BOTTOMLESS WELL
(Shel Silverstein)

Bobby Bare - 1973


 

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 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 a raging fever and the trembling chills
I wandered lost through the Okechobee
And there I seen 'em 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 fans the flies from off his eyebrows
He's dozin' in the green catalpa shade
Lord, I swear that Jesse Langtree's got it made

Oh, let's hear it for Jesse now, hey Jesse

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 a 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 tremblin'
I was starin' 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
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 catalpa shade
Enjoyin' 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 swear he fell
But it ain't murder 'cause he ain't dead, 'cause he's still a-fallin'
Goin' down, down forever in the bottomless well
Goin' down, down, down, down, down,
Bye Jesse!



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - January 2011)