always had their radios blaring, I had been exposed to the music that they listened to (The Beatles, etc.) on AM radio.
(Yep, AM radio is mostly what we kids had to listen to back in the day.)
But, still being a child, and not having neared adolesence yet or having had my musical tastes mature and develop enough at the ages that I was during the '60's, those awesome years of older sibling's music was all just background noise to me back then..
And then I came into my own..........
I remember it like it was last month.
On a warm summer day in August of 1971, I found myself in the rare situation of having the whole house to myself for awhile. Everyone was gone, off doing something else, including my mom (who was a single mom raising 4 kids.)
There I was, sitting in the living room all by myself, and I turned on the family stereo, and suddenly became spellbound by the music that KFRC (in San Francisco, where we lived at the time) was putting out on the airwaves in a way that gripped me like I had never been gripped by anything before.
I started grooving to song after song.
I couldn't turn it off--and I didn't all afternoon.
I sat there for hours, listening to the Top 20 (or so) tunes, until they started repeating them all. (I soon also found KYA, the competition to KFRC, which then became the two stations that proceeeded to work my wrist out on a daily basis by turning the radio dial back and forth between the two stations for the next several years.)
My intense love for pop/rock music began with a bang on that day--and with good reason. (More on that in a minute.)
Starting right then at the tender age of 10, I began listening to AM radio in earnest on the family stereo that we had in our living room at the time, shortly before this song by Joan Baez entered the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. I have always tended to use that chart as what I consider to be the best "measuring stick" of pop/rock/Top 40 music from 1955 (around the time of the birth of Rock 'N Roll) all the way to present day.
I don't know if younger generations can really even appreciate what I'm about to say, but if you were around and listening to mainstream Top 40 music during the 60's, 70's, and 80's (my favorite decades) and you want to get a grasp of my fascination level with the music that the radio stations were playing back on that day in August of 1971 (and then going forward after that for many years), I urge you to have a look at the Billboard Hot 100 chart, beginning in August, 1971. It's very easy to see the archived charts by running a search for "the Billboard Hot 100", and then indicating the time frame that you are interested in.
The charts were updated weekly, and you can likewise research them on a weekly basis going way back.. You can see which songs were in the Top 10 from one week to the next by examining any weeks that you'd like to when you're on the Hot 100 website (or Top 20, etc. ........you can scour the entire Top 100, if you'd like).
To this day, I think that the particular period of music that was on the charts right when I started listening to it was one of the best periods EVER. 1971 was, without a doubt, one of the best years ever for pop music, and a fantastic year that was rich with great songs that crowded the Top 20 with wonderful music--if you were into that sort of thing--which, like I said, I found myself deleriously INTO , BIG TIME, starting on that warm summer day.
Just peruse the charts beginning in the summer of '71 (and of course, for years both BEFORE AND AFTER, as well, as your particular soft spot may have been the music from a different era and set of years)--but if you remember all the music that I'm talking about from the aforementioned decades, just check out what I'm saying. I think many would agree, the songs that you'll find from the charts in 1971 would be REAL hard to beat. But then, of course, '72 was also great, as was '73, '74, '75, etc.--so, bottom line, I got in at a PERFECT time to enjoy years and years of great pop/Top 40 by getting into it right when I did.
This song by Joan Baez was one of the very early entries into my newfound fascination with music back then. I've always thought it quite interesting that she's a girl (woman) singing a man's tune--that is, a tune that by its lyrics, literally implies that a man is singing it--and yet, as far as I know, her version of it absolutely blew the doors off of anyone else's version of it--EVER--and hers was the most successful version "chart-wise" of this song in history.
Enough said for now.
Happy listening!
Amen to that!! Never will be any better music than that!
I was born in 1992 and was raised on my mom’s music. 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, the occasional 90’s. Back when Napster was still a thing, my aunt burned a ton of CD’s with so many great classics. This song was one of them! What solidified my musical taste happened when I was only two years old. My dad bought my mom the Carpenters Singles 1969-1973 CD. My identical twin and I pretty much demanded that ‘Sing’ be played at all hours of the day. We listened to it on repeat in the car. When I was about five or so, I decided to listen to the entire CD and realized for sure that Karen Carpenter was my favorite singer of all time. I remember asking my mom if I could go to a Carpenters concert, only to be told that Karen had been dead for over ten years. Such a sad thing to learn. I wish I could have been alive when my mom was a kid. The things she did, the songs that were popular on the radio, the bands she saw live. Must have been something special. My generation of music is garbage for the most part. There are a few good songs here and there, but none of it is real. It’s all auto tuned garbage. Thank you for sharing your experience with someone like me!
