The Ballad of Casey Jones
First release by Billy Murray (1910)
- Written by
- [Traditional]
- Language
- English
- Comments
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Mostly called "Casey Jones", this is about locomotive driver Casey Jones, who is said to on April 30, 1900, have tried to prevent his speeding train from crashing into another one. Nearly succeeding, he saved all passengers and, being the only one killed, became a legend.
T. Lawrence Seibert/Eddie Newton were first to copyright the song, but many others credited themselves for the authorship and, like with all traditionals, the lyrics have been varied throughout the years.
Jones having jumped in for another driver on strike, Joe Hill in 1911 wrote a widely known parody and called it Casey Jones - The Union Scab
There are also closely related songs like, f. ex., Freight Train Boogie or Ben Dewberry's Final Run. Some consider J.C. Holmes Blues a parody and Grateful Dead took the matter to another level in their own song Casey Jones.
First lines of the traditional song:
Come, all you rounders, if you want to hear
The story told of a brave engineer;
Casey Jones was the rounder’s name
A high right-wheeler of mighty fame
Of mighty fame, of mighty fame - Licensing
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