GOOD OL' GRATEFUL DEADCAST

Episode: Workingman's Dead 50, Episode 8: Casey Jones
Release Date: August 27, 2020
Podcast Hosts: Rich Mahan & Jesse Jarnow
Main Theme:
A deep dive into “Casey Jones,” the iconic track from Workingman’s Dead, exploring its musical roots, the creation of the song and album, its lasting cultural footprint, and the story behind the album’s artwork. This is the concluding episode in the Workingman’s Dead 50th Anniversary series, illuminating how the song and LP capture both the band’s musical evolution and their place in American folklore.

Episode Overview

The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast unpacks the lore, history, and artistry behind the Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones”—the last song on Workingman’s Dead—and the cultural, personal, technical, and musical currents that shaped its recording and legacy.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Workingman’s Dead as a Gatekeeper Album

• Cultural Impact: Considered a “landmark achievement” (02:43) and widely owned, even among non-Deadheads.
  • David Lemieux: “When they find out I work for the Dead...they do have Workingman’s Dead in their vinyl collection from 50 years ago.” (04:44)
• Accessibility: Acts as an inviting entry point to the Dead, cited as “accessible music” for the uninitiated. (05:39)

2. The Song "Casey Jones": History, Influence, and Meaning

• Instant Appeal & Notoriety:
  • The reference to “cocaine” in the opening line made it both infamous and popular.
  • Despite not being released as a single, it became an “underground legend” (05:48).
• Influence on Musicians:
  • Billy Strings recounts discovering the Dead through “Casey Jones,” noting, “It’s just such a classic American record...so many Americana, country, bluegrass...overtones.” (06:33)
  • The song served as a “gateway” into the deeper, more improvisational side of Dead music for many young fans.
• Origins of the Lyrics:
  • Robert Hunter recalls, “I had just written...‘Driving that train, high on cocaine, Casey Jones, you better watch your speed.’ That was the only thing written on that page. And it was probably about three or four months later...I opened the book up and just continued it.” (09:07)
• Folk Song Heritage:
  • The song merges two classic American folk memes: the doomed engineer “Casey Jones” and the motif of cocaine. It draws on the tradition of historic railroad ballads and old jug band music (10:41–12:54).
  • The real Casey Jones: Illinois Central engineer, company man, yet transformed in Hunter’s lyrics to a mythical, cautionary figure.
• Lyrics Come from Dreams:
  • Hunter sometimes described the song as coming “in a dream”—in one version, he was inspired by poet Bobby Petersen, a figure of importance among the Dead’s lyricists (15:41–16:25).

Notable Quote:
Jerry Garcia: “The words were just so exquisite, they were just so perfect that I just sat down with the words, picked up a guitar and played the song, and it just came out.” (17:00)

3. Musical Evolution and Arrangements

• From Folk Roots to Rock Power:
  • The first live versions were looser (“vampy”), reminiscent of jug band origins (18:16).
  • Over time, the arrangement was tightened into a signature, riff-driven rock song with a crisp Whip crack snare (19:24).
• Session Insight:
  • Bob Matthews (co-producer) details the technical process, including the use of Ampex MM1000, the trials of tracking with limited tape, and ingenuity in sourcing equipment and materials (21:19–24:12).
  • Layered studio arrangement: percussion, bass and direct input, double-tracked guitars (25:51–29:43).

Notable Moment:
Brian Kehoe: “They really sound like Booker T and the MGs...There's elements of that in their music.” (25:32)

4. Studio Stories and Production Details

• Vocal Recording:
  • Jerry and Bob recorded harmonies live in the same room (31:41–33:21), with a slap echo added for that “jittery” feel, mirroring the frenetic mood of cocaine (32:11–32:35).
• Quirky Details:
  • The faint “cough” noise at the track’s beginning was Jerry Garcia clearing his throat (with Drambuie and lemon juice), which Bob Matthews debates leaving in: “To this day, if I had to do over again, I wouldn’t. It was cute, okay? And cute doesn’t last long in that environment.” (34:49)
  • The final session tape box labeled the song as “Casey Dope,” a tongue-in-cheek nod to its subject matter (37:57).
• Song as Cautionary Tale and Satire:
  • Designed to be mildly irritating and agitated—“a little bit evil and hard-edged.” (37:14–37:56)

Notable Garcia Quote:
“It’s got a split second little delay which sounds very mechanical, like a typewriter almost on the vocal...a pretty good musical picture of what cocaine is like.” (37:14)

5. Initial Reception and Airplay

• Radio Censorship and Cult Success:
  • Robert Hunter (anecdote): A DJ showed him a copy of the record with a scratched line through “Casey Jones,” forbidden by the station for its drug reference under FCC pressure (38:06).
  • Despite censorship, the song was an audience favorite and quickly became a concert staple.

