Ode To Billie Joe

It was the third of June, another sleepy dusty Delta day

I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was bailin' hay

And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat

And mama hollered at the backdoor, "You all remember to wipe your feet"

And then she said, "I got some news this morning from Choctaw Wridge

Today Billie Joe Macallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

Papa said to mama as he passed around the black eyed peas

"Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please"

"There's five more acres in the lower forty I got to plow"

And mama said, "It was a shame about Billie Joe anyhow

Seems like nothing ever comes to no good upon Choctaw Wridge

Now Billie Joe Macallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe

Put a frog down my back at the Caroll County picture show

And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?

I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it just don't seem right

I saw him at sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Wridge

Now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Mama said to me, "Child what's happened to your appetite?"

I've been cooking all morning and you haven't touched a single bite

And nice young preacher brother Tailor dropped by today

Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way

Said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you upon Choctaw Wridge

She and Billie Joe was throwin' something off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Year's come and gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe

Brother married Becky Thompson and they bought a store in Tupelo

There was a virus goin' 'round, papa caught it and he died last spring

Now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything

And me I spent a lot of time pickin' flowers upon Choctaw Wridge

And dropped 'em into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge