Illinois Central Engineer William Leighton appreciated the song's potential enough to tell his brothers Frank Leighton and Bert Leighton, who were vaudeville performers, about it. But it was up to others with a profit motive to take it and rework it for a nationwide audience. Jones even when Casey was only a freight engineer." But Saunders never had his original version copyrighted, and thus there is no way of knowing precisely what words he sang.Īs railroaders stopped in Canton, Mississippi, they would pick up the song and pass it along. In the words of Casey’s wife: "Wallace's admiration of Casey was little short of idolatry. Soon after Casey’s death, the song was first sung by engine wiper and friend of Casey’s named Wallace Saunders to the tune of a popular song of the time known as "Jimmie Jones." He was known to sing and whistle as he went about his work cleaning the steam engines. Books and pulp magazines about the railroad and its heroes helped to perpetuate his memory as well. The song helped preserve the memory of Jones' feat down through the years in its 40 plus versions and enhanced Casey’s legendary status to the extent that he has even become something of a mythological figure like Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan to the uninformed. It is song number 3247 in the Roud Folk Song Index. ![]() It tells of how Jones and his fireman Sim Webb raced their locomotive to make up for lost time, but discovered another train ahead of them on the line, and how Jones remained on board to try to stop the train as Webb jumped to safety. ![]() ![]() " The Ballad of Casey Jones", also known as " Casey Jones, the Brave Engineer" or simply " Casey Jones", is a traditional American folk song about railroad engineer Casey Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving.
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