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Casey Jones (African-American Version)
Old-Time, Breakdown; Original text by Wallace Saunders (See: Casey Jones Biographical Info); "Official" text copyrighted 1909 by Newton & Siebert. Apr 30, 1900 - Death of John Luther "Casey" Jones, of the Illinois Central Railroad, near Vaughan, Mississippi. One of two early blues versions.
ARTIST: Howard Odum JOAFL;
Listen: First hand account of the wreck by fireman Sim Webb
Listen: Billy Murray- 1912 recording Casey Jones
Listen: Elizabeth Cotton- Instrumental guitar- Casey Jones
Listen: Fiddlin' Arthur Smith w/Earl Scruggs- Instrumental Casey Jones
Listen: Tommy Jarrell- Fiddle w/vocal Kyle Creed- Casey Jones
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1900; 1909 (copyright)
OTHER NAMES: “Jimmy Jones” "Kassie Jones" (Blues by Furry Lewis) "Knocking Down Casey Jones" (Wilmer Watts)
RELATED TO: "Steamboat Bill" (tune) "The Big Combine" (tune) "Peggy Howatt"(tune) Old Zeke Perkins; Jay Gould's Daughter; Casey Jones On the S.P. Line; Talkin' Casey; Old John Brown; Ben Dewberry's Final Run; Joseph Mica/Mikel; On The Road Again; Southern Casey Jones; Henry Ford's Model A; Casey Jones, the Union Scab; Vanderbilt's Daughter; Year of Jubilo;
RECORDING INFO: Wilmer Watts & the Lonely Eagles, "Knocking Down Casey Jones" (Paramount 3210, 1930; on TimesAint02); Pete Seeger , "Casey Jones"(on PeteSeeger13); Balfa Brothers. J'Ai Vu Le Loup, Le Renard et La Belette, Rounder 6007, LP (1988), cut# 8; Copeland, Percy. Rackensack. Volume 1, Driftwood LP 278, LP (1972), cut#B.01; Cotten, Elizabeth. When I'm Gone. Elizabeth Cotton, Vol. 3, Folkways FA 3537, LP (1979), cut#B.02 ; Dalhart, Vernon. Ballads and Railroad Songs, Old Homestead OHCS 129, LP (1980), cut#B.03; Douglas, Wilson. Boatin' Up the Sandy, Marimac AHS 1, Cas (1989), cut# 16; Fincham, Reva. West Virginia Hills, Augusta Heritage AHR 011, Cas (1992), cut#1.02; Garcia, Jerry; and David Grisman. Shady Grove, Acoustic Disc ACD 21, CD (1996), cut# 8; Garrish, Jule. Between the Sound and the Sea, Folkways FS 3848, LP (1977), cut#B.05a; Glazer, Joe. Union Train, Collector 1925, LP (1975), cut#B.01; Gordon, Robert W.. Folk Songs of America. The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection...., Library of Congress AFS L68, LP (1978), cut# 16; Hammons, Edden. Edden Hammons Collection. Vol Two, West Virginia Univ SA-2, CD (2000), cut#1.07; Hickerson, Joe. Drive Dull Care Away. Vol 1, Folk Legacy FSI-058, LP (1976), cut# 7; Hurt, Mississippi John. Folk Songs and Blues, Piedmount PLP 13157, LP (1963), cut# 7; Hurt, Mississippi John. Mississipi John Hurt, A Legacy, Piedmount CLPS-1068, LP (1975), cut#B.04; Lewis, Furry. Anthology of American Folk Music, Smithsonian/Folkways SFW 40090, CD( (1997), cut# 24 (Kassie Jones); Lewis, Furry. Country Blues Guitar, Oak, Sof (1968), p 60 (Kassie Jones); Mahal, Taj; and Konte, Bai and Dembo. Great Hudson River Revival, Flying Fish FF-214, LP (1980), cut# 10; McCurdy, Ed. Everybody Sing, Vol 2., Riverside RLP-1419, LP (196?), cut# 4a; Monroe, Charlie; & the Kentucky Pardners. Charlie Monroe on the Noonday Jamboree - 1944, County 538, LP (1974), cut# 7; Moore, Dave. Juke Joints & Cantinas, Red House RHR 06, LP (1985), cut#A.06; Okun, Milt. America's Best Loved Folk Songs, Baton BL 1293, LP (1957), A.07; Patterson, Joe. Traditional