Different Moments in Time (Billy Murray and The Grateful Dead- Casey Jones)

There are definite differences between every version of the classic Casey Jones yet the two particular songs chosen, one by Billy Murray and the other by The Grateful Dead, show differences with form and rhythm, as well as similarities in certain aspects of the song in terms of the story line followed in the lyrics. This shows how certain characteristics of a song can stay somewhat constant no matter when the adaptation is recorded.

Billy Murray’s 1912 version of Casey Jones is quite different than most music heard today.  Its accompaniment is trumpets and tubas.  These instruments may be unique to their time period and could have been the definition of popular music at that time of the early twentieth century.  The form of Murray’s Casey Jones is AA’AA’ during the normal stanzas, which each consist of four lines.  The chorus of the song begins when Murray says “Casey Jones” and then goes on to say something about Jones.  The form for this chorus is BBBC.  After Murray finishes singing the chorus his band sings the same lines with the same form.  The Grateful Dead’s 1970 version of Casey Jones was recorded nearly six decades later and it is obvious because of the different standard for popular music by that time therefore changing the style of the song.  The Grateful Dead’s edition has stanzas consisting of four lines each with a form of AA’ during the stanzas he repeats the most, which start with “Driving that train, pile of cocaine” and once where it begins with “Trouble ahead, lady in red”.  The form of the other stanzas is BB’.

These songs differ in more than just form.  The lyrics and the way the singers sing the lyrics are both differences also.  The lyrics of Billy Murray’s version tell more of a story of Casey Jones, what happened and what is about to happen.  The lyrics even state the fact that the song is a story by beginning with “Come on round if you want to hear a story about a brave engineer”.  Similarly Murray seems to sing that way as well.  As he sings, he ends each stanza with a lower pitch than the rest of the stanza.  He may be doing this to symbolize how Casey Jones is soon going to reach his fatal destiny.  The Grateful Dead’s version is based more on drugs, referencing that Casey Jones is “high on cocaine” multiple times throughout the song.  The 1970 rendition is more relaxed through the entire song, with the guitars and drum playing a casual melody.  The song never grows much faster.  They might do this to signify the effect that the cocaine is having on Casey Jones.  Perhaps it is making him calmer and therefore the song reflects that.  Meanwhile, Murray uses trumpets and tubas in his adaptation.  These instruments may have been used because they were more popular and common during the early 1900s, or Murray might have been trying to make the music sound train-like.  The whistle of the train sounds much more like a trumpet than a guitar. 

The constant idea of both songs is the storyline that Casey Jones will die.  In Murray’s song it is made known every time he sings the chorus that Jones will die when he sings, “And he took that farewell trip to the promise land”.  Murray turns the song into more of a story however, as mentioned earlier, and in turn emphasizes certain words in order to better explain the story.  The Grateful Dead is not as concerned with telling the story as it is with playing a catchy melody.  The lyrics do not go nearly into as much detail about the storyline as Murray’s song, but the storyline stays consistent with Jones being sent to his death by running into an ongoing train with his train.  The drastic differences between these two renditions of Casey Jones once again might show the difference between the ideas of popular music at their respective times.  The Grateful Dead’s version is much more modern by today’s standards for music than Billy Murray’s version.

Contrasting Takes on Casey Jones

Bill Murray’s version of  “Casey Jones” is more focused on the actual story of Casey Jones, while the Grateful Dead’s version of “Casey Jones” seems to be more focused around the use of drugs.  The contrasting lyrics and the different instruments used in these versions help illustrate the evolution of pop culture.

