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.