Story Behind the Song: ‘Marie Laveau’ by Bobby Bare

The song "Marie Laveau" was Bobby Bare's only number one hit. It topped the chart in 1974.

The song is about a fictitious witch who lived in a Louisiana bayou swamp, having the same name as the famous New Orleans voodoo priestess.

This song hi-lighted the association Bobby Bare had with songwriter Shel Silverstein. Shel wrote other hits for Bobby.

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Bobby actually cut a double album in 1975 of Silverstein's material. It was called Lullabys, Legends and Lies.

Bobby had big success in 1974 with the song, "Daddy What If?" that Silverstein composed. The song featured Bobby Bare Jr. and it went all the way to number two.

Then right after that came the number one smash hit, "Marie Laveau". There was something totally unique about this song.

It is still today, the only number one country song that had a scream in it. Several screams to be exact, all done by none other than Shel Silverstein himself.