In Bill Murray’s version of  “Casey Jones”, the fanfare in the intro and the use of trumpets immediately draws images of marching bands.  After the fanfare intro, the song unfolds with the accompaniment of the trumpets, and helps develop the up-beat tempo that continues throughout the song. The opening line, “Come all around as if you wanna hear/ the story about the brave engineer” creates the mood of the song and shapes the rest of the song into an actual story. In Murray’s version, Casey Jones is seen as a brave engineer whom “won his fame” and “took his farewell trip to the promise land”, and Murray describes the accident as just two trains about to “bump”.  Murray seems to have censored Casey’s death by choosing such a weak verb to describe a train collision.  Murray’s choice of words, throughout this song has undertones of death, however they are masked by the up-beat tempo and the joyful sound of the trumpets.

Throughout Murray’s version, each line of the song is different and it is only redundant when backup singers accompany Bill Murray. The backup singers have a higher pitch when singing, which makes the song feel a bit strained. The way the chorus is sung is reflective of how a train whistle sounds.

 The Grateful Dead’s version opens with hammer-on and strumming on the guitar, and goes right into the lyrics “ Drivin’ that train/ high on cocaine/ Casey Jones better watch your speed” the tempo and rhythm makes it feel more carefree and nonchalant.  However, there is a notable change in expression of the singer right before he sings “the lady in red”.   The drawl that he imposes on “the” right before singing that line draws more attention to his advice: you’re better off dead.  The singer always has a notable change in expression when the idea of death appears in the lyrics. Although the singer forewarns Casey Jones to watch his speed, the way he expresses his warnings doesn’t seem like he’s actively trying to get others to listen to him. The way he expresses the lyrics flow with rhythm on guitar how nonchalant the song is as a whole.

The Grateful Dead’s version of the song has heavy references on the use of drugs. The lyrics describe an addict’s use of a drug as eventually becoming inescapable with “trouble ahead, [and] trouble behind”. As well as the singer’s warning Casey Jones “you better watch your speed”, which could mean either the drug or the pace of how Casey Jones is going through life (how Casey Jones could be shortening it by using cocaine or other drugs). The song mirrors the tempo of a real train, as well as the pace of an addict’s life: it starts off steady, then gets out of control with the amount of drugs they abuse, and finally inevitably leads to their death. The tempo of the song doesn’t dramatically change until the last verse of the song. In the last verse, the drums and the singing gradually picks up and then it slows down. During the final line, the drums are absent to stress the last few words of the song and to also to symbolize Casey Jones’ death. Although the song has a lot of dark undertones, the mood of the song stays consistent. The conflict between music and idea and the storytelling element is what makes the Grateful Dead’s version considered a folk song.  This conclusion could also be said of Bill Murray’s version of “Casey Jones” for the same reasons. 

Casey Jones Decades of Change

Casey Jones has been remixed and transformed multiple times since its conception in 1909. The most recent rendition written for the Grateful Dead in 1970 is a far cry from Billy Murray’s version done in 1912. The most prominent differences derive from the lyrics, accompaniment, and the Diasporas expressed in the music. Although there are a multitude of differences there is a similarity derived from the tradition of folk as well.

            In both songs the character of Casey Jones is present, but is portrayed in very different ways. In Billy Murray’s rendition Casey Jones is referred to as “The story of a brave engineer”. In the Grateful Dead’s version, Casey Jones is “High on Cocaine”. These drastically different portrayals are a great example of the different Diasporas revolving around the era in which the song renditions were performed and popularized.

            Billy Murray performed his rendition when the plight of the worker was at its peak and thus can be viewed as a way to belong to society and thereby represented the cultural identity and the Diaspora of the decade. This idea is most prominent in one of the last lines where Casey Jones laments about the tracks he hasn’t ridden. “O the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe”. The Southern Pacific workers were striking at the time and by changing the lyrics from the original Northern Pacific to the Southern, the song struck a chord with the striking workers.

This change possibly explains why the people seem to be singing about his death in a celebratory way rather than in a mournful tone the lyrics would seem to call for. They are celebrating his unwavering commitment to work despite it leading to his death. These celebratory expressions are most evidenced in the chorus where it sounds like seas of people are chanting “Casey Jones-mounted to his cabin, Casey Jones-with his orders in his hands … And he took his farewell trip to the Promised Land”.

