The year old painted pallid gray, the storm was coming in.
Folks were lining out in all directions.
Me and 'Hord' 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 roll the suckers in.
Well I don't keep to goings on,
I tend to stick with kin,
But Watson had it in from the beginning.

Built that house on Chatham bed, wine wash knotted pine.
Ninety acres 'burrowed' for the cane
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. Drown these everglades, and put us in our place.
We laid Edgar Watson in his grave. We laid him in his grave.

'Till I'm dust I'll never know why he came ashore,
With all those killers gathered on the shoreline.
Kicking holes in ugly mud, trigger fingers pinched,
Brace your rifles, bristled in the wind.
And we towed his body northbound,
Buried him all face down with a good view into Hell.

Lord, bring down down the flood.
Wash away the blood. Drown these
Everglades, 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.


Lyrics submitted by warrencon7001, edited by strandoo, Reptile_brain

E. Watson Lyrics as written by Colin Meloy

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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E. Watson song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    This is a song about the outlaw Edgar Watson. Edgar Watson moved to Chokoloskee, Florida in the 1880's. He had killed two people, one also allegedly an outlaw and one apparently for self defense. He bought a plot of land on the Chatham Bend River and began raising vegetables. Watson also bought a claim on Lost Man's River. A man named Tucker squatted on the land and refused to leave. Later, when Tucker and his nephew were found dead, the blame fell on Watson. Afterwards, Watson returned to Chatham Bend and began making syrup from sugar cane. Unsavoury characters were known to hang around his residence, one named Melvin that was said to have burned down a factory and killed a few policemen. While Melvin and Watson were out, a man named Cox and an accomplice killed two people at the house on Chatham Bend. When Melvin and Watson returned, Cox killed Melvin also. It was October 17, 1910, and a hurricane was brewing. Incensed, Watson went to the sheriff in Fort Myers and asked him to arrest Cox. When the sheriff refused, Watson bought some shells at a department store and vowed to kill Cox himself. When Watson returned to Chokoloskee, he was met by a crowd who, after a standoff, killed him.

    This song is told by the point of view of a Chokoloskee resident, who, with a few friends of his, is trying to make it home in their small dinghy at the start of the storm. "I'll never know why he came ashore, with all those killers", he says, relating the crowd of ruffians known to hang around Chatham Bend. Bitter about the man who came to the town and so sullied it, the mob who killed Watson "buried him all face down with a good view into hell". The narrator asks the Lord to wash away the blood of the people Watson killed and were killed because of Watson. He also asks for Him to "put us in our place", to baptismally wash away the sin of killing Watson and to be forgiven for the murder of a man so obviously vile.

    This is Decemberists storytelling at its best.

    cassieandraon November 06, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    What I find of interest about this story is the theme of "murdering murderers". Is murdrering a murderer murder? Edgar Watson presumably killed this Cox fellow who was a murderer. When we returning to Chokoliksee was killed. I feel the song hints at the fact he may have simply been gunned down by the crowd. Was this murder? How is it any different than waht E. Watson had just done? If you want to add an addtional layer of ethics, is killing a killer of a killer murder? I think the narrator has a guilty conscience as being part of the crowd that gunned him down without a trial or process of law, outlaw or not, the narrator clearly feels it was murder in my opinion. A reminder that there is never a time when savagery is justified and when the rule of law is discarded, it makes murderers of us all.

    warrencon7001on November 06, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Check out "Killing Mr. Watson" by Peter Matthiessen if you're interested in the story.

    CharlieBroonon November 07, 2016   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Those lyrics as posted are not accurate.

    Reptile_brainon July 18, 2019   Link

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