Remember When Joan Baez Had a Five-Week No. 1 Hit With a Cover Song?

Joan Baez’s 1971 cover of The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” became her only No. 1 hit, topping Billboard’s Easy Listening chart for five weeks. Its success brought her a Grammy nomination and highlights how a song first released by another group became a defining chart achievement for Baez.

The Band released the song in 1969 on its second album; Robbie Robertson is credited as its writer, while Levon Helm later said he worked on it with Robertson. Set at the end of the American Civil War, it tells the story from the perspective of Virgil Caine, a poor man. Robertson recalled taking about eight months to write it, and artists including Johnny Cash and John Denver later recorded versions.