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 back door y'all remember to wipe your feet
And then she said I got the news this mornin' from Choctaw Wridge

Today Billie Joe McAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Papa said to Mama as he passed around the black eyed peas
"Well 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
And now Billie Joe McAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll 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 don't seem right
I saw him at the sawmill yesterday upon Choctaw Wridge
And now you tell me Billie Joe has jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Mama said to me child what's happened to your appetite
Well I've been cookin' all mornin' and you haven't touched a single bite

That nice young preacher brother Tailor dropped by today
Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday oh by the way
He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you upon Choctaw Wridge
She and Billie Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge
One year has come and gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe

Brother married Becky Thompson and they bought a store in Tupelo
There was virus goin' round papa caught it and he died last spring
And 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