Soulklassieker du jour: The night they drove old Dixie down

Soul? Wat krijgen we nou?
Het lied heeft altijd wat merkwaardig geleken in het repertoire van The Band, geschreven door Robbie Robertson, ook op de plaat gezet door Bob Dylan, van wie Robertson zich een waardig leerling lijkt te tonen wat esoterische teksten betreft. The Band nam het in 1969 op en de eerste bekende cover was van de zwarte groep The Symbols, 1970. Een zwarte groep die treurt over de nederlaag van de zuidelijke staten? Ja, de wereld zit wat minder ongecompliceerd in elkaar dan simpele denkers m/v menen. Dat The Band, Dylan, Joan Baez en Solomon Burke het op hun repertoire hebben zegt toch iets…

Virgil Caine is the name
And I served on the Danville train
‘Til Stoneman’s cavalry came
And tore up the tracks again

In the winter of ’65
We were hungry, just barely alive
By May the 10th, Richmond had fell
It’s a time I remember, oh so well

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, “La, la, la, la, la, la”

Back with my wife in Tennessee
When one day she called to me
“Virgil, quick, come see,
There goes Robert E. Lee!”

Now, I don’t mind chopping wood
And I don’t care if the money’s no good
You take what you need
And you leave the rest
But they should never
Have taken the very best

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, “La, la, la, la, la, la”

Like my father before me
I’m a working man
And like my brother above me
Who took a rebel stand

He was just 18, proud and brave
But a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
You can’t raise a Caine back up
When he’s in defeat *)

The night they drove old Dixie down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singing
They went, “Na, na, la, na, na, la”

The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down
And the people were singing
They went, “Na, na, la, na, na, la”

*) Woordspel en toespeling op Matth. 12:20, in de Statenvertaling: Het gekrookte riet zal Hij niet verbreken.

Nog een “zwarte” versie, 1971

Jimmy Witherspoon

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