TheBanyanTree: A Song and a Place

[B Drummond]

Tate's Hell (lyrics by Will McLean)


(Intro)

Oh, listen good people a story I'll tell
of a great swamp in Florida
a place called Tate's Hell

One-hundred-and-forty
square watery miles
with millions of skeeters 
and big yellow flies
and where all about 
the moccasin glides
with glittering death 
in its beady eyes
where bull 'gators bellow
and panthers squall
now, this is a place
to be shunned by all

(verses below)

Ol' Tate left Sumatra
long about dark
he had his two big dogs
a puppy named Spark
an ol' Long Tom shotgun
a sharp Barlow knife
that panther would sure have
the chase of his life

A little past moondown
the dogs struck a scent
through bramble and tye-tye
a runnin' Tate went
for hours and hours
until it was dawn
then Tate knew that he was
a long way from home

He blowed through his gun barrel
the dogs did not hear
the panther had killed them
and now Tate felt fear
the sun was not shining
the mist it was thick
Oh, Lordy, Tate hollered
"Im, lost up the crick!"

He leaned back to rest 
but his eyes did not see
the big rattler struck him
above the bent'nd knee
the lick was so hard 
that a sprawling he fell
this was the beginning
of poor ol' Tate's hell

He opened his Barlow
and he grabbed him some moss
a cut he made one way
another, a cross
he wrapped his leg tightly
and tied it with string
then sickness came on him
his body turned green

When Tate was discovered 
these words he did tell
"My name is Ol' Tate boys,
I"ve just been in Hell."
These few spoken words
were the last that he said
his spirit had left him
Ol' Tate, he was dead

(Epilogue)

Now no man can dispute 
this legend of yore
how Tate lived a full week
and five days more
and somehow crawled out
of that deep ghostly swamp
that we know as
Tate's Hell.


end



Notes:

Sumatra - a rural community in the panhandle of Florida, on the north 
end of what is now the Appalachicola National Forest

Long Tom shotgun - a long barrelled single shot, break open action 
shotgun, usually with a 36 inch long (or longer) barrel, known for 
shooting a very tight pattern

Barlow knife - a very popular, inexpensive pocketknife years ago, could 
be purchased at most "general stores", hardwares in country towns 
across the South

panther - the species of panther called "Florida panther" which is for 
intents and purposes the same as the cougar or mountain lion that lives 
in the western USA,  Florida is virtually devoid of these wonderful 
cats today, the few that remain are in the Everglades region of Florida

blowed through his gun barrel - he broke open the action of the shotgun 
and used the barrel as a "horn" to call the dogs, something they knew 
to mean, "Call off the hunt and come to this sound."

tye-tye - a very thick, bushy, shrub-like plant common at the edges of 
swamps and low spots in Florida.  Because of its thick growth it can be 
very difficult to work your way through it, especially when following 
baying hounds running flat out on the hot scent of a panther.  Unlike 
brambles though it does not have "stickers' or sharp points to cause 
even more injury.


The story is that Tate left the town of Sumatra one evening in pursuit 
of some tracking fun with his two experienced dogs and a puppy that he 
was training with the experienced dogs.  

The dogs got on the trail of a panther and the chase lasted for hours.  
The chase ended when the dogs were killed by the panther when they 
tree'ed it. Tate had followed the dogs and panther deep into what is 
now called the Appalachicola National Forest and southward into a large 
un-named (at least until Tate's time) swamp. Mr. McLean said that the 
swamp is 140 square miles.

There he was struck by a rattlesnake early the next day of the hunt.  He 
attended to the rattlesnake bite the best he could by attempting to cut 
the wound open and get as much venom out as possible.  

He, being lost, wandered around the swamp for 12 days until he finally 
exited it near a small town on the Florida Gulf coast named Carrabelle.  
He died shortly thereafter.  When word went around about what had 
happened to him, the swamp has been known thereafter as "Tate's Hell."  
As far as I know, this is the only song ever sung about Mr. Tate and 
his hell/Hell.

The distance from Sumatra to Carrabelle is approximately 40 miles.   God 
only knows how many miles Ol' Tate traveled by foot, suffering from a 
mortal rattlesnake bite, before he finally was free from his hell at 
the edge of Carrabelle.

Like all parts of Florida what was once wild is under pressure to be 
turned into housing divisions, parking lots, Wal-Mart Super Centers, 
and strip malls.  There just aint no money to be made by leaving things 
alone.  "Gotta change it, gotta leave my mark on this land" is the 
creed of modern man.  Part of what was the original Tate's Hell has 
been purchased by the state of Florida and now has a good chance of 
being preserved. 

Thank you Mr. McLean very leaving me something that brings back memories 
of my childhood, for writing and singing a song that I loved so as a 
boy that I committed it to memory and can still remember word for word 
now over 40 years later. I still love your old song, Mr. McLean.  Your 
gravelly voice was often criticized but the heart and soul poured into 
your songs makes for very few critics.  

Because of you, I don't just remember my home state and area of it that 
I grew up in, but I feel it inside me and I feel your love for it in 
your songs, songs that have outlived you, songs that I still remember 
today.



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