As to ship names, the Navy does not put a definite article in front of a ship name. It's USS Kansas City, not The USS Kansas City.
http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/NAME.HTM
This is also true for civilian ships, the vessel we call The Totanic was properly called just Titanic.
http://titanic.marconigraph.com/mgy_faqs.html
Likewise, another ship involved in a famous disaster was properly called Andrea Doria, not The Andrea Doria.
http://www.andreadoria.org/TheShips/Default.htm
Likewise (to take it back to civil war ships) the first ironclad battle was fought between USS Monitor and CSS Merrimac, formerly CSS Virginia.
However Steam Boat Robert E. Lee was constructed in 1866,
but that fits with the song, which is not located during the war.
http://www.shipmodelco-op.com/roblee.htm
--- Charles Brown <cbrown at michiganlegal.org> wrote:
> Jim Devine
>
> it's _the_ Robert E. Lee in the song. That's a
> _ship_ (a riverboat),
> not a Southern General that the song is referring
> to.
>
> ^^^^^
> CB: As I say, I'm not good at catching and
> memorizing the words, although
> you did post the following ,which doesn't have "the
> Robert E. Lee" , but
> "robert e. lee".
>
> 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 choppin' wood,
> And I don't care if the money's no good.
> Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
> But they should never have taken the very best.
>
> What was the "old dixie" they were drivin' down ?
> Sounds like a flag or
> something.
>
>
> The night they drove old dixie down,
> And the bells were ringing,
> The night they drove old dixie down,
> And the people were singin'.
>
>
> Jim D.:
> As for being nostalgic about Dixie, you have to
> admit that there were
> working-class Southern Whites who suffered when
> their states were
> (justifiably) smashed even though they themselves
> didn't own slaves.
> People defend "their" countries for lots of reasons
> without being
> complicit with the crimes of their leaders and their
> ruling classes.
>
> Similarly, I don't think that pro-Bush USians are
> necessarily
> complicit with his crimes.
>
> ^^^^
>
> CB: Yes, these matters are complex. What about the
> "good Germans" who
> defended their country ? I think the lesson we want
> to teach is that the
> working class Confederates, like the working class
> Germans in the Nazis era,
> made mistakes that we want the working class USians
> to learn from and not
> repeat.
>
> As I say , I'm ain't mad at The Band
>
>
> ARTIST: The Band
> TITLE: Up on Cripple Creek
> Lyrics and Chords
>
>
> When I get off of this mountain
> You know where I want to go
> Straight down the Mississippi river
> To the Gulf of Mexico
>
> / A - / D - / A D / E - /
>
> To Lake Charles, Louisiana
> Little Bessie, girl that I once knew
> And she told me just to come on by
> If there's anything she could do
>
> {Refrain}
> Up on Cripple Creek she sends me
> If I spring a leak she mends me
> I don't have to speak she defends me
> A drunkard's dream if I ever did see one
>
> / A - / D - / E - / F#m G - - /
>
> Good luck had just stung me
> To the race track I did go
> She bet on one horse to win
> And I bet on another to show
>
> Odds were in my favor
> I had him five to one
> When that nag to win came around the track
> Sure enough he had won
>
> {Refrain}
>
> I took up all of my winnings
> And I gave my little Bessie half
> And she tore it up and blew it in my face
> Just for a laugh
>
> Now there's one thing in the whole wide world
> I sure would like to see
> That's when that little love of mine
> Dips her doughnut in my tea
>
> {Refrain}
>
> Now me and my mate were back at the shack
> We had Spike Jones on the box
> She said, "I can't take the way he sings
> But I love to hear him talk"
>
> Now that just gave my heart a fall
> To the bottom of my feet
> And I swore as I took another pour
> My Bessie can't be beat
>
> {Refrain}
> Lo, lo, oo hoo...
>
> Now, there's a flood out in California
> And up north it's freezing cold
> And this living off the road
> Is getting pretty old
>
> So I guess I'll call up my big mama
> Tell her I'll be rolling in
> But you know, deep down, I'm kinda tempted
> To go and see my Bessie again
>
> {Refrain}
> Lo, lo, oo hoo..
>
>
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