While updating the "Casey Jones" page to fix problems caused by Amazon breaking links, I "rediscovered" the New Christy Minstrel's version of the song. Yes, it is more upbeat, and the arrangement with the key changes, seems a little over the top. But when I was little, "Casey Jones" was being sung as either a silly song or a children's song, never treated seriously, and it didn't occur to me to take it seriously. The New Christy Minstrel's version was actually a little more lighthearted than the original Wallace Saunders tune, but it was the first time I had ever heard the subject matter treated intelligently. So when I came across it 50 years after it came out, I remembered enjoying it as a kid. It also holds up fairly well. I might be tempted to add it to my repertoire, if I could remember all the words two times in a row.
Our expanded "Casey Jones" page is here:
http://classictrainsongs.com/casey_jone ... _jones.htm
Here's a link to a You tube video that has no graphics to speak of but a resonable quality recording of the New Christy Minstrel's version. Ignore the silly arrangement, the Lawrence-Welk-Singers-with-banjos vocals, and listen to the song itself. It's really very clever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_5PMBq0Jy4