Music at Newport, 1964, Part 1, Vanguard VSD 79182, LP (1965), cut# 14; Ross County Farmers. Farmer's Frolic, Marimac 9013, Cas (1987), cut# 12; Sandburg, Carl. Carl Sandburg Sings Americana, Archive of Folk & Jazz FS 309, LP (19??), cut# 1 (Mama, Have You Heard the News); Sandburg, Carl. New Songs from the American Songbag, Lyrichord LL 4, LP (195?), cut#A.04 (Mama, Have You Heard the News); Seeger, Pete. American Industrial Ballads, Folkways FH 5251, LP (1956), cut#A.11; Slaughter, Matokie; and the Back Creek Buddies. Saro, Marimac 9028, Cas (1990), cut# 6 (Sleepy Eyed John); nes - Sparks, Randy/Traditional; New Christy Minstrels. Land of Giants, Columbia CS 8987, LP (1964), cut#A.05; Duffy, John. Folk Music in America, Vol. 8, Songs of Labor & Livelihood, Library of Congress LBC-08, LP (1978), cut#A.07; Casey Jones, the Union Scab - Hill, Joe/Traditional; Glazer, Joe. Union Train, Collector 1925, LP (1975), cut#B.04 (Casey Jones); Phillips, U. Utah. We Have Fed You all a Thousand Years, Philo 5008, LP (1984), cut# 10; Seeger, Pete. Dangerous Songs!?, Columbia CL 2503, LP (196?), cut#B.02 (Joe Hill's Casey Jones)
SOURCES: Laws G1, "Casey Jones"; Friedman, p. 309, "Casey Jones"; Sandburg, pp. 366-368, "Casey Jones"; Lomax-FSUSA 75, "Casey Jones"; Lomax-FSNA 301, "Casey Jones"; Lomax-ABFS, pp. 34-36, "Nachul-Born Easman"; Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 106-109, "Casey Jones" JHJohnson, pp. 90-92, "Casey Jones" ; Courlander-NFM, pp. 185-186, "(Casey Jones)"; LPound-ABS, 59, pp. 133, "Casey Jones"; JHCox 48, "Mack McDonald"; Darling-NAS, pp. 209-213, "Casey Jones"; American Ballads and Songs, Scribners, Sof (1972/1922), p133; American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p. 39 (Wreck of the Six Wheel Driver); American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p. 41 (Charley Snyder); Native American Balladry, Amer. Folklore Society, Bk (1964), p212; Read 'Em and Weep, Arco, Sof (1959/1926), p106; American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955), p366; American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955), p368 (Mama, Have You Heard the News); Anthology of American Folk Music, Oak, Sof (1973), p 64 (Kassie Jones) Cooper, Wilma Lee. Songs to Remember, Cooper, Fol (19??), p20; Steen, Cornelius. American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p. 36 ; Trevelyan, Henry. American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p. 34; Casey Jones (Isaac Curry (BRI 001a)); as the standard version of the song Casey Jones (Francis H. Abbott (LC AFSL68a)); as Freight Train Boogie (Doc Watson (Poppy 5703a)); Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
Folksong revival: as Kassie Jones (John Fahey (Varrick 019a)); as Jay Gould’s Daughter (Ed Badeaux (FW 32319c); John Greenway (RVR 12619a); Pete Seeger (FW 2319c, COL 64772c)); as the standard version of Casey Jones (Spider John Koerner (RDH 84c); Ed McCurdy (RVR 12-807a); The New Christy Minstrels (COL 2187a)).
Country/String Band: as the standard version of Casey Jones (Johnny Cash (COL 1930a, COL 29a); Vernon Dalhart (VIC 20502b, Mark 56 794a); J.E. Mainer (RR 198a); Riley Puckett (COL 113a)); as Freight Train Boogie (The Delmore Brothers (STR 962a); The Maddox Brothers and Rose (AH 437c); The Whitstein Brothers (RND 0229c)); as Knocking Down Casey Jones (Wilmer Watts (PAR 3210b)).
