The Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones” is a song I have always liked and listened to but never thought too much about. The lyrics are catchy and I used to sing along but without any attention to the meaning or form of the song. The lyrics could be interpreted many ways but I’m not sure what to make of them. It’s clear that no matter what Casey does the outcome will not be good because there is “trouble ahead, trouble behind” and driving trains while high on cocaine is probably never a good idea. There is a real reinforcement that Casey is really stuck between a rock and a hard place so to speak. The lyrics are organized in a very peculiar way. Much of the song is the same lyrics, only three of the ten verses differ from the refrain. The form for the refrain is A,B,A,B’ I think, I also noticed that there were two solos halfway through the song after the fifth verse, first bass I think, then the guitar takes over. There are also all sorts of extra stresses in the singing during the verses that are different from the rest of the song; many of the notes are elongated within these as well.