The Ballad of Casey Jones

The information regarding this ballad originates from medieval French dance songs (Jacobs) with its function as a process for telling a story in a song is Scandinavian and Germanic (Housman). Types of ballads or classifications of them are traditional, broadside and literary. In America there are Irish, European, British, Native American and African-American versions of this genre. Characteristics of African-American ballads is a combination of blues, folklore, African narratives, and some urban settings. This genre was popular for roughly 40 years from 1885 to 1925. Rap music today even has properties of the ballad genre.

My focus is on a ballad of K. C. Douglas: “Cassie Jones”.  Douglas is a Black vocalist on the song, who was born in Mississippi, moved to California as a young man and lived there the rest of his life. “Casey Jones” was originally recorded acapella and is based on a real character, of the same name, who is said to have wrecked his train. “Casey Jones” was copyrighted by a white songwriters Lawrence Siebert and Eddie Newton, in 1909 and published as “The Only Comedy Railroad Song.”  Siebert and Newton’s song is alleged to have been based on an earlier composition by Wallace Saunders, a black railroad worker (Pearson). The song Casey Jones gained renewed popularity in the 7O’s with country rock group the Grateful Dead who revised the song for the prevailing culture of the day.