wallace saunders
This song refers to a real railroad accident at Vaughn, Memphis, April 30th 1900. The black engine wiper Wallace Saunders originally wrote the ballad, that rapidly spread into several versions which were finally modified for Johnny Cash's album "Blood, Sweat and Tears" (CBS 1963).
An honour stamp was released 50 years later. Click for the full story. I normally don't trust Wikipedia, but HERE they've summed it all up right ...
... and nobody knows what happened to Wallace Saunders. He's told to have been paid off with a bottle of gin for the rights, and then he disappeared into the lost pages of history.
come all you rounders if you wanna hear
the story about a brave engineer
Casey Jones was the roller's name
on a six-eight wheeler course he won his fame
caller called Casey bout half past four
he kissed his wife at the station door
he climbed in the cabin with his orders in his hand
said "this is the trip to the Promised Land"
through south Memphis yards on a fly
rain been a fallin' and the water was high
everybody knew by the engine's moan
that the man at the throttle was Casey Jones
well Jones said "fireman don't you fret"
Sim Webb said "we ain't a-givin' up yet
we're eight hours late with the southbound mail
we'll be on time or we're leavin' the rails"
dead on the rail was a passenger train
blood was a boilin' in Casey's brain
Casey said "hey now look out ahead
Sim jump! Sim jump! or we'll all be dead"
with a hand on the whistle and a hand on the brake
north Mississippi was wide awake
I see railroad officials said
"he's a good engineer to be a laying dead"
headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain
are all a part of a railroad train
sweat and toil • the good and the grand
are a part of the life of a railroad man
Casey Jones • climbed in the cabin
Casey Jones • orders in his hand
Casey Jones • leanin' out the window
taking a trip to the Promised Land
For the following CHORD section, fullscreen/horizontal mobile is recommended.
Chords in brackets may be omitted.
A B7 E7 come all you rounders if you wanna hear the story about a brave engineer A E7 A Casey Jones was the roller's name on a six-eight wheeler course he won his fame A B7 E7 caller called Casey bout half past four he kissed his wife at the station door A he climbed in the cabin with his orders in his hand A E7 A said "this is the trip to the Promised Land" A Casey Jones climbed in the cabin A B7 E7 Casey Jones orders in his hand A Casey Jones leanin' out the window A E7 A taking a trip to the Promised Land
