One of my favorite groups is The Band, now retired. And one of their most interesting songs is ”The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”. When I first heard it I was unclear as to just what the song was about. “Old Dixie” sounded like it might be about an old dog, or an old car, or some unliked friend. “Driving” Dixie “Down” was an unclear reference. Then when I listened more and more closely it became clear that the song was about the night the South surrendered to the North to end the Civil War.
I researched the song more fully and found that it was written (and sung) by the drummer, a guy named Levon Helm, who had himself researched a story where he had read about some of the particulars in one special place on that night. In one particular place “The bells were ringing and the people were singing” and the narrator tells the story of young Virgil and his family responded joyfully to the news. Times had been rough for them all through the War and now they were considering what and how they would go on from here.
I think we are now in the midst of yet another effort to shake the curse of slavery off our backs because we are beginning to see that “BLACK LIVES MATTER.” Hopefully this stage of the struggle will not be as long and as destructive as the first two have been, but it does not look as though we have yet learned how to let the people sing and the bells ring for freedom for both our Negro citizens and our own consciousness.
Some folks in and around the State of Virginia used to yell, and I’m sure some still do, “The South Will Rise Again.” I hope that the racist spirit of Dixie never does rise again. I hope that the bells and singing of freedom will come to sing even more loudly and clearly as we finally do “Drive Old Dixie Down.” Now, of course, as young Virgil puts it, we are still learning just what this means and how to go about it. This struggle has and still will require great patience, effort and humility on the part of both black and white folk.
I spent some years in the South, Memphis in particular, and came to know both sides of this struggle firsthand. I was there when Dr. King was assassinated and taught for a couple of years in a Black College. Old Dixie was then and still is of the land now, in more devious ways, with us. The music of the Dukes of Dixieland, the soul, of Otis Redding, and the Blues of Buddy Guy buoy our spirits and give us hope for the future. And this song by The Band tells the story and reminds us that it has yet to be completed. Someday, in the not too distant future, I hope, we shall be able to sing along with Helm “The bells are ringing, the people are singing,” and all the “Virgils” of our land are rejoicing and free.”