Bluegrass: as the standard version of Casey Jones (Tommy Jackson (Dot 3085 a); Charlie Monroe (CTY 538a)); as Freight Train Boogie (Bill Harrell (REB 1655d, REB 1113c)).
Blues: as Furry's version of Casey Jones (K.C. Douglas (CK 5002c); as Talking Casey (Mississippi John Hurt (VG 19/20c)). Kassie Jones was released in two sections. Before the invention of magnetic tape in the late 1940s, original master recordings were made on aluminum, shellac or lacquer discs. These disc could only hold approximately four minutes of sound. Hence, you see many longer songs broken into two.
There are many songs which deal with the legend of railroad engineer, Casey Jones. The most well known arrangement of the song was written by vaudevillians Eddie Newton and Lawrence Seibert in 1909. Lewis' version shares a melody similar to the African-American railroad song, Charley Snyder and the hobo song, Jay Gould's Daughter (Moses Asch, Josh Dunson and Ethel Raim, Anthology of American Folk Music, pg. 64). "Casey Jones" in Paul Oliver's "Songster and saints" (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1984). P. 243-245 discuss Furry's version: "Though it was recorded by white singers including Fiddling John Carson, Riley Puckett and Uncle Dave Macon, only one black singer in the 1920s - Furry Lewis - recorded it. *Kassie Jones*, a two-part ballad, drew on *I'm a Natu'al Bohn Eastman* (as collected by Odum before 1911) ..." (p. 243) and "The Eastman, or 'easeman' was a hustler who lived by his wits and most often, as a pimp." (p. 245)"
BRIEF HISTORY: There are several songs about Casey Jones, the famous railway man of the Illinois Central. The songs are based on the train wreck of April 1900 at Vaughan, Mississippi. Jones was a well-known and respected driver. He was driving No. 382, possibly for a sick friend. The switching station at Vaughan did not have enough room to accommodate the length of trains there. Flagmen were sent to warn Jones, but for unknown reasons, he was unaware of the problem until it was too late. Jones was killed in the accident. He left a wife and three children.
The first Casey Jones ballad is attributed Wallace Saunders, Casey's African-American engine wiper. It was sung to the tune Jimmy Jones, which was popular at the time. Saunders version was passed along by railroad men, his original lyrics are unknown but several verses were remembered by his friend Cornelius Steen. Haywire Mac McClintock also claimed to have heard Saunders and knew a lyric version based on Saunders lyrics. Sometime before in the early 1900s Engineer William Leighton heard the song. His brothers Frank and Bert, vaudeville performers, reworked the song adding a chorus, and began to perform it in their act. When the ballad was published in 1909 the words were credited to T. Lawrence Seibert, and Eddie Newton was credited with the music. No one knows the exact source of T. Lawrence Seibert published lyrics but it was based on both earlier lyrics (Saunders) and on Leighton's chorus.
NOTES: G Major or D Major. Standard. AABB. This very popular American ballad was recorded many times in the early 1900s (Listen: Billy Murray- 1912 recording Casey Jones) by pop, jazz, blues and early country singers.
The song has been recorded as an instrumental song (Listen: Elizabeth Cotton) and fiddle instrumental by bluegrass hall-of-famer Art Stamper (See: Phillips- Traditional American Fiddle Tunes- Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 44) and also Fiddlin' Arthur Smith (Listen: Fiddlin' Arthur Smith w/Earl Scruggs- Instrumental).
John Luther ("Casey") Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900) was a railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). As a boy, he lived near Cayce, Kentucky, where he acquired the nickname of "Cayce" which he chose to spell as "Casey." ["Erie Railroad Magazine" Vol 24 (April 1928), No 2, pp. 13,44.] On April 30, 1900, he alone was killed when his passenger train, the "Cannonball Express," collided with a stalled freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi, on a foggy and rainy night. He ordered his fireman Sim Webb to jump. Webb was knocked unconscious but lived: Listen: First hand account of the wreck by fireman Sim Webb
His dramatic death, trying to stop his train and save lives, made him a hero; he was immortalized in a popular ballad sung shortly after he died by his friend Wallace "Wash" Saunders, an African American engine wiper for the IC. Sanders wrote Casey Jones based off a ballad he knew titled "Jimmie Jones." A verse by Saunders given to Lomax by Cornelius Steen, a friend and co-worker of Saunders, went as follows:
On Sunday morning it began to rain
Round the curve spied a passenger train
On the pilot lay poor Jimmie Jones
He's a good old porter but he's dead and gone.
