Casery Jones
RA, 2008
Sunday morning, starts to rain
Round the curve comes a passenger train
Under the cab lies Casey Jones
He's a good engineer, but he's dead and gone
Now Casey Jones was a good engineer
He told his fireman not to have no fear
All I want is a little water and coal
Look out the window, see the drivers roll
Sunday morning, starts to rain
Round the curve comes a passenger train
Casey told his fireman you'd better jump
'Cos these two locomotives is just bound to bump
Well you should have been there, sen the sight
Screaming and yellin, coloured and white
Some was crippled and some was lamed
But the six-wheel driver had to bear the blame
Sunday morning, starts to rain
Casey's gonna ride that road again
Swift as lightnin, smooth as glass
Feller take your hat off when the train goes past.
From Dave
About
Originally I just liked the idea of talking songs, and the guitar imitating the train. But I got to like the respect for the maligned engineer. I thought maybe Casey was KC.
Actually his name was John Luther Jones, known as Casey. He was the only one killed when his passenger train collided with a parked freight train (on a foggy evening!) in 1900. He became a hero - bearing the blame was more having to put his own life on the line (!) than being blamed afterwards. His friend Wallace Saunders (a cleaner) made up the ballad, and it has been sung ever since.