The air all painted pallid gray 
The storm was coming in 
Folks were lining out in all directions
Me and Holt and Henry Short 
Were pitching on the skiff
Trying to make it home before the night
And the gray waves were rolling 
Bold the brave, brave ocean and rolled us suckers in

Well I don't keep to goings on 
I tend to stick with kin 
But Watson had it in from the beginning 
He built that house on Chatham Bend
A white-washed knotted pine 
Ninety acres furrowed for the cane 
And he drove it down from Georgia 
His dad a martyred soldier
In the war between the states

Lord, bring down the flood
Wash away the blood 
And drown these everglades 
And put us in our place 
We laid Edgar Watson in his grave 
We laid him in his grave 

'Til I'm dust I'll never know 
Why he came ashore, with all those killers
Gathered on the shoreline 
Kicking holes in ugly mud 
With trigger fingers pinched 
A brace of rifles, bristled in the wind
And we towed his body northbound 
And buried him all face down with a good view into hell

Lord, bring down the flood 
Wash away the blood 
And drown these Everglades
And put us in our place 
We laid Edgar Watson in his grave 
We laid him in his grave 
We laid him in his grave 
We laid him in his grave