Notable Moment:
Gary Lambert: “It's almost like a parody of like an old vaudeville or barbershop quartet...from that driving, headed for catastrophe rock thing to sort of this jaunty little tag at the end.” (38:58)

Album Artwork: Story and Forensics

1. Creation and Iconography

• Visual Shift:
  • Marked break from psychedelic aesthetic to sepia-toned, “pastoral” imagery, signaling a new musical direction (40:24–41:15).
• Photo Session Details:
  • Taken in Hunter’s Point, San Francisco, at 1199 Evans Ave around April 4, 1970 (44:18–48:16).
  • Sepia look created by Stanley Mouse; the “mutton chop” sideburns and beard timing helped pinpoint the exact week.
  • Robert Hunter appears in the cover shot, disguised so as not to be recognized as a band member (40:00).
• Online Forensics (Bob Egan, popspotsnyc.com):
  • Photo’s location sleuthed via archival maps, historic weather data, and photo outtakes—proving the Dead’s mythos draws fandom from many disciplines (44:18–48:34).

Release and Legacy

1. Promotion and Commercial Breakthrough

• Warner Bros. Promotional Push:
  • Backed by the most extensive ad campaign in their history, including billboards and outdoor advertising (57:01–58:13)
  • Workingman’s Dead quickly became the Dead’s first gold album, selling 200,000 copies in three weeks, then doubling.
• Album’s Financial Impact:
  • Provided the band with a “positive revenue stream”—though debts from earlier, more expensive recordings like Aoxomoxoa took longer to pay off. (63:23–65:11)

2. Critical Reception

• Widespread Acclaim:
  • Rolling Stone: “Album of the Year.”
  • Cleveland’s Minneapolis Star: “Enough to make an instant fan out of anyone.”
  • Multiple reviews acknowledged the shift to country/folk influences while celebrating the Dead’s ability to “capture the spirit of any apocalypse.” (61:41–63:23)

3. Song’s Afterlife

• Live Performance Evolution:
  • Became a setlist staple, especially from 1970–74; non-Deadheads at shows would always know “Casey Jones.” (67:33)
  • Noted for double-time endings in later live versions—"it would pick up a head of steam, to use the train phrase." (67:33)
• Enduring Cultural Presence:
  • Referenced in later songs and genres, and even through pop culture characters named “Casey Jones.” The song outlived its original run, manifesting in multiple revivals, urban legends, and as “possibly the best-known Grateful Dead song if you only know a few.”

Notable Quote:
David Lemieux:
"It's one of those songs that if you listen to a Dead show from any era...the one song that everybody there would have known...when they kick into this, you can hear a palpable group release that, oh, they're playing something we know, and it's also a song we love." (67:33)

Memorable Quotes

• Billy Strings — "Casey Jones was my one song that I really liked when I was, like, in middle school and high school...It just opened up so many doors for me and that I learned that there was, like, that kind of freedom in music and improvisation." (06:33)
• Robert Hunter — “In my notebooks, on one page I had just written...‘Driving that train, high on cocaine, Casey Jones, you better watch your speed.’” (09:07)
• Jerry Garcia — “The words were just so exquisite...I just picked up a guitar and played the song, and it just came out.” (17:00)
• Gary Lambert — “A perfect match of the musical context and Hunter’s...witty lyric...taking American folk archetypes and standing them on their head.” (18:16)
• Bob Matthews — “Casey Jones was the electric Grateful Dead at their most buoyant and even joyous, give or take the impending crash.” (24:45)
• David Lemieux (on live appeal) — "It is a song that tells a story, and the music tells that same story. And I do love that it speeds up at the end, particularly in live versions from 1980, 1972 onward..." (67:33)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:43 – Workingman’s Dead: context and breakthrough
• 06:33 – Billy Strings recalls his first Grateful Dead exposure and Casey Jones
• 09:07 – Robert Hunter explains writing the song's first lines
• 18:16 – Gary Lambert on the song’s early live evolution
• 25:32 – Brian Kehoe and studio analysis
• 34:49 – Bob Matthews on the accidental inclusion of Garcia’s cough
• 37:14 – Garcia’s take on the song’s “irritating” energy
• 38:06 – Radio censorship anecdotes
• 40:00–48:34 – Album artwork story and forensic detective work
• 57:01 – The label’s huge promotional buy-in
• 61:41 – Critical response and reviewers’ surprise
• 67:33 – The song as a classic live set piece
• 70:31 – Casey Jones in popular culture and afterlife

Conclusion & Tone

The episode concludes with gratitude for those who made Workingman’s Dead and celebrates the communal, evolving spirit of the Grateful Dead. The tone throughout is conversational, reverent, and suffused with a sense of musical curiosity and appreciation—the Dead’s own blend of playful myth-making, technical geekery, and unvarnished realness.

If you’ve never heard "Casey Jones," this episode tells you not just about a song, but about how a band, a record, and even an album cover can become part of American legend—built on collaboration, cultural memory, studio accidents, and the irresistible pull of a catchy, cautionary tale.