I was 10 years old in 1971....I had 4 siblings.....mother was single raising 5 kids alone....The time frame (music) from 1971-1975 was ABSOLUTELY LIFE CHANGING TO ME.....I agree that this music is the best humans will ever know...the song writing, the emotions captured, the chorus'...just beautiful....Thank God for RUclips.....I almost NEVER WATCH TV or listen to music from today.....IT IS MOSTLY CRAP COMPARED to what we knew as kids growing up....
That was a great post, and took me back down memory lane. I'm guessing that I am about 10 years older than you, so I grew up listening to Elvis and others. THEN the '60's hit, and the British Invasion. I remember our whole family sitting around the tv to watch The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show, because we had been hearing so much in the news about them.
I believe that the '60s and '70s were by far, the best music decades ever. I see constant posts from young people who have discovered that music, and love it.
Consider this: for all of their extensive catalog of great songs, Creedence Clearwater Revival NEVER had a number 1 hit. That fact alone, shows how much great music was out there back then.
Since you love Joan Baez's version of this song so much, do yourself a favor, and listen to the original version of it by The Band. Their best version is from their movie, The Last Waltz.
I couldn't get this song out of my head. 2020.
Neither can I. As a matter of fact the song was playing in my head when I woke up this morning so when I got up naturally I grabbed my phone, found the song and played it!
Same
Are you from the South?
me too 2022
Joan Baez recorded this when I was a freshman in high school in 1969. 😉
Don’t give a damn. I am a black man and I love this song. Remember it very well listening to it on AM radio back in the 70’s.
respect.
That makes two of us sir.✌
So happened to me
Not surprised, it is an anti war song. Love it.
This song is so incredibly relevant in this time and space.
Its gonna happen again.
Reminds me of my southern ancestors and their 2 plantations and what they faced. The song is haunting and gives me goosebumps.
That chorus..! Mighty!
When people deny history then no one learns by the mistakes made and are doomed to repeat ps this is a beautiful song from across the pond
Passionate song. Lyrics say it all. Some don't understand the suffering that has stood time. My family was never in the war yet I know others who have suffered. Family plots I've visited. Much respect. Much heartache shared
I remember this song when I was a teenagers never gave it much thought back then . Always Loved it .Joan baez's best song ever. I think it's kinda sad that they tore down all the statues of Confederate it's still history and they were all Americans.
Be proud of you history,what happened happened, from the UK
how do you be proud of a history that includes treating humans as property?
be proud of the southern heritage...i am till i die
@@rarmai That's what the freedom of the slaves was all about.Why do people keep bringing it up today? Why don't you offer them your money and your time if you feel so bad about it ?
Do you know that every slave was treated like property or badly? Slavery is a reality and it still goes on in the world today in places like Africa. At least the U.S. tried to do something about it.
Deal in the here and now not in the then and gone.
@@patcola7335 _"Deal in the here and now not in the then and gone"_ makes no sense when the conversation is *history...* It's specifically about the "then."
A beautiful song from the era when singers could actually sing. Joans vocal control is absolutely amazing. Soon, nobody will be singing, it will all be AI.
This song peaked at number 1 the week I was in the hospital recovering from near crippling back surgery. Such powerful memories. Everytime I think of or hear some things from that month and year, and how I later recovered by hard work, dedication, diet and martial arts that most people would dream of achieving, I re-dedicate myself to taking care of myself. Now at 64, and able to retire quite well off financially, I am not going to go the drugs or alcohol or overweight path. I got a pass by being in beyond All American shape just prior to my back injury which allowed me to help recover after the surgery. I still remember people around the recovery room crying when I asked how soon would I be able to play hockey again? The consensus was they doubted I would walk again. Well, I walked, ran, wrestled, golfed, Tae Kwon Do'd, passed the US Air Force fitness tests, graduated from Officer Training School, left service as a Captain, and did just about every sport out there.
👏
Good for you. You are a living example of the poem “It couldn’t be done”. Here’s the first and last verses.
“Somebody said it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That maybe it couldn’t but he wouldn’t be one
Who would say so until he had tried
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face if he worried he hid it
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done and he did it. --
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done
There are thousands to prophesy failure
There are thousands to point out to you one by one
The dangers that wait to assail you
But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin
And take off your coat and go to it
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done” and you’ll do it.
