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Casey Jones and Wallace Saunders Biographies
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
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; copyright 1909
OTHER NAMES: “Jimmy Jones” "Kassie Jones" (Blues by Furry Lewis) 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 was written by Wallace Saunders, Casey's African-American engine wiper. It was sung to the tune Jimmy Jones, which was popular at the time. Engineer William Leighton heard the song. His brothers Frank and Bert, vaudeville performers, polished the song, added a chorus, and began to perform it in their act. When the ballad was published in 1902 the words were credited to T. Lawrence Seibert, and Eddie Newton was credited with the music.
NOTES: G Major or D Major. Standard. AABB. Source notated fiddle versions: Art Stamper (Mo.) [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 44.(Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
John Luther Jones was brought up in Cayce, Kentucky (hence his nickname)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".
Norm Cohen in "Long Steel Rail" relates that Furry Lewis made a number of recordings of the song, with some of the later versions containing additional verses from those cited above. Many of the verses of "Casey Jones" variants have nothing to do with John Luther Jones' infamous train wreck or even railroads in general. One other little bit of trivia. The couplet appearing in many versions of how folks could tell by the whistle (throttle moan etc) who the engineer was has an historical basis. Many railroads at the time allowed their better engineers to install their own custom steam whistle, the sound of which became their personal calling card.(Mudcat Discussion Forum)
BIOGRAPHIES:
Casey Jones
John Luther (Casey) Jones was born in Cayce, Kentucky in 1863. His father was a school teacher and he was the oldest of five children. Casey left home and got a job with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad when he was fifteen years old in 1878. Casey dreamed of becoming a train engineer. At that time, all long distance travel was by railroad and being an engineer was a glamorous occupation, but it required years of apprenticeship and was both dirty and dangerous. Casey’s parents objected to his choice of a career. In the end, they compromised, supporting his decision to become a telegraph operator and work on the business side of the railroad. Casey learned Morse Code and became a dispatcher but as soon as he got the chance, he joined a train crew as a brakeman and started on the path to becoming an engineer. Casey worked his way from brakeman (walking along the top of the train and turning hand brakes on individual cars) to fireman (shoveling coal into the boiler) and then, finally Casey became an engineer in 1892 at the age of 29. He switched from the Mobile and Ohio to the Illinois Central, but spent his entire career driving trains north and south along the Mississippi River from Kentucky to Louisiana.
Casey was known as a good engineer, but he had his share of accidents. He had a reputation for speeding and setting records. According to his biographer Fred Lee, Casey made modifications to the safety equipment of his engine in order to gain more speed. On the night of April 29, 1900, Casey agreed to work a “double shift.” He had been driving all day and just arrived in Memphis when another engineer called in sick. Casey said he would take his place on the southbound “Cannonball” bound for Canton, Mississippi. Railroad records say that when Casey left Memphis the train was one hour and fifteen minutes behind schedule. Casey was pulling six cars and a caboose, a light load for his engine, and he was determined to make up for lost time. Experts estimate that he ran at speeds of over 100 miles an hour for much of the three hour run. As Casey was rolling south, the stage was being set for his tragic wreck. Two freight trains were in the passing track in Vaughn, Mississippi and there were more cars than the track would hold. It was necessary for these trains to move north or south to clear the main line switches in order to allow other trains to pass; this is known as a saw-by.
Meanwhile, a northbound local passenger train arrived from Canton and had to be sawed in on the house track west of the main line. As these trains sawed back south to clear the north passing track switch, an air house broke and the operation stopped blocking the main track Casey Jones’ engine crashed through a caboose and several cars and came to rest on the right side pointing back north. Casey was fatally wounded. He was carried one-half mile to the depot were he died lying on a baggage wagon. The railroad's formal investigation concluded that "Engineer Jones was solely responsible for the accident as consequence of not having properly responded to flag signals." Casey Jones might have been forgotten. The wreck was cleared by 11:00 AM the next morning and he was only one of over 2500 railroad men that died in the line of duty that same year. However, an African-American railroad worker named Wallace Saunders wrote a song about the accident and made the name “Casey Jones” a household word.
Wallace Saunders
Very little is known about Wallace Saunders, the composer of the famous song about Casey Jones. He performed odd jobs for the railroad throughout his life. At the time of Casey’s accident, he was an engine wiper for the railroad shop at Canton. Fred Lee, Casey Jones’ biographer, indicates that Saunders knew Casey from the moment he started working for the railroad. Lee says that Saunders wrote three songs about Casey. The first song was based on a confrontation with a “Boomer Bill Driscoll,” an itinerant railroad worker. The second was about a record run of the “Irish Mail,” a railroad slang term for a train that stops at many local stations during its journey. The third song, of course, was “The Ballad of Casey Jones.” Lee’s biography of Casey Jones reads more like a novel than an academic study. It was written in 1931 and portrays Saunders in a racist, demeaning way. Yet, it indicates that Casey Jones and Wallace Saunders had a friendship which lasted over thirty years.
The song Wallace Saunders wrote about Casey Jones was a national phenomenon, although Saunders never received credit or royalties. Most sources acknowledge that shortly after the wreck, Saunders was playing it around the railroad yards when an engineer named William Leighton heard it and contacted his brothers, Frank and Bert, who were vaudeville performers. The Leighton Brothers changed the words slightly and added a chorus. T. Lawrence Seibert and Eddie Newton were credited with writing the song when it was published in 1909. It was a national hit. Over the next twenty years dozens of versions were recorded and millions of copies were sold making Casey Jones an American folk hero. Sadly, by the time folklorists became interested in the origins of the song and traveled to Mississippi in search of Wallace Saunders, he was dead.
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