Corroborating Cornelius Steen's account was Mayor of Canton, L. Miller, who wrote that Saunders brought back from Kansas City the song, Jimmie Jones, then after the wreck changing the song to fit Casey. Cornelius Steen also recalled several verses of Saunders lyrics- the first is:
On Sunday morning it began to rain
Round the curve spied a passenger train.
Under the cab lay po' Casey Jones
He's a good engineer but he's dead and gone.
TAG: Po' Casey Jones, po' Casey Jones
He's a good engineer but he's dead and gone.
A complete example of the "Jimmie Jones" song Saunders used for Casey Jones is from the singing if Newton Gaines in 1929 titled, "Wreck of the Six Wheeler":
WRECK OF THE SIX WHEELER- Transcribed from recording by Newton Gaines, Texas, 10-12-29 (BVE-56368-2) on Native American Ballads (RCA LPV-548)
Monday morning it begin to rain
Around the curb came a passenger train
On the Charlie was old Jimmy Jones
He's a good old porter but he's dead and gone
Dead and gone, he's dead and gone
He's been on the Charlie so long.
Joseph Mica was a good engineer
He told his fireman not to fear
All he wanted, keep it good and hot
"We'll make Canton 'bout 4 o'clock,
'Bout 4 0'clock, 'bout 4 o'clock,
Been on the Charlie so long."
When we was about a mile of the place
Number One stared us right in the face
Conductor looked at his watch and he mumbled and said,
"We may make it, but we'll all be dead,
All be dead, we'll all be dead
I've been on the Charlie so long."
When the two locomotives was about to bump
Fireman was preparing for to make his jump
Engineer blowed the whistle and the fireman balled
"Oh, Mr. Conductor, won't you save us all,
Save us all, Oh, save us all,
I've been on the Charlie so long."
Oh, you oughta been there for to see the sights
Running and a-screaming both black and white
Some was crippled and some was lame
But the six wheel driver had to bear the blame
Had to bear the blame, had to bear the blame
He's been on the Charlie so long.
Ain't it a pity, Oh, ain't it a shame
That the six wheel driver had to bear the blame
He'd been on the Charlie so long.
Gonna lay my head, gonna lay my head
Down on some railroad line
Let the Sante Fe, let the Sante Fe come and satisfy my mind
Let the Sante Fe, let the Sante Fe come and satisfy my mind
Gonna lay my head down on some railroad track
When the train come along, I sure gonna jerk it back.
Versions of Casey Jones were collected by EC Perrow who said, "During the winter of 1908-09, I found the State of Mississippi full of versions of a song, very popular then, called "Casey Jones." The several versions I was able to get, I print here. Mr. Barry says this song was composed by one man, William Saunders; but as yet I have been able to learn no date for its composition. Certainly the version which I give as "E" was current in East Tennessee as early as 1905; and the disaster is therein located at or near Corbin, Ky. Furthermore, in 1908 the song was already in the possession of the people of Mississippi, and each singer was shaping the verses to suit himself."
This is first text of the first published song about Casey Jones. It was published in 1908 in 'The Railroad Man's Magazine' with the note: 'Jones was an engineer on the IC, between Memphis and Canton, Mississippi, and was killed in a wreck several years ago. The song was supposed to have been sung by his negro fireman'. This version predated the vaudeville pop song by a year:
CASEY JONES- First published text 1908
Come all you rounders, for I want you to hear
The story told of an engineer
Casey Jones was the rounder's name;
A heavy right-wheeler of a mighty fame
Caller called Jones about half past four;
He kissed his wife at the station door,
Climbed into the cab with his orders in his hand
Says, 'This is my trip to the holy land'
Through South Memphis yards, on the fly,
He heard the fire-boy say, "You've got a white eye."