More power to you. You knew you could do it. So you just went ahead and did it. God Bless
The south remembers!
great song . Exciting song . very emotional
Lyrics
Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train
'Til so much cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
I took the train to Richmond that fell
It was a time I remember, oh so well
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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na"
"Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na"
Back with my wife in Tennessee and one day she said to me
"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee"
Now, I don't mind, I'm 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
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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na"
"Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na"
Like my father before me, I'm a workin' man
And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
Well, 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 the Cain back up when it's in defeat
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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na"
"Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na"
It's so sad to see all of these historical houses and buildings destroyed. I'm Southern, and very proud of it. As a whole, we are a very strong and intelligent people, although some make all of us look like idiots. I have always been against slavery, and what was done to people of a different color, and I still am. Everybody deserves to live a life that they can be proud of, and one that makes a difference.
Karen Lovett - are you able to identify the photo at 2:20? Is that Jefferson Davis and his family? Thank you
@@sutherland9 Yes!
@@janicelefever9885 One of my better-informed correspondents identified the photo as John Minor Botts and Family - www.loc.gov/item/2018672060/
Yes I’m black and I still wanted to see the plantations and statues, not because it was right but just part of history. We can’t change history
@@Firevest I agree. I am white. When I go to art museums I see statues of Roman emperors that are 2,500 years old. They owned white slaves and treated them very badly but I see no reason to demolish those statues.
I love this song. Joan Baez Johnny Cash...every version is wonderful. Thanks for video
Didn't even know Johnny had a version. Checking it out now!
@@oldhunternadir4194 did you enjoy?
Great song by a beautiful lady!
I am a Buckeye, love old dixie.
Just had to listen to this song. Especially tonight. January 5th, 2021.
I can't get this song out of my head.
Please help me
But time is given back!
Hello, very nice.
Song touches my heart. I'm from New York.
Me too and I'm from Australia
I'm from Vermont same brother
Gee I remember this song growing up I didn't understand completely what it was about till now 40years later....interesting times
What a beautiful and very very sad period of the Civil war
Our history! Our heritage!
She says THE Robert E. Lee which was a Riverboat, not the actual man.
I noticed that
No one ever thought she meant the man. It has always meant the boat.
Love these story songs,they tell so much😎
Robert E. Lee was about the Mississippi boat named after the general, not about the man himself.
Thanks for that. I always was a bit unsure of that verse. Like the Grateful Dead cover of this song Garcia says '...there goes the Robert E. Lee.'
she sings "till so much Calvary came and tore up the tracks again" I heard it sung elsewhere as "Till Stoneman's Cavalry came and they tore up the tracks again", which is more historically accurate. But she makes up for it with the passion and feeling she puts into her version.
doesn't matter, artists have always sang the same song with their own unique lyrics
You are historically correct.
Well both are accurate but her version is less precise.
We loved this in high school
Was big in australia, i was 14 riding a pushbike, simpler times
I'm embarrassed, I had to look up what a pushbike was in Oz. Here in Murica we just call them bikes, but even back then ours had pedals on them, so we could sit on them and ride, instead pushing them around. ; )
I was 5 when Joan released this. I can remember sitting in the backseat of my Uncle Don's car. Him and my Aunt Pat, singing this together, as it played on the radio.
We were in Spotswood, NJ. 1971.
And I was in Englewood, NJ and a teen when this was released, 1971.
THE song for 2020.
It is indeed. A Timeless Classic!
Putin's puppet trump is following every step of Putin's coup of America hand book
1/5/2021
you are so right, you need to soak in all the racism you can before people start holding others accountable!!
"A rebel stance" emotional song
The war ended in April 1865. No tracks were torn up in December. Robert E. Lee never went to Tennessee. (Longstreet did). But the song is VERY cool. Love it.
🏍️ The R.E.Lee in the song is a riverboat.⛴️
A good song that really doesn't talk about the morality of slavery, but a personal story of one man's experience of the Civil War. Many times it was brother against brother. My mom had relatives from Mississippi who didn't speak to each other because of their positions on the Civil War.
And this was in the 1938's
So much loss. Senseless 😭
i wouldn't speak to my brother either if they wanted to enslave and torture people of color :))
For as much criticism as you can give to the south for their pro-slavery stance, remember too that they and the native Americans were strong allies, as the Indians had long been oppressed by the federal government, and the CSA had promised the indians that they could have their own land as an independent country.
Blacks owned more slaves percentage wise than whites and Indians owned a higher number than that.
It was high time... Don't you think!
General Lee 💪great general
A true hero
Written by a Canadian . Who would have thought!
