The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
| "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" | |
|---|---|
Side B of the Canadian single | |
| Single by the Band | |
| from the album The Band | |
| A-side | "Up on Cripple Creek" |
| Released | September 22, 1969 |
| Recorded | 1969 |
| Genre | Folk rock |
| Length | 3:33 |
| Label | Capitol |
| Songwriter(s) | Robbie Robertson |
| Producer(s) | John Simon |
| Audio | |
| "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band on YouTube | |
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song written by Robbie Robertson. It was originally recorded by his Canadian-American roots rock group The Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album. Levon Helm provided the lead vocals. 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.
Joan Baez's version peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 on October 2, 1971; it did likewise on the Cashbox Top 100 chart. However, on the Record World Top Singles chart for the week of September 25, 1971, the Baez single hit No. 1 for one week.