Swamp Witch lyrics

Black water Hattie lived back in the swamp
Where the strange green reptiles crawl
Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees
Like sausage on a smokehouse wall
Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes
An` all of them watching you
Stay off the track to Hattie`s Shack in the back of the Black Bayou

Way up the road from Hattie`s Shack
Lies a sleepy little Okeechobee town
Talk of swamp witch Hattie lock you in when the sun go down
Rumours of what she`d done, rumours of what she`d do
Kept folks off the track of hattie`s shack
In the back of the Black Bayou

One day brought the rain and the rain stayed on
And the swamp water overflowed
`skeeters and the fever grabbed the town like a fist
Doctor Jackson was the first to go
Some say the plague wasa brought by Hattie
There was talk of a hang`n too
But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles
From the bowels of the Black bayou

Early one morn `tween dark and dawn when shadows filled the sky
There came an unseen caller on a town where road run dry
You`d swear there was found a big black round
Vat full of gurgling brew

Whispering sounds as the folk gathered round
`It came from the Black Bayou`
There ain`t much pride when you`re trapped inside
A slowly sink`n ship
Scooped up the liquid deep and green
And the whole town took a sip
Fever went away and the very next day the skies again were blue
Let`s thank old hattie for sav`n our town
We`ll fetch her from the Black Bayou

Party of ten of the town`s best men headed for Hattie`s Shack
Said Swamp Witch magic was useful and good
And they`re gonna bring hattie back
Never found Hattie and they never found the shack
Never made the trip back in
There was a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
Said don`t come look`n again