"Casey Jones" - The Grateful Dead
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 11:55 AM The song “Casey Jones” by the Grateful Dead is a contemporary rendition of a blues song from the early 19th century. This 1970’s version is a prime example of how a piece of music can evolve over time. The artist molds the song into something the current audience or culture can understand and adopt. With the help of Jerry Garcia, “Casey Jones” evolved into the anthem of the 1970’s drug culture. The rhythm rolls along like the steady chugging of a train. It sets the tone of the song and indicates urgency as it speeds up. This beat speeds up towards the end of the song. And it sounds as if danger is near as the artist’s voice reaches a desperate wail, warning and lamenting about the future ahead. “Trouble ahead, lady in red… Come round the bend, you know its the end…” The artist tells the tale of a character swept up in the drug culture, who’s life is going at a dangerous speed. There is a noticeable change in the artist’s voice between the chorus and the remaining lyrics. During the chorus, the artist and his instruments create a carefree and calm melody. But when the chorus ends, and the other lyrics begin, his voice raises and he extends his notes, wailing. He sounds as though he is talking directly to Casey Jones. Warning him, and trying to grab his attention with intensified volume and instrumentals.
Reader Comments (6)
Hi Taylor,
I think your analysis of the Grateful Dead's adoption of "Casey Jones" as a characterization of the drug culture is really well founded. your combination of lyrical and musical analysis to explain how the Grateful Dead adopted the "train" metaphor to instead talk about the dangerous "speed" of the train (which, is metaphorically placed to refer to ones life) is important to note as part of an evolutionary prospect for "Casey Jones."
In your essay I think you would be well served by delving deeper into this analysis; maybe comparing the lyric/instrument relationship in the Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones" to other lyric/instrument relationships in different renditions.
your analysis in regards to "his beat speeds up towards the end of the song. And it sounds as if danger is near as the artist’s voice reaches a desperate wail, warning and lamenting about the future ahead. " is totally agreeable. the repetition of "Casey Jones you better watch your speed" can be both metaphorically refering to the intensity of heavy drug usage or to the actual usage of "speed." There are a lot of specific lines in the song that do a good job of retooling the original lyrics to fit the drug reference in a more explicit way. if you use the link here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99MSNhnZe9I
which is a youtube link to the song, the poster thankfully put the lyrics to the left so you can read as you listen and clearly see your lyric/instrument speed progression.
For your essay, think about looking at the relationship between the lyrics/instrumental and how they comparatively changed over time with different renditions of the song. There is a lot of things to be said about that, and different renditions of a s song tend to reinforce, alter, or entirely change the meaning of a song and it's lyrics.
I think this is a very interesting interpretation of "Casey Jones" as performed by the Grateful Dead and I absolutely agree. I think that the Grateful Dead wrote a lot of songs about drug use and the counter culture of the 60's and 70's, so it seems only fitting that they take "Casey Jones" and morph it into something that fits into their repetoire and style of music, while still allowing it to resemble it's original version. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the way this song is sung by the Grateful Dead still has an air of folk music, to me. I think it might be that his voice is somewhat lacking in expression, but I'm not quite sure.
I personally think quite the opposite of you Emily about Jerry Garcia's voice lacking in expression. Although this is something very typical of folk songs from back in the day, the Grateful Dead rendition of Casey Jones carries a lot of emotion and a type of laughing wonder about the drug culture that this song is about. Their interpretation of the song is very creative and thought provoking as the lyrics and underlying melody are completely different, at least to me, so it doesn't really sound like a folk song anymore but more like a regular Grateful Dead song!
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.
hey taylor, i personally like your interpretations and ideas of the greatful deads rendition of "casey jones" and how it takes an old 19th century blues song and redoes the meaning and intentions in a completely authentic way that compliments the 60's and 70's drug culture. it turns it into something original of their own. i also completely agree with the build up of the song and how it reaches a climax at the end where it seems as if the train is going to crash and something needs to be done before someone dies or gets seriously hurt. i feel like that was one of the main messages that Jerry was trying to convey in the song.
-lucas oliver
I completely agree with your interpretation of the lyrics as being geared toward the critical view of the 60's drug culture. I think that the gradual building tempo of the song is trying to embody the metaphor of a moving train, and creates a sort of climax by the end of the song in which the listener is left to themselves to think about what happens next. I like this sort of open ended approach to the song, because although it is clearly a criticism of sorts, it relies heavily upon the involvement of the listener to formulate its meaning. I, as apart of the audience, found myself wondering about this mysterious Casey Jones character, and in turn asked myself how it related to my own personal experiences. Which, I might add, I feel is the overall intent of the song. And if that is the case, what better way to end the song than by leaving the resolution up to the listener themselves?