Gives me Goosebumps evertime!🙏🙆🙋
Excellent song and video , good job !
The best photo compilation to the song I've ever seen! Thank you! You should do a Civil War statues before they're all gone....
woo woo! definitely make a compilation of civil war statues before they are taken down for celebrating racism!!! or don't make one, that would probably be best.
@@malenadonovan411 You Liberal skum
@@jurikurthambarskjelfir3533 im not even liberal lmao
@@malenadonovan411 But you're democrat and look like one.
@@jurikurthambarskjelfir3533 im independent actually, and you dont even know what i look like
OMG I remember this song
A good song for the civil war. Glad we have not gone through the same thing in Australia.
Yet
Great song 🎵 and singer
class photos,class song
A house divided against itself cannot stand. I wonder what reconstruction would gave been like if Lincoln had lived.
He would have had problems with the radical Republicans, but settling matters with Britain would come first.
@@minnowpd...and the KKK was of the Democrats.
@@patcola7335 The democrats of the day were fighting for less federal power and more individual state power which is a central tenet of the opposite of each party today. It's inaccurate to say they simply flipped, but it's even more illogical to say they stayed the same.
Great video great singer great song.
My G-G-Grandfather, John W. McCall enlisted as a private with Company H, 10th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Wilcox County Rifles, on 20 May, 1861. He was promoted to 4th Corporal on 15 June, 1861 and to First Lieutenant on 2 December, 1864. John W. McCall saw action in the following engagements: Seven Days Battle; Gettysburg; The Wilderness; Spotsylvania Court House; and the Shendandoah Valley Campaign.
This is from 1971 So far what's she ' s singing about hasn't happened again
Classic!!
Thoughtful and evocative.
Love this. Thank you.
Meaning of the song and slideshow differ quite a bit, also she is singing (in error to the original lyrics) the Robert E. Lee like the name of a boat.
I am from NY and have always loved this song. It's about pride of their land by the common person (who was not a slave owner}. Play it load with pride!
Some of the Union commanders not only wanted to fight but they enjoyed the destruction of a persons sole by destroying their homes, land and pride.
I live in the south now and I do love this land.
Most of the people in the south fought for their love of the land and probably never would have gone to war except for the few who declared it. Isn't that the way it always is ???? Push people to hard down to the ground and sooner or later we all will fight or be crushed.
No one really won....they all lost !!!!!!
They were all soldiers doing their job they were told to do. Very sad it was their own friends and family they were forced to kill.
Most of the slave owners became the commanders who sent others in to do their work...Sound familiar? The common man paid the toll.......home family & lives (on both sides).
Thank you for understanding the meaning of the song. "No one really won.... they all lost"
Actually the union won. April 1865. It's very generous of you to claim that no one really won but that is false.
Gwenhamara actually to an old unrepentant rebel such as myself, it ain’t over yet! I’d never met a Yankee until I joined The Marine Corps. Was a spoiled sheltered Mississippi boy whose mama hid behind her apron strings from all the bad the world has to offer! I would soon see it first hand and shared it with those northern boys I came to love as brothers. They were from South Philly and Pittsburg and New York! A war divided us once but I had not been raised to believe I was better than anybody but rather to be a servant to all that live in this great nation. We never discussed the war only those that pertained to us. Those actions of the modern day that killed a few of us and crippled a few more. Only once did another Marine who was from New York make reference to the Civil War and the fact the North won. Sneered at me when he said it and my reply was the same as here! The war ain’t over yet! SEMPER FIDELIS.
Stormy Llewellyn You’re drunk.
Well said. Wounds have healed for the most part, many in my family are still Democrats because the Republicans were all Yankees. My uncle quit speaking to me in 2001 because I said I thought Bush did a OK job as governor in my Texas, (now, not so much, in fact he disgusts me) we never spoke again. This is the legacy still today 153 years later. Anyway, there is truth in why the south was fighting because of the North's policies and taxes which were not apportioned across the United States, this will piss people off. So the, "elite southerners" revolted and yes, the common man paid. Blacks, and Hispanics served in the South too but you won't hear it as history is written, produced, and scripted by the winners. The South wanted what was guaranteed by the Constitution, and The Bill of Rights, which frankly we still don't have in purity. In the end I'll say this, I have many Yankee friends still in MA, MI, NY, and PA and now down here and I love them and they all agree that the South was right. Men want freedom and liberty and to be unmolested, and they will kill if it is taken away.