            In the 1970 version by the Grateful Dead the meaning of the original song was essentially commandeered and made to fit the Diaspora of the seventies. Where once this song expressed the workers’ plight, it now expressed the cultural identity of the youth in the seventies, such as making references to cocaine, which undermines Casey Jones as an engineer, and painting him as a druggie who is irresponsible. This notion of being along for the ride but not caring where you’re going is that of a juvenile; who is being pushed through school because someone says so and therefore is indifferent to where the journey ends up. This is expressed in the lyrics “Trouble ahead, Trouble behind, and you know that notion, just crossed my mind”, sung in a AABA pattern in a low pitch as if he were sleeping.

            The accompaniment of each rendition dictates the melody, making each version perceptively different, due to the instruments used. In the 1912 rendition it sounds as if there are trumpets and a piano behind the rhythm along with many voices. This makes me believe the song’s a sort of fanfare. This is opposed to the Grateful Dead’s version where it’s a very acoustic sound using a guitar and another instrument. The Grateful Dead’s use of a steady set of notes and their manipulation of the pitch and length of the lyrics add a mellow and mournful undertone to the song the 1912 version lacks.

            When considering these songs from a folk perspective, it is clear they both have some elements of folk incorporated, albeit one more than the other. The most noticeable tradition is expressed in the 1912 rendition where the lyrics completely contrast with the upbeat melody.  This is especially in the chorus, describing the inevitable crash between the locomotives. “Casey Jones- two locomotives, Casey Jones-going to bump.”  This tension between the lyrics in the melody disorients the listener, because when you realize he’s singing about death it seems as if he doesn’t care about Casey Jones. Another tradition that it follows is not writing folk music down. It was hard to find the written lyrics and I soon discovered the lyrics that I thought were similar were not the same as the song.

            In the Grateful Dead’s version the folk tradition is decidedly less, but there. In the song the lyrics “Trouble ahead: The Lady in Red: Take my advice: you be better off dead.”, the allusion to the “lady in red’ captures the tradition of putting ironies in the songs. The lady in red represents life and sexuality so to tell her you’d be better off dead is commenting on how life and sexuality have become contrived and imperfect, thus dead.

Casey Jones in 1912 and in 1970

The 1912 version of Casey Jones by Billy Murray is clearly an older version of “Casey Jones” as most people know it today. Instead of accompanying instruments like guitar, bass, or drums, this version is composed with instruments like trumpets and tubas which gives it a more old-school sound. Casey Jones, the 1970 version by the Grateful Dead, is a song that shares the same subject and similar themes.In the 1912 version, Casey Jones is a respectable railcar worker, whereas the 1970 version of Casey Jones is a reckless cocaine-abusing man. 

The form of Billy Murray’s version is instrumental intro, A, B, instrumental, A, B, instrumental, A, B, instrumental, A, C. I’m not sure if that’s correct, but it’s a combination of instrumental segments with repeating forms of A and B. The melody of the song stays consistent, with the instruments accompanying the vocals through out the song. Murray sings the song in a way that makes it clear he is telling a story, which he emphasizes by changing his voice when singing certain words. Also, the chorus seems to be at a bit of a slower pace than the verses. The tempo of this version of Casey Jones seemed to speed up and slow down during different parts, and the emotion conveyed by the singer was neutral throughout the song in that it didn’t really change much, even when singing about Casey Jones’ death. 

The story of Bill Murray’s Casey Jones depicts a brave engineer who conducts a steam engine that delivers mail and is going to “the promised land”. During the chorus, when the backup vocals sing “Casey Jones”, the repetitiveness of that high note in the harmonizing of that phrase can feel shrill. Casey Jones was involved in a locomotive accident. At that point in the song, the lyrics to the chorus change, but keep the same melody and form. When Casey Jones’ wife received the news that Casey died, she told her children to stop crying (and get over it) because they “had another Papa on the Salt Lake line”. From this one can infer that in those times, it was not uncommon to have children from multiple fathers because the fathers were always away on business.  

