The Band – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" was released on the Band's eponymous second album and as the flip side of the "Up on Cripple Creek" single. Its tale of the South during the U.S. Civil War delivered an anti-Vietnam message at the time of its release in 1969.

The Band included "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" on all their live albums and it has been covered by numerous artists, including Joan Baez,who actually had the bigger hit with it (#3 Canada, #3 US, $6 UK). Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as the 249th greatest song of all time and Bob Mersereau ranked it at 21 in The Top 100 Canadian Singles.

Click below for:

• the original album version
• the Last Waltz version
• the Joan Baez cover version
• the Johnny Cash cover version
• the Sheepdogs cover version

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Personnel

• Levon Helm – lead vocals, drums
• Rick Danko – bass, backing vocals
• Garth Hudson – melodica, slide trumpet
• Richard Manuel – acoustic piano, backing vocals
• Jaime Robbie Robertson – acoustic guitar

• The Band – The Weight (song)
• The Band – Acadian Driftwood (song)
• The Band – Up On Cripple Creek (song)
• Band – Music from Big Pink (album)
• The Band – The Band (album)
• The Band – The Last Waltz (album)