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"On May 26, 1940, born on this day, Levon Helm, drummer and singer with The Band. He died of throat cancer aged 71 on 19th April 2012. Helm formed his own high school band, the Jungle Bush Beaters, at 17, he later joined The Hawks (Ronnie Hawkins's backing group), who then became known as The Band and also backed Bob Dylan on his US tour in 1965 and world tour in 1966. Helm sang on Band classics like 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,' 'Up on Cripple Creek,' 'Rag Mama Rag,' and 'The Weight.'"
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Great song, SGT (Join to see)! Here’s some back story on the song.
"‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian-American roots rock group The Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album. Levon Helm provided the lead vocals.“
“The last time the song was performed by Helm was in The Last Waltz. Helm refused to play the song afterwards. Although it has long been believed that the reason for Helm's refusal to play the song was a dispute with Robertson over songwriting credits, according to Garth Hudson it was due to Helm's dislike for Joan Baez's version.”
“The most successful version of the song was released by Joan Baez in 1971. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US in October that year and spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 20 song for 1971. The version reached number six in the pop charts in the UK in October 1971. The song became a Gold record.”
“The Baez recording had some changes in the lyrics. Baez later told Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder that she initially learned the song by listening to the recording on the Band's album, and had never seen the printed lyrics at the time she recorded it, and thus sang the lyrics as she had (mis)heard them. In more recent years in her concerts, Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson.”
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen 1SG Steven Imerman Maj Marty Hogan SGT Robert Pryor
"‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ is a song written by Robbie Robertson and originally recorded by the Canadian-American roots rock group The Band in 1969 and released on their eponymous second album. Levon Helm provided the lead vocals.“
“The last time the song was performed by Helm was in The Last Waltz. Helm refused to play the song afterwards. Although it has long been believed that the reason for Helm's refusal to play the song was a dispute with Robertson over songwriting credits, according to Garth Hudson it was due to Helm's dislike for Joan Baez's version.”
“The most successful version of the song was released by Joan Baez in 1971. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US in October that year and spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 20 song for 1971. The version reached number six in the pop charts in the UK in October 1971. The song became a Gold record.”
“The Baez recording had some changes in the lyrics. Baez later told Rolling Stone's Kurt Loder that she initially learned the song by listening to the recording on the Band's album, and had never seen the printed lyrics at the time she recorded it, and thus sang the lyrics as she had (mis)heard them. In more recent years in her concerts, Baez has performed the song as originally written by Robertson.”
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen 1SG Steven Imerman Maj Marty Hogan SGT Robert Pryor
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LTC Stephen C.
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen, Joan’s version was a hit because of the way she sang it; it’s “sing ability”.
However, Helm took issue with Baez’s inadvertent changing of the lyrics.
“The original lyrics contained some historical information which lies hidden beneath Joan's re-telling. Joan sings:
Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train Til so much cavalry came, and tore up the tracks again.
The original says that Virgil ‘served’ on the Danville train, until ‘Stoneman's cavalry came’ - General Stoneman being an actual Union army officer who tore up the tracks near Danville (Virginia) of the railway that was the main supply route for the Confederate army.
Joan continues:
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 original second line of this was ‘By May the Tenth, Richmond had fell, it was a time.....’
In Joan's next verse, Virgil's wife says:
Virgil quick, come see, there goes the Robert E Lee
The definite article here suggests that THE Robert E Lee is the name of a train passing by. In the original there's no article, and it's actually Robert E Lee himself (leader of the Confederate army) going by, which is more worthy of note, and more reason to drag Virgil away from chopping wood!”
Here’s the entire article:
1SG Steven Imerman SGT (Join to see) CMSgt (Join to see)
https://www.salutlive.com/2017/07/cover-story-13-the-night-they-drove-old-dixie-down-baez-or-the-band.html
However, Helm took issue with Baez’s inadvertent changing of the lyrics.
“The original lyrics contained some historical information which lies hidden beneath Joan's re-telling. Joan sings:
Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train Til so much cavalry came, and tore up the tracks again.
The original says that Virgil ‘served’ on the Danville train, until ‘Stoneman's cavalry came’ - General Stoneman being an actual Union army officer who tore up the tracks near Danville (Virginia) of the railway that was the main supply route for the Confederate army.
Joan continues:
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 original second line of this was ‘By May the Tenth, Richmond had fell, it was a time.....’
In Joan's next verse, Virgil's wife says:
Virgil quick, come see, there goes the Robert E Lee
The definite article here suggests that THE Robert E Lee is the name of a train passing by. In the original there's no article, and it's actually Robert E Lee himself (leader of the Confederate army) going by, which is more worthy of note, and more reason to drag Virgil away from chopping wood!”
Here’s the entire article:
1SG Steven Imerman SGT (Join to see) CMSgt (Join to see)
https://www.salutlive.com/2017/07/cover-story-13-the-night-they-drove-old-dixie-down-baez-or-the-band.html
Cover Story: (13) The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Baez or The Band
JANUARY 2019 UPDATE: welcome to the many people straying here from the United States to read this item. Hope you find it interesting and feel encouraged to explore the site's archive. I cannot be sure what is driving this sudden...
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I think the last time I saw him was in the movie In The Electric Mist, he played Gen. John Bell Hood opposite John Goodman and Tommy Lee Jones.
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