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 morn 'tween dark and dawn when shadows filled the sky There came an unseen caller on a town where hope run dry In the square 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 sinkin' 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.