Bottomless Well
Composer(s): Shel Silverstein
Performer(s): Bobby Bare



They say there he sits in his big white wicker rocker
Eatin' candy-coated cashews, sippin' orange lemonade
While a sweet young thing fans the flies from off his eyebrows
He's dozin' in the green Cataupa shade
Lord, they say that Jesse Langtree's got it made

Little bit south of the Okachobee
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 never hear it splatter
It just falls down, down, forever in the bottomless well

Through fifteen miles of snakes and gators
With a raging fever and the trembling chills
I wandered lost through the Okachobee
And there I seen her sittin' there by the bottomless well

Yeah, now there he sits in his big white wicker rocker
Eatin' his candy-coated cashews, sippin' orange lemonade
While that sweet young thing fanned the flies from off his eyebrows
He's dozin' in the green Cataupa shade
Lord, I swear that Jesse Langtree got it made
Let's hear it for Jesse now

I asked her for a drink of water
And Jesse slept... me and her we talked a spell
She said that she was his wife and daughter
Lord love her
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

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
Gonna throw me down, down, down to the bottomless well

Now here I sit in Jesse's big white wicker rocker
Eatin' his candy-coated cashews, sippin' his orange lemonade
While that sweet young thing fans the flies from off my eyebrows
I'm dozin' in the green Cataupa shade
Enjoying things that Jesse Langtree made
God bless you, Jesse

Now some folks say that sweet thing pushed him
But I was there and I swear, he fell
But it ain't murder 'cause he ain't dead, 'cause he's still a'fallin'...
Going down, down, forever in the bottomless well
Going down, down, down, down, down
Bye, Jesse!