All the switchmen knew, by the engine moan,
That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones.
It had been raining some five or six weeks,
The railroad track was like the bed of a creek;
They rated him down to a thirty-mile gait,
Threw the south-bound mail about eight hours late.
Fireman says, "Casey, you're running too fast,
You run the block-board the last station you passed."
Jones says, "Yes, I believe we'll make it through,
For she steams better than I ever knew."
Jones says, "Fireman, don't you fret;
Keep knocking at the fire-door, don't give up yet.
I'm going to run her till she leaves the rail,
Or make it in on time with the Southern mail."
Around the curve and down the dump
Two locomotives were bound to bump.
Fireman hollered, "Jones, it's just ahead;
We might jump and make it, but we'll all be dead."
'Twas round the curve he spied a passenger train
Reversing his engine, he caused the bell to ring
Fireman jumped off, but Jones stayed on
He's a good engineer, but he's dead and gone
Poor Casey Jones was all right,
For he stuck to his duty both day and night.
They loved to hear his whistle aqd ring of number three,
As he came into Memphis on the old I. G.
Headaches and heartaches, and all kinds of pain,
Are not apart from a railroad train.
Tales that are in earnest, noble and grand,
Belong to the life of a railroad man.
Central Engineer William Leighton heard the song and sang it for his brothers Frank Leighton and Bert Leighton, vaudeville performers, who took it and sang it in theaters around the country with a chorus they added.
In 1909 with vaudeville performers T. Lawrence Seibert (lyrics) and Eddie Newton (music) copyrighted and published the song with the title "Casey Jones, The Brave Engineer".
Many versions and parodies have been sung and written. Joe Hill (pseud. for Joseph Hilstrom) wrote a parody of this song, entitled "Casey Jones the Union Scab," based on the Southern Pacific strike of 1911. In reading Laws's notes to "Casey Jones" and "Joseph Mica" [Laws I16], it seems clear to me that there is no true distinction between the ballads. Laws files the more complete forms here, and the fragments and related pieces under "Joseph Mica." Laws has garbled the entry and the information about Lomax and Sandburg. Laws distinguishes "Jay Gould's Daughter" as a separate song (dI25); It should be noted that Furry Lewis' "Kassie Jones" is a fragmentary stream-of-consciousness incorporating a single verse from "Casey Jones" and many floating verses, including a couple from "On the Road Again".
CASEY JONES- Odum
THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE; Vol. XXIV. —OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1911—No. XCIV
FOLK-SONG AND FOLK-POETRY AS FOUND IN THE SECULAR SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES — BY HOWARD W. ODUM
A hero of less criminal intents and habits was "Casey Jones." He is the hero of the engine and train. As will be noted, the negro is fascinated by the train-song. He would like to be an engineer all his days. Negroes often discuss among themselves the possibility of their occupying positions on the trains; they take almost as much pride in being brakemen and subordinates. It is interesting to hear them boasting of what they would do in emergencies, or whether or not they would be frightened. The song
that follows gives a favorite version of the ballad.
Casey Jones was engineer,
Told his fireman not to fear,
All he wanted was boiler hot,
Run in Canton 'bout four o'clock.
One Sunday mornin' it wus drizzlin' rain,
Looked down road an' saw a train,
Fireman says, "Let's make a jump,
Two locomotives an' dey bound to bump."
Casey Jones, I know him well,
Tole de fireman to ring de bell;
Fireman jump an' say good-by,
Casey Jones, you're bound to die.
Went on down to de depot track,
Beggin' my honey to take me back,
She turn 'roun some two or three times,
"Take you back when you learn to grind."
Womens in Kansas all dressed in red,
Got de news dat Casey was dead;
De womens in Jackson all dressed in black,
Said, in fact, he was a cracker-jack.
The verse about "begging his honey" is intended to give the scene after the wreck, when the fireman, who did not stay on the engine with Casey, was out of a job. "Canton" and "Jackson" are regularly sung in Mississippi, while "Memphis" is more often sung in Tennessee.
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