Swamp Witch Lyrics - Singles - Jim Stafford

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 

Rumors of what she'd done 

Rumors 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 was brought by Hattie 

There was talk of a hangin' too 

But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles 

From the bowels of the Black bayou 

Early one morning' '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 sinking' 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 savin' 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 lookin' again"