Casey Jones

Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones
Portrait of the "brave engineer"
Born	Jonathan Luther Jones March 14, 1863 Kentucky, U.S.
Died	April 30, 1900 (aged 37) Vaughan, Mississippi, U.S.
Cause of death	Train wreck
Other names	"John"/"Casey" Jones
Occupation	Locomotive engineer, railroad worker
Years active	1878–1900
Known for	Heroic sacrifice for refusal to abandon post to ensure the safety of passengers from an inevitable collision.
Spouse(s)	Mary Joanna Brady (m. 1886; his death 1900)
Children	3

Jonathan Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863 – April 30, 1900)^[1] from Jackson, Tennessee, was an American railroader who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). He was killed on April 30, 1900, when his train collided with the caboose of a stalled freight train near Vaughan, Mississippi. His dramatic death while trying to stop his train and save the lives of his passengers made him a hero; he was immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African-American engine wiper for the IC.^[2][3]

Jones was born near Cayce, Kentucky, where he acquired the nickname of "Cayce", which he chose to spell as "Casey".^[4]

Casey Jones references in music

Casey Jones's fame can almost certainly be attributed to the traditional song, The Ballad of Casey Jones, also known as "Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer", recorded by, among others, Billy Murray, Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Johnny Cash, and played live by the Grateful Dead.

Songs titled Casey Jones, usually about the crash or the driver, have been recorded by Vernon Dalhart (Edison Disc recorded June 16, 1925), This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, Feverfew (Blueboy (band)), Tom Russell, The New Christy Minstrels, Skillet Lickers, and the Grateful Dead.

IWW activist Joe Hill wrote and sang a protest song parody of The Ballad of Casey Jones. Casey Jones—the Union Scab portrays Casey Jones as a strikebreaker at Southern Pacific. As his engine is badly in disrepair he crashes from a bridge, dies and goes to Heaven. There St. Peter wants him to break a strike of celestial musicians. The rebellious musicians form a local union and throw Casey down into Hell, where Satan urges him to shovel sulphur in the furnaces. Hill's version of the song was later performed and recorded by Utah Phillips, Pete Seeger and, in Russian, by Leonid Utyosov.

Songs about or related to Jones or the crash include:

• "Casey Jones" – Johnny Cash
• "Do The Paranoid Style" – Bad Religion
• "Casey Jones" – Grateful Dead
• "Talking Casey" – Mississippi John Hurt
• "To the Dogs or Whoever" – Josh Ritter from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
• "April the 14th" (Part 1) and "Ruination Day" (Part 2) – Gillian Welch from Time (The Revelator) — Casey Jones becomes a simile for another great collision, that of the RMS Titanic, on April 14, 1912.
• "St Luke's Summer" – Thea Gilmore from Rules For Jokers
• "KC Jones" – North Mississippi Allstars
• "Ridin' With the Driver" – Motörhead
• "Casey Jones Was His Name" – Hank Snow
• "Freight Train Boogie" – Marty Stuart
• "Knocking Down Casey Jones" – Wilmer Watts
• "What's Next to the Moon" – AC/DC
• Casey Jones—the Union Scab – Joe Hill
• "Casey Jones" – Gibson Bros. from "Big Pine Boogie"
• "Casey Jones" - This Bike is a Pipe Bomb
• "Casey Jones" – The Black
• "Casey Jones" – Claudia Lennear
• "The Ballad of Casey Jones" – Band of Annuals
• "Grist for the Malady Mill" – mewithoutYou
• "What Have They Done To The Trains" – Roy Acuff
• "Statecny Strojvudce" – Ladislav Vodicka
• "Strojvudce Prihoda" – Jiri Voskovec and Jan Werich
• "April 14th Part 1" – Gillian Welch
• "Casey Caught the Cannonball" - Jimbo Mathus
• "Casey's Last Ride" - Kris Kristofferson
• "Casey's Crazy Train" - DNatureofDTrain
• Music City Drum and Bugle Corps 2018 show was called "Hell on Wheels, The Final Journey of Casey Jones" it featured original arrangements by Robert W. Smith, Crazy Train by Ozzie Osbourne, and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.