Bobby Bare
"Bottomless Well" lyrics

Bottomless Well

They say there he sits
In his big white wicker rocker
Eating candy coated cashews
Sipping orange lemonade
While a sweet young thing
Fans the flies from off his eyebrows
He's dozing in the green catalpa shade
Lord, they say that Jesse Langtree's got it made

A little bit south
Of the Okechobee
There's a story
That the swamp folks tell
About a mean old man
Named Jesse Langtree
And a sweet young maid
And a bottomless well

That water's cold
But that don't matter
How deep it is
No one can tell
Just drop a stone
You'll never hear it splatter
It just falls down
Down forever in the bottomless well

Through fifteen miles
Of snakes and gators
With the raging fever
And the trembling chills
I wandered lost
Through the Okechobee
And there I seen them
Sitting there by the bottomless well

Yeah now there he sits
In his big white wicker rocker
Eating his candy coated cashews
Sipping orange lemonade
While that sweet young thing
Fans the flies from off his eyebrows
He's dozing in the green catalpa shade
Lord, I swear that Jesse Langtree's got it made

Oh let's hear it for Jesse now

I asked her
For a drink of water
And as Jesse slept
Me and her we talked a spell
She said that she
Was his wife and daughter, Lord, Lord
But his heart was cold
Cold and dark as the bottomless well

And as he slept
I bent to kiss her
I heard a loud and jealous yell
Felt my head explode in darkness
Two big hairy arms picked me up
And dragged me to the bottomless well

I woke up
In fear and trembling
I was staring down
Into the jaws of hell
As he held me high
Above his shoulders
A gonna throw me down
Down, down to the bottomless well

Now here I sit
In Jesse's big white wicker rocker
Eating his candy coated cashews
Sipping his orange lemonade
While that sweet young thing
Fans the flies from off my eyebrows
I'm dozing in the green catalpa shade
Enjoying things that Jesse Langtree made

Oh, God bless you Jesse

Now some folks say
That sweet thing pushed him
But I was there
And I'd swear he fell
But it ain't murder
Cause he ain't dead
Cause he's still a falling
Going down, down forever
In the bottomless well

Going down, down, down
Down, down, bye Jesse