IM FROM JASPER, AL. THIS SONG BREAKS MY HEART. SO MANY STORIES IVE BEEN TOLD. THE SOUTH SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRIED TO REBEL. SO MUCH BLOOD SOAKED IN THE EARTH HERE. THE LAND WILL NEVER HEAL. MY DADDYS NAME WAS VIRGIL....
Precisely the lesson I try to teach my students. War was never the answer.
Kelly Byrd i understand. Sorry for your loss.
I was born in Texas and my father as from La, with that said......No, the South should have rebelled and won the War. I have Confederate blood in my veins, one great uncle served in artillery under Gen. Polk, and the other two, one cavalvy and on infantry at Chickamauga. The South should've won not the damned blue bellies.
@@adamerickson8720 then they should have been able to exercise State's rights. This war was about machinery and money, it was NEVER about slavery. Lincoln smartly "used" the issue of the day to gain Northern support. A video about that would be interesting.
@Steve Brown Google is a verb! You can look it up, it became about slavery when it was useful as a cause for Lincoln. It was a war of industrialization. Which was a good thing in the end but they might of we'll have salted the earth on their March to the sea.
Three Billboards.
I am dedicating this song to Chen Yao of Muelheim/Germany...may it enchant you!
FYI...this song written in 1969 by a Canadian from Toronto, Ontario just across the lake from my home in NY.
( not a southerner)
Interesting. I wonder what inspired him? What was his name?
Robbie Robertson from the Band but Levon Helm claims he helped in the research and sang the original recording and he's a southerner.
In honor of their bandmate from Arkansas, thus the Southern flavor.
I saw the comment about who wrote it. Did Robert E Lee ever make it over to Tennessee. I thought he stayed with The Army of Northern Virginia in the east. It was a bit of a trip over to Tennessee in those days. If the writer is referring to The Robert E Lee steamboat it could have been on the Mississippi river as we all know it borders the west side of Tennessee.
shagwellington the reference is to The Robert E Lee a train known as tbe General. Lovely rendition but she gets the words wrong eg: it's the Stoneman's cavalry - reference to a Yankee general and it's not till so much cavalry , as well as The Robert E Lee not the individual as stated earlier.
If the writer.( who was a Canadian Civil War buff) meant a train, the lyrics are total fiction. In the song Virgil says he joined his wife in Tennessee after Richmond fell. Richmond was the most heavily defended objective of that war. It didn't fall to Northern forces until April 3rd, 1865, right before the end of the war. One of the first things the North did was destroy all of the Confederate railroads. There could not have been any trains running south of the Mason/Dixon line after Richmond fell. Hence his wife would not have seen any train named after Robert E Lee.
Wrong about there being no trains in the South at the end of the war . Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Government evacuated Richmond and headed to Danville , Va. , the last capitol of the Confederacy ,via The Richmond & Danville RR . The remaining Confederates burned the bridge spanning the James River after the southbound train had passed . Davis and his cabinet met , for the last time , in the Sutherlin Mansion in Danville .
I read Robbie Robertsons original words were "there goes Robert E Lee". It was drawn to his attention it didn't fit in time frame or geographic .So was changed to "The Robert E Lee" .the paddle steamer which fitted in time & location.
Great song
Im only 18 but i still love this song
The Band's live version from The Last Dance is THE version but this is not bad.
It's that time again.
Well done...
Always thought the phrase was "Stoneman's cavalry". Stoneman was a Union cavalry officer who led a raid through Danville, Virginia in early 1865 -- to destroy the railroad that Confederates might use to escape from Richmond.
You are spot on. The true lyrics are "Stoneman's cavalry", a reference to an actual historical figure. Although I love Joan's voice and the backing vocals on this, not all the words are correct.
@@Argus-z1r She knew she had made an error and corrected the one above later on in concert.
Loved it always did 💖🙏
The night the drove old Dixie down. Virgil Caine is a rebel. I’m a rebel .
Joan has a great voice, and does a solid job with this song, BUT I wish that she had not changed the lyrics from The Band's original lyrics. They made more sense. I heard Joan's version first. It didn't make a whole lot of sense.
Why/how did she "take the train to Richmond" after the tracks were torn up?
In the original, Stoneman's cavalry, not so much cavalry tore up the tracks, which is historically accurate. And the next line goes "By May the 10th, Richmond had fell". That makes so much more sense.
The first time I heard The Band's version, it all came clear. And Levon Helm's powerful vocals make you feel really Virgil's pain, in the South's losing war effort.
Awesome! 👍
Brown skin people fought that war but never gave them any credit now we will take all the credit!
