"Casey Jones" Grateful Death
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 3:36 PM The version of “Casey Jones” by The Grateful Dead is a song where the expression of the lyrics is easily heard. His expression of tone is constantly changing while singing about train driving, being high on cocaine, and avoiding trouble. His expression suddenly changes in the fourth verse, first line “trouble ahead, lady in red.” His tone goes from calm/excited to surprise/excited. It was as if the lead singer was also in the train and truly got surprise with the trouble that lay ahead. And as if that is not enough his voice than switches back to calm and excited, just when the lyrics avoided the trouble ahead.
The time era the song was published was the era of Diaspora, migration, and new immigrants such as African Americans and Euro and Irish. So no wonder when I heard the song and read the lyrics my brain painted the picture of an immigrant on the go to somewhere new. Someone on the go to a better place with obstacles ahead and left trouble behind, even though they are leaving the bad they are still entering something uncertain. It’s a song written with lyrics of excitement of leaving on the train and the troubles that come with the ride to somewhere.
Reader Comments (5)
Do you know what the figure "lady in red" may be interpreted as? I think it could be taken literally, but I feel like it's a form of symbolism as well.
ya i do too.
I feel like the "lady in red" was not a real person, but a symbol for something else. It something alarming since she is in the color red whcih is easily seen, but im not sure what she can be.
The lyrical differences between the several versions of “Casey Jones” are due to artistic intent by the performers and a product of the environment that they were written in. Lucas Oliver (link:http://tinyurl.com/yk8h4qs) discusses how the Grateful Dead’s version of the song “takes the music of a classic American psychedelic rock band and uses the traditional lyrics as a metaphor to some of their own inside drug problems.” The lyrical retooling of the song to fit the Grateful Dead’s purpose is both understandable and to our own benefit (if lyrical and musical styles had not changed, you’d know Def Leppard as Def Mozart) because it gives us a deeper pool of analysis into the changes and developments of popular music. Lucas Oliver also points out how “the idea of ‘authenticity’ is practiced through a completely different style, and different meaning.” The notion of authenticity is really ambiguous when evaluating Mississippi John Hurt and The Grateful Dead; they’re both undoubtedly “authentic” yet they are separated by 42 years and different in almost every way. The different identities of each Casey Jones, one of an admirable railcar man and another of a cocaine abusing person pushing the limit, define authenticity to a different audience and with a different intent.
The lyrical address and relation of the singer to Casey Jones also changes between Mississippi John Hurt and the Grateful Dead. In Mississippi John Hurt’s version we hear of Casey Jones as a folk hero who died admirably and lives in the psyche of American heroes (this may sound overly dramatic, but this is to characterize that type of folk hero). The Grateful Dead completely alter that relationship and talk about Casey Jones in a more descriptive and foreboding manner. Taylor Fridrich (link: http://tinyurl.com/tayfri)
analyzes the way Jerry Garcia’s delivery as intending to be “talking directly to Casey Jones, Warning him, and trying to grab his attention with intensified volume and instrumentals.” This a really good point, and draw upon the difference in relationship that the performer has to the subject their focusing on.
For your essays, look to draw comparisons of lyrical content in relation to the song as a whole, and maybe the historical context it is in or the particular performer. Look at how the song promotes a message, or and ideal, and think about how that may have changed or stayed the same over the course of history. As you can all imagine, “popular” in popular culture is built upon what preceded it adapted to a particular context, and these songs are no different.
thank you ...
that really cleared up many questions and now that i hear the song and i know what they are saying its easier to understand now! it just clears up so many lingering question or statements that i had.
That is a good point about the lead singer's voice of the Grateful Dead becoming faster and more "surprised" later in the song and feeling like he was in the train with Casey. When he sings about the "lady in red", do you think the color red draws even more symbolism or is it simply to rhyme with "ahead"?