 | The Night They Drove Old Dixie DownThe Band |
Writer(s): Robbie Robertson (see lyrics here) Released: September 22, 1969 First Charted: 11/1/1969 (The Band), 8/6/1971 (Joan Baez) Peak: 7 CL, 10 CN (The Band), 3 BB, 3 CB, 2 GR, 11 HR, 15 AC, 6 UK (Baez) (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US (Baez) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 37.7 (Band), 17.1 (Baez) video, 104.56 (Band), 45.82 (Baez) streaming |
Awards (The Band):Click on award for more details. 
Awards (Joan Baez):Click on award for more details.
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About the Song:Author Dave Thompson called this “the song of the South, circa 1864.” DT Critic Ralph Gleason said, “Nothing I have read…has brought home the overwhelming sense of history that this song does...The rhythmic structure, [the vocal arrangement], make it seem impossible that this isn’t some traditional material handed down from fathe to son straight from the winter of 1865 to today.” SS “‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ is made to sing around the campfire, high-lonesome harmonies and all.” TM This “Civil War epic” SS is a “perfect folk ballad” TM that captures the “lament of a Confederate soldier standing in the ruins of the starving American South.” TM Not only was the song written more than a hundred years after the events it depicts, it was recorded by The Band, a rock group comprised of four Canadians and the Arkansas-born drummer Levon Helm. The group ironically came to be viewed as the originators of Americana music and this song could arguably be viewed as the pinnacle of the genre. Guitarist Robbie Robertson wrote the song over eight months. It was inspired by his fascination with screenwriter Tennesseee Williams and the American South. He first composed a melody on the piano and then, with considerable library research, crafted lyrics. SS “Looking at the war as an outsider allows a fresh perspective that deeply humanizes the song’s Southern soldier and his profound sense of loss without implying sympathy for the Southern cause.” SS While Robertson wrote it, it was Levon Helm who gave the song its “broken heartbeat,” TM “dirt-swept voice,” TM and “gritty integrity.” SS His performance in The Last Waltz concert movie from the Band is so powerful you’d swear Helm lived through the Civil War himself. Rock critic Greil Marcus said, “the performance leaves behind a feeling that for all our oppositions, every American still shares this odd event; because to this day, none of us has escaped its impact.” SS While The Band’s version of the song is the most iconic, it isn’t the one that charted. The Band only released the song as the B-side of “Up on Cripple Creek” so it didn’t reach the Billboard chart. However, in 1971 Joan Baez covered the song and reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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First posted 11/21/2025. |
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