Although the lyrics are different than the Bill Murray version, it’s interesting how trains are also metaphorical in both songs.  Unlike Bill Murray’s version, the one by the Grateful Dead is accompanied by guitars, drums, and has a much clearer quality to it. This version of Casey Jones uses traditional lyrics , the driving of a train, as a metaphor to the Grateful Dead’s use of drugs. The train being at the station on time is a metaphor for the driver using cocaine on time, “at a quarter to ten, you know it’s driving again, driving that train high on cocaine, Casey Jones you better watch your speed.” 

I must say that I’ve always really liked the Grateful Dead version of Casey Jones. The form of the Grateful Dead song is A, A, B, A, A, C and has a relaxed, jamming kind of repetition. Jerry Garcia stresses the last word of each verse, and the instrumentals change when he sings “trouble ahead, lady in red”, which sets a foreshadowing feel. The instrumentals of this version of Casey Jones are great, it is very recognizable and enjoyable, and the vocals are catchy and once in your head, star to sink in and impress upon the listener a visual of the story of Casey Jones.  

Trouble Ahead Trouble Behind

If one were to blindly listen to Casey Jones by Bill Murray and Casey Jones by The Grateful Dead, they would probably come to the conclusion that the two songs are very different and have nothing to do with each other aside from having the same title. The 1912 version by Bill Murray, is appropriate for its time period because the only instrument it uses are horns and the song is sung the way many things were in that time period, using a chorus that says the same things that were just said by the singer. It seems like a parlor song that a family would play in their living room, make the singer play the piano instead of the horn and the family sing the chorus and it would work out. The form of the stanzas is AA’B and in my opinion the only thing that captures me about the song is what the deeper meaning is. The Grateful dead have a much more fun version of this song. By using guitar and drums there is background music incase you want to have a conversation while listening to the song. There are different lyrics that are more interesting and that seem to have many more meanings and there is a brief jam session.

            These two songs are clearly written for their time periods. No one had rocked out on a guitar yet, in the early 20^th century. They were more accustomed to this type more boring music. ‘The dead’, had started a phenomenon of psychedelic music. If they were going to be the fourth (recorded and known) band to cover Casey Jones it had to be done in a way that their ever growing following would be interested in. Meaning that it had to have a groovy guitar riff with light background drums and a sort of up beat way of singing it. The lyrics of Bill Murray’s version (After listening to them over and over again, and comparing them with the dead’s) seem to be about an honorable train engineer who is going to do something risky for his family that will leave them better off financially. As you get through the song you realize that he is going to die. At the end its explained that despite the noble act the wife is going to find another replacement husband. The story in the “Grateful Dead’s” song seems to be about a similar story. Someone who has some sort of trouble and his headed towards more. He uses cocaine to escape that trouble but it leads him to more trouble by using it. Just like how the character uses this job to escape his financial troubles in the Murray version but then has trouble ahead which is dyeing in a train crash. This makes me think that the meanings of the Grateful Dead lyrics are superior because they can be universally applied.

            I think that it is this line in the song, “Trouble ahead, trouble behind” that really makes this relate to the working class or the late 19^th century. At that time they were the workers that people like Marx, wrote about. The kind of people that could never gain in the ranks of there bosses only continue to become further away from them. The kind of people that had trouble in that life style and if they tried to get away from it would only end up with more trouble. This applies to people now, who wanted to take out loans to upgrade there lives, (or escape their troubles) and instead now have bad credit and are struggling terribly in these times. “You know that notion just crossed my mind”, is a nice way of saying hindsight 20’20 I would have done things a little differently. I think both versions are good songs with lessons to be learned but the chorus on The Grateful Dead version is just too good and universal. It’s also a much easier listen.