CASEY JONES
by: Wallace Saunders?
- OME all
you rounders, for I want you to hear,
- The story of a brave engineer.
- Casey Jones was the rounder's name.
- On a big eight wheeler of a mighty fame.
-
- Caller called Casey 'bout half-past four,
- He kissed his wife at the station door,
- Climbed to the cab with the orders in his hand,
- He says, "This is my trip to the holy land."
-
- Out of South Memphis yard on the fly,
- Heard the fireman say, "You got a white eye."
- Well, the switchmen knew by the engine moan
- That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones.
-
- The rain was comin' down five or six weeks.
- The railroad track was like the bed of a creek.
- They slowed her down to a thirty mile gait
- And the south-bound mail was eight hours late.
-
- Fireman says, "Casey, you're runnin' too fast,
- You run that block board the last station you passed."
- Casey says, "I believe we'll make it though,
- For she steams a lot better than I ever know."
-
- Casey says, "Fireman, don't you fret,
- Keep knockin' at the fire door, don't give up yet,
- I'm going to run her till she leaves the rail,
- Or make it on time with the south-bound mail."
-
- Around the curve and down the dump,
- Two locomotives was a bound to jump,
- Fireman hollered, "Casey, it's just ahead,
- We might jump and make it but we'll all be dead."
-
- Around the curve comes a passenger train,
- Casey blows the whistle, tells the fireman, "Ring the
bell,"
- Fireman jumps and says "Good-bye,
- Casey Jones, You're bound to die."
-
- Well Casey Jones was all right.
- He stuck to his duty day and night.
- They loved his whistle and his ring number three,
- And he come into Memphis on the old I.C.
-
- Fireman goes down the depot track,
- Begging his honey to take him back,
- She says, "Oranges on the table, peaches on the shelf,
- You're a goin' to get tired sleepin' by yourself."
-
- Mrs. Casey Jones was a sittin' on the bed.
- Telegram comes that Casey is dead.
- She says, "Children, go to bed, and hush your cryin',
- 'Cause you got another papa on the Frisco line."
-
- Headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain.
- They ain't apart from a railroad train.
- Stories of brave men, noble and grand,
- Belong to the life of a railroad man.
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