Cottonmouth Charlie

Hey

Mm-mm

Don't tie your boat where the black water bends

After the sun drops low

Old river keeps what the daylight leaves

That's just somethin' locals know

If you hear a whistle through the cypress trees

Don't whistle back too soon

Might be a wind, might be Charlie

Singing to the moon

Cottonmouth Charlie

Laughing through the cane

Walking where the snakes lays, sleeping like they knew his name

River don't tell, and Charlie won't lie

He just grinned and tipped his hat

As another boat drifted by

Charlie never packed a pistol

Said the river settles scores

Kept a deck of river cards, cut from old ballroom floors

Played five hands with a bootleg captain

Won his boat before first light

Gave it back by Sunday morning

Said he only borrowed luck that night (hey)

Whoa, come flood season, Charlie vanished

Just like smoke above the reeds

Some said he drifted south with the river

Others said the river breeze

Still the day when fog hangs heavy

And the frogs all stop at once

Folks don't ask if Charlie's coming

They just head back home for lunch