#1184 - Casey Jones

prev | next

• Composer:
  • Eddie Newton, 1909
• MIDI | show
  
• Incipit: 117651715117656567
• Condensed Incipit: 1765171517656567
• Print a Label
• Lyrics:
  Come, all you rounders, if you want to hear
  A story 'bout a brave engineer
  Casey Jones was the rounder's name
  On a six-eight wheeler, boys, he won his fame.
  The caller called Casey at a half past four,
  Kissed his wife at the station door,
  Mounted to the cabin with his orders in his hand
  And he took his farewell trip to the promised land:
  
  Casey Jones, mounted to the cabin,
  Casey Jones, with his orders in his hand
  Casey Jones, mounted to the cabin,
  And he took his farewell trip to the promised land.
  
  “Put in your water and shovel in your coal,
  Put your head out the window, watch them drivers roll,
  I'll run her till she leaves the rail
  'Cause I'm eight hours late with the western mail.”
  He looked at his watch and his watch was slow,
  He looked at the water and the water was low,
  He turned to the fireman and then he said,
  “We're goin' to reach Frisco but we'll all be dead:“
  
  Casey Jones, goin' to reach Frisco,
  Casey Jones, but we'll all be dead,
  Casey Jones, goin' to reach Frisco,
  “We're goin' to reach Frisco, but we'll all be dead.”
  
  Casey pulled up that Reno Hill,
  He tooted for the crossing with an awful shrill,
  The switchman knew the engine's moan
  That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones.
  He pulled up within two miles of the place
  Number Four stared him right in the face,
  He turned to the fireman, said, “Boy, you better jump,
  'Cause there's two locomotives that's a-goin' to bump:“
  
  Casey Jones, two locomotives,
  Casey Jones, that's a-goin' to bump,
  Casey Jones, two locomotives,
  “There's two locomotives that's a-goin' to bump.”
  
  Casey said just before he died,
  “There's two more roads that I'd like to ride.”
  The fireman said what could they be?
  “The Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe.”
  Mrs. Casey sat in her bed a-sighin',
  Just received a message that Casey was dyin'.
  Said, “Go to bed, children and hush your cryin',
  'Cause you got another papa on the Salt Lake Line:“
  
  Mrs. Casey Jones, got another papa,
  Mrs. Casey Jones, on that Salt Lake Line,
  Mrs. Casey Jones, got another papa,
  “And you've got another papa on the Salt Lake Line.”
  
  
  • T. Lawrence Siebert 1909¹⁾

Casey Jones (1864–1900) was an American locomotive engineer assigned to drive the Cannon Ball express—a particularly dangerous run. In 1900, confronted with a stationary freight train ahead of his speeding locomotive, he ordered his fireman to jump, applied the brakes, and although the Cannon Ball crashed and Jones was killed, the passengers were saved.