Nellie
Written by Barry Etris

Her daddy was as tough as the teeth in a rusty chainsaw.
Her mama was a hard drinking, leather-tough toothless hag.
Their backwater life made pretty things hard to come by,
and soft little Nellie was the only pretty thing they had.

Chorus:
How I long to hear the whipperwill calling to me,
makes me feel as wild as a big black grizzly bear.
Makes me feel as warm as foxfire over black water,
to see that Okee-fo-nokee moon shinning down through Nellie's hair.

Nellie was as pretty as an okee-fo-nokee sundown.
A barefoot beauty who made her own cotten dress.
Everynight Nellie would walk me down by the water,
with her tiny heart pounding like a wild thing against my chest.
Nellie had a fear of what hard life would do to beauty.
Looking in the mirror her ma's ugly face to see.
Nellie had a dream of making it to Savannah.
Nellie just laughed when I begged her to marry me.

(Chorus)

Nellie didn't see my eyes flashing in the moon-light.
Nellie didn't see me raise my trembling hand,
and Nellie didn't feel a thing when she hit that water.
Nellie went down and Nellie never rose again.

(Chorus)

To see that okee-fo-nokee blackwater flowing through Nellie's golden hair.