Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CASEY JONES (1), by ANONYMOUS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CASEY JONES (1), by                    
First Line: Come all you rounders if you want to hear
Last Line: Took his farewell journey to the promised land
Subject(s): Labor Unions;railroads;strikes; Railways;trains;labor Disputes;lockouts


Come all you rounders if you want to hear
A story 'bout a brave engineer;
Casey Jones, that was the rounder's name
On a heavy eight-wheeler he rode to fame.
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin,
Casey Jones, throttle in his hand,
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin,
Took his farewell journey to the Promised Land.
The caller called Casey about half past four;
He kissed his wife good-bye at the station door,
He climbed into the cabin, with his orders in hand,
For his farewell journey to the Promised Land.
He tore through South Memphis yards on the fly,
He heard the fireman say to him, "You've got a white eye";
All the switchmen knew by the engine's moan
That the man at the throttle was Casey Jones.
The rain had been a-fallin' for five or six weeks,
The railroad track was nothin' but the bed of a creek;
They rated him down to a thirty-mile gait,
Threw the south-bound mail about eight hours late.
Fireman said, "Casey, you're runnin' too fast,
You run the block board the last station you passed."
Casey says, "Yeah, I b'lieve we'll make it though,
For the engine's steamin' 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 the engine till she leaves the rail,
Or make it on time with the southern mail."
Around the curve he saw it comin' down the dump --
Two locomotives, an' they're bound to bump!
The fireman hollered, "It is just ahead --
We might jump an' make it, but we'll all be dead."
'Twas round this curve he spied a passenger train;
He roused the fireman, caused the bell to ring;
The fireman jumped off, but Casey Jones stayed on --
He's a good engineer, but he's dead an' gone.
Casey says before he died,
"There are two more lines that I wish I'd tried."
The fireman said, "What can they be?"
"Why the Southern Pacific an' the Santa Fe."
Poor Casey Jones he was all right,
He stuck by his duty both day an' night,
They loved to hear the whistle an' ring of No. 3,
As he rode into Memphis on the old I. C.
Headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain
Are not apart from a railroad train;
Tales that are earnest, noble, and grand,
Belong to the life of a railroad man.
Casey Jones, mounted to the cabin,
Casey Jones, throttle in his hand,
Casey Jones mounted to the cabin,
Took his farewell journey to the Promised Land.





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