Bobby Bare – Marie Laveau, is a song written by Shel Silverstein and Baxter Taylor. First recorded by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show on their 1971 album Doctor Hook, a 1974 live recording by Bobby Bare went to number one for a single week and spent a total of 18 weeks on the country charts. It was his 34th single on the charts, his only number one and final top ten country hit.

The song is about a fictitious and ugly witch who lived in the Louisiana bayous in a hollow log with a one-eyed snake and a three-legged dog, having the same name as the famous New Orleans voodoo priestess, and who, armed with a magic black cat tooth and mojo bone, could make men disappear with a horrific screech. On the night of a new moon, «Handsome Jack» arrives and offers her a deal: if she conjures up $1,000,000 for him, he will marry her. After he receives the money, he backs out of the deal claiming that she is too ugly for a rich man like him; in retaliation, she screeches and Jack disappears.

Bobby Bare – Marie Laveau
From the album Bobby Bare Sings Lullabys, Legends and Lies
B-side «The Mermaid»
Released April 1974
Genre Country
Length 3:09
Label RCA Nashville
Songwriter(s) Shel Silverstein, Baxter Taylor
Producer(s) Bobby Bare

COUNTRYPEDIA

Bobby Bare – Marie Laveau Lyrics

The most famous of the voodoo queens that ever existed
Is Marie Laveau, down in Louisiana
There’s a lot of weird ungodly tales about Marie
She’s supposed to have a lot of magic potions, spells and curses….

Down in Louisiana, where the black trees grow
Lives a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau
Got a black cat’s tooth and a Mojo bone
And anyone who wouldn’t leave her alone

She’d go another man done gone
She lives in a swamp in a hollow log
With a one-eyed snake and a three-legged dog
She’s got a bent, bony body and stringy hair
If she ever seen why’all messing round there
She’d go another man done gone
And then one night when the moon was black
Into the swamp come handsome Jack

A no good man like you all know
He was looking around for Marie Laveau
He said Marie Laveau, you handsome witch
Give me a little a little charm that’ll make me rich

Give me a million dollars and I tell you what I’ll do
This very night, I’m gonna marry you
Then It’ll be another man done gone
So Marie done some magic, and she shook a little sand

Made a million dollars and she put it in his hand
Then she giggled and she wiggled, and she said Hey, Hey
I’m getting ready for my wedding day
But old handsome Jack he said goodbye Marie

You’re too damned ugly for a rich man like me
Then Marie started mumbling her fangs started gnashing
Her body started trembling and her eyes started flashing
And she went another man done gone

So if you ever get down where the black trees grow
And meet a voodoo lady named Marie Laveau
If she ever asks you to make her your wife
Man, you better stay with her for the rest of your life
Or it’ll be another man done gone

GENIUS