1912- Casey Jones
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 3:24 AM I listened to the 1912 version of Casey Jones by Billy Murray. This song does not have the types of instruments that a song heard in today’s music world contains, such as guitars and drums. The music in this song is composed of instruments like trumpets and tubas. The instruments chosen to accompany Billy Murray show the age of this song. You can tell this by comparing it to Mississippi John Hurt’s version of Casey Jones recorded just sixteen years later. Mississippi John Hurt is accompanied with a guitar in his rendition, as guitars began to be used more.
When Billy Murray sings Casey Jones his voice does not change much in terms of the range of his voice. During the stanzas of the song Murray goes back and forth with an A followed by an A’. He repeats that two more times before going to the chorus. Arriving at the chorus the form changes to a B, B, B, C. When the accompanying band members sing, they keep the same form of the chorus. The melody stays fairly similar throughout the song as well. Murray sings the second half of the song as if he is telling the audience a story, changing his voice slightly when saying certain words to try and act out the scene while singing. Murray’s rhythm while singing is quite interesting. During the normal verses he says all of the lyrics at about an equal pace, but at the chorus he says “Casey Jones” at a normal speed and goes on to say the rest of the verse faster than his normal speed in the song.
Reader Comments (3)
Hey Christopher,
I would have to agree....by today's standard this song sounds old in comparison to music today in regards to instrumentation and lyrical delivery. I think your started on a really good point of analysis with:
"Murray’s rhythm while singing is quite interesting. During the normal verses he says all of the lyrics at about an equal pace, but at the chorus he says “Casey Jones” at a normal speed and goes on to say the rest of the verse faster than his normal speed in the song."
if you go to Taylor Fridrich's post she also discusses the speed progression in the Grateful Dead's rendition of the song, which is about 58 years older than Bill Murray's version. Do you think there is a reason for the speed progression towards the second half of the song? It is also interesting to note that even if the Grateful Dead's version of the song is much newer, and whose message is about drug use, there is still this speed progression. It's interesting to note, because this is not the only song, where the song and lyrics may change yet the overall structural qualities of the song stay intact.
The change from the horns to guitar sound as the song advanced through time is also interesting to note; maybe it has to do with popular taste or maybe the evolution of how a song is "supposed to sound?"
Rhythmic and Stylistic Change:
Rhythm and style evolution seem to be an important point of analysis for Casey Jones and John Henry because it represents a relationship to both the lyrical intent and the time period in which the rendition was performed. In several of your discussion posts there was talk about how the tone and tempo increased towards the end of the song (for both the Grateful Dead and John Hurt versions), which is important to note as a stylistic holdover through the evolution of this song. Tiffany Sun’s post (link: http://www.tinyurl.com/tiffanysun) points out that “the absence of the drums in the last line stresses the last few words of the song.” This is an interesting observation because other bands and other songs have made use of this technique, and the Grateful Dead I think made use of it in line with the theme of the song. It could be said that this drumless ending is done by Jerry Garcia to emphasize a point, which in this case may be the overdose and/or death of Casey Jones, yet this technique was not used in either Fiddlin’ John Carson or Mississippi John Hurt’s versions. This rhythmic and instrumental retooling of the song to fit the lyrical changes is an important phenomenon in studying the evolution of American pop culture. Ryan Atchley’s analysis (link: http://www.tinyurl.com/RyanA) of Mississippi John Hurt’s rhythmic change is to show that:
”the death of Jones as something that would affect the family but in the end, as the song repeats its beginning, shows that Jones will be missed but never forgotten.”
These connections of analysis to lyrical content are the next step in fully analyzing songs for your essays. The relationship between the structural and lyrical characteristics of the song is how we ultimately determine the <u>feeling</u> of the song. Drawing on the song as a story will allow you to understand the context and the message, and the instrumental will allow you to gauge how those lyrics should be interpreted and the mood that is trying to be transmitted from performer to audience.
To develop your essays further, which are due on October 15th, make sure to draw connections in the evolution of rhythm/tempo/speed/beat (or any other musical factor) and the lyrical or situational character of the song itself. These connections, especially ones that focus on historical premise and interpretation, will help reinforce your essays and intended point by incorporating themes and topics that Professor Carson has been discussing in class.
If there are any questions, points of analysis, or something you’d like to talk about, feel free to email or post on the website.
-Matt
Hey Christopher,
I share the same sentiments as you towards the Billy Murray 1912 version of Casey Jones. You did a great job of breaking down the stanza structure of the song and the meaning behind the speeding up of Murray's voice in the chorus after he says Casey Jones. The thing that I am trying to grasp right now is what you think about the three different chorus's that are sung; one is when he sings it, two, when the other people sing it and third, when he sings with the chorus group. Anyways good job on your post.
-Elliot