It was the third of June another sleepy dusty Delta day
|
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was a bailin' hay
|
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
|
And mama hollered out the backdoor you all remember to wipe your feet
|
And then she said I got some news this mornin' 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
|
It seems like nothing ever comes to no good upon Choctaw Wridge
|
And 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 don't seem right
|
Why I just saw him at sawmill yesterday upon Choctaw Wridge
|
And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
|
Mama said to me child what's happened to your apetite
|
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
|
And she and Billie Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge
|
Now one 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
|
And now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything
|
And me I spent a lot of time pickin' flowers upon Chotaw Wridge
|
And dropped 'em into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
|
|
-----------------
|
Ode To Billie Joe
|
| Liz Anderson |
