| Casey Jones—the Union Scab | |
| Language: | English |
| Published: | 1912 |
"Casey Jones—the Union Scab" is a song, written by labor figure Joe Hill in San Pedro, California, shortly after the first day of a nationwide walkout of 40,000 railway employees in the Illinois Central shopmen's strike of 1911.[1] It is a parody of the song "The Ballad of Casey Jones" and is sung to its tune.
The song is not historically accurate: Casey Jones was an active, dues-paying member of two labor unions (the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) that both paid out life insurance to his widow.[2]
The song was published in the Little Red Songbook in 1912.[3] The song was included in a 2006 album of American folk songs "Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways" released by the Smithsonian Institution.[4]
Recordings of Joe Hill’s lyrics exist by Utah Phillips, and by Pete Seeger; translations into foreign language include those in Russian, by Leonid Utyosov, and in Hungarian, by the Szirt Együttes.