20 years ago today (December 10th), Rick Danko died of heart failure at his home in Woodstock, New York at age 56. The Band song “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” was written and sung by Robbie Robertson. It wasn’t released as a single by The Band, but Joan Baez‘s lyrically imprecise cover of it reached number-three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. The Band’s late bassist, fiddle player and vocalist Rick Danko was asked for his interpretation of the lyrics to “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” But since he didn’t write it or sing lead on it, he only shared his feelings on what he did sing.
“I’m sure that there’s a history lesson in there somewhere, but I don’t know if I should talk too much about it. I just sang on the choruses and did a lot of “na -na-na na-na.” I kind of felt like Johnny Cash on that part, on the na-nas.”
