Biography:
America’s Favorite Jim Stafford Songs
In 1974, Jim wrote and recorded his first chart making song, “The Swamp Witch”, produced by his boyhood friend Kent LaVoie, (known as Lobo). He followed with a gold single, “Spiders and Snakes”, which stayed on the American pop charts for 26 weeks. The hits just kept coming and included “My Girl Bill”, “Wildwood Weed”, and the wonderfully satirical “Cow Patti”, written for the Clint Eastwood movie, Any Which Way You Can, in which Jim appeared.
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Swamp Witch (Blackwater Hattie) by Jim Stafford
Tabbed By Glenn Gibson - [email protected] - 06/23/10
Drop D tuning
A fun tune in drop D tuning from the days of Swamp Rock
D C
Black water Hattie lived back in the swamp
G D
Where the strange green reptiles crawl.
D C
Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees
G D
Like sausage on a smokehouse wall.
D C
Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes
G
An all of them watching you
D C
Stay off the track to Hatties Shack
G D
In the back of the Black Bayou
D C
Way up the road from Hattie’s Shack
G F D
Lies a sleepy little Okeechobe town
D C
Talk of swamp witch Hattie lock you
G F D
In when the sun go down
D G
Rumors of what she’d done, rumors of what she’d do
D C
Kept folks off the track of Hattie’s shack
G F D
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-a 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
Lets thank old Hattie for savin’ our town
Well fetch her from the Black Bayou
Party of ten of the towns 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
Tabbed By Glenn Gibson - [email protected] - 06/23/10
Drop D tuning
A fun tune in drop D tuning from the days of Swamp Rock
D C
Black water Hattie lived back in the swamp
G D
Where the strange green reptiles crawl.
D C
Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees
G D
Like sausage on a smokehouse wall.
D C
Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes
G
An all of them watching you
D C
Stay off the track to Hatties Shack
G D
In the back of the Black Bayou
D C
Way up the road from Hattie’s Shack
G F D
Lies a sleepy little Okeechobe town
D C
Talk of swamp witch Hattie lock you
G F D
In when the sun go down
D G
Rumors of what she’d done, rumors of what she’d do
D C
Kept folks off the track of Hattie’s shack
G F D
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-a 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
Lets thank old Hattie for savin’ our town
Well fetch her from the Black Bayou
Party of ten of the towns 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
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