Ode To Billy Joe

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out chopping cotton and my brother was balin' hay, oh yes, he was
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered out the back door, "Y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said, "I heard the news today from Choctaw Ridge"
They tell me Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
You know that Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, now pass the biscuits, please
I got five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow
And mama said, "You know it was a shame about Billy Joe, anyhow"
Seems like nothing ever comes to any good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Brother said, "You know I recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe"
Put a frog down your back at the Carroll County picture show
Said, "Won't you talking to him after church last Sunday night?"
Said, "I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
You know I saw him at the sawmill yesterday when on Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Mama said to me, "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
While I've been cooking all morning and don't touched a single bite
You know that nice young preacher, Brother Taylor is dropped by today
And he said, "I'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday all around, by the way"
I know a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge (have mercy)

While a year has come and gone since we heard the news about Billy Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, and they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going around, papa caught it and he died last spring
And now mama doesn't feel like doing much of, much of anything
And me, while I spend a lot of time picking flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge