diff --git a/playbooks/roles/rax-dns-backup/files/rax-dns-backup b/playbooks/roles/rax-dns-backup/files/rax-dns-backup
index 3feb937278..3e20d6755e 100755
--- a/playbooks/roles/rax-dns-backup/files/rax-dns-backup
+++ b/playbooks/roles/rax-dns-backup/files/rax-dns-backup
@@ -124,16 +124,20 @@ def do_bind_export(session, token, domain_id, outfile):
     query = {'showDetails': 'true'}
     final_response = session.get(callback_url, params=query, headers=headers)
 
-    bind_output = final_response.json()['response']['contents']
+    bind_output = final_response.json()['response']['contents'].split('\n')
 
     output = []
-    for line in bind_output.split('\n'):
+
+    # Read and parse the record lines for sorting; the skip is because
+    # the first 3 lines are comments and the rest are SOA records
+    # (written separately below).
+    for line in bind_output[10:]:
         if line == '':
             continue
         fields = line.split(' ')
         output.append(fields)
 
-    # find padding space for the first column
+    # find padding space for the first column so everything lines up nice
     max_first = max([len(x[0]) for x in output])
 
     # create a dict keyed by domain with each record
@@ -143,10 +147,10 @@ def do_bind_export(session, token, domain_id, outfile):
 
     outstr = ''
 
-    # first output SOA then get rid of it
-    outstr += ("%-*s\t%s\n\n" %
-               (max_first+1, '@', '\t'.join(out_dict['@'][0]) ))
-    del(out_dict['@'])
+    # first output comments and SOA from original
+    for line in bind_output[:10]:
+        outstr += "%s\n" % line
+    outstr += '\n'
 
     # print out the rest of the entries, with individual records
     # sorted and grouped