War is hell!
I descend from 6 great grandfathers who were members of the Continental Army and fought in the Revolutionary War in South & North Carolina. Blows my mind less than a century later, their descendants fought in the Confederate Army against the Union.
Your forefathers were men of honor, they knew what freedom was.
i hate to be the one to say this, but they were not men of honor, and not really something you should be proud of. unless you would like to own and torture people of color into doing your work with no pay.
@@malenadonovan411 You're not only wrong, you're also uneducated, torture was almost unheard of on the plantations.
You should also be made aware of the fact that "Slavery" was not the reason the north went to war with us, it was only a political excuse made to elicit an emotional response and gain support that the northerners would not have given otherwise.
Yes they were men of honor, have you ever heard of southerners raping and pillaging northern towns? Only the north did that, the very thing this song is about is "Sherman's march to the sea".
@@Oneamongthelegion im not quite sure im the uneducated one. i have done extensive research about the purpose of the civil war and it is all about how the union wanted to prevent the expansion of slave territory while the confederates wanted to expand their slave territories. Of course, there were more reasons but, the main one was slavery. if you were educated about the treatment of slaves during that time you would know about the brutal beatings, slave collars, murder, and rape. which, in my book, qualifies as torture. also, in no way am i excusing the horrible things that the north did as well. however, that is not the topic of discussion and the crimes of the north barely compare to the atrocity that took place in the south at the time.
@@malenadonovan411 Have you ever heard of something called,"King cotton"?
That was the reason the north attacked the south, they wanted the money from the cotton export that had made the south rich.
The ability to spout northern propaganda,(And yes, it is propaganda, the victors always get to write the history books) does not make you correct, the southerners were not the blood-thirsty monsters the history books says we were, the "Facts" you are quoting are nothing more then the successful culmination of a propaganda campaign launched 150 years ago. You think the war was over slavery? then why did the north still have slaves years after the end of the war?
Did you also know the famous "Emancipation proclamation" only freed the southern slaves, not the northern ones.
Joan Baez
Says it all
Love this song. Need to find a way to save it before they decide it’s not PC
So very true! They removed Lee's statue today in Richmond. Sad day!
my Dad's family is Mississippi - my mom's is Northern Illinois - honor them both as best you can, as I do
@@southerngal4655 Lee fought for an enemy of the US that sought to keep human beings as chattel slaves. Best to not leave monuments to people like that.
Recognise the tune which same as the song "Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb" - seems strange listening to it with different words when the music is the same.
Conny Kramer is a cover of this tune, set in Ireland.
Long live Dixie
I'm sorry but i must respectfully disagree. I am a student of the civil war. Robert E Lee never marched or fought in Nashville Tennessee. Lee commanded in the eastern theater. Nashville us in the western theater. John Bell Hood was in command for the confederacy during the Franklin/Nashville campaign. Lee never fought or commanded in the western theater.
Relax it’s a song
And if you a “student of the civil war” you should know it had a lot more to it than just slavery
Looking for this lyrics after i woke up hearing the chorus in my dream..what it seems to be the meaning of this song..since ama pinay
its a song about the US Civil War, from the perspective of the Confederates, who lost. it was a deadly, destructive war, and the conquering Union Army was ruthless in destroying the ability of the Confederates' to continue to resist. At the conclusion of the war, in the winter of 1864-1865, General Sherman and his soldiers sacked Atlanta, and then continued from there 250 miles to Savannah, destroying everything in their path, including railroads and infrastructure, torching buildings, etc. On December 22, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman wrote out the following now-famous note to President Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns & plenty of ammunition & also about 25000 bales of cotton”. Back to the song, it is a lament regarding the destruction.
To continue their destruction they took down Lee's statue today in Richmond.
@@southerngal4655 Good
The only song I liked by Joan Baez
The "Robert E Lee" was a river boat.
It was named after the man?
@@sedativesounds2231 Yes, it was.
The song is "there goes "The" Robert E Lee. The video caption left out "the".
I may be in the minority here, but I can’t help it. Baez’s version is a pale, tepid rendition of the great original recorded by The Band, written by Robbie Robertson. And she didn’t even get the words right: “Like my father before me, I will work the land”, not “I’m a working man”. “I swear by the MUD below my feet” not “blood”.
Lyrics captions aren't that accurate.
The Bands' version doesn't do it for me the time signature/beat doesn't feel right, it's just too slow once you know this version.
Alice, my wife in Tennessee
It's "cavalry" not "calvary" see 3:13
Cavalry not calvary.