Joan Baez's version is beautiful. The song was written by Canadian Robbie Robertson who said, "When I first went down South, I remember that a quite common expression would be, 'Well don't worry, the South's gonna rise again.' At one point when I heard it I thought it was kind of a funny statement and then I heard it another time and I was really touched by it. I thought, 'God, because I keep hearing this, there's pain here, there is a sadness here.' In Americana land, it's a kind of a beautiful sadness.[2]"
In The Band's version, the lead is sung by Levon Helm who was raised in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. It's very haunting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_T...Dixie_Down
Appomattox surrender- 149th anniversary
