It was the third of June
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another sleepy, dusty Delta day
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I was out choppin' cotton
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and my brother was baling hay
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At dinner time we stopped
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and walked back to the house to eat
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And Mama hollered out the back door
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y'all remember to wipe your feet
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Then she said I got some news
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this morning from Chocktow Ridge
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Today Billy Joe MacAllister
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jumped off the Tallahachee Bridge
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Papa said to Mama
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as he passed around the blackCeyed peas
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Well Billy Joe never had a lick of sense
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pass the biscuits, please
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There's five more acres
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in the lower forty I got to plow
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And Mama said it was shame
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about Billy Joe, anyhow
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Seems like nothing ever comes
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to no good on Chocktow Ridge
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And now Billy Joe MacAllister's
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jumped off the Tallahachee Bridge
|
|
Brother said he recollected
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when he and Tom and Billie Joe
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Put a frog down my back
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at the Carroll County picture show
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And wasn't I talkin' to him
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after church last Sunday night
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I'll have another piece-a apple pie
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you know it don't seem right
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I saw him at the sawmill yesterday
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on Choctaw Ridge
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And now ya tell me Billie Joe's
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jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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And Mama said to me
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Child, what's happened to your appetite?
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I've been cookin' all morning
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and you haven't touched a single bite
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That nice young preacher
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Brother Taylor, dropped by today
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Said he'd be pleased
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to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way
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He said he saw a girl
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that looked a lot like you up
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on Choctaw Ridge
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And she and Billy Joe was throwing
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somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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A year has come and gone
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since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
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And Brother married Becky Thompson
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they bought a store in Tupelo
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There was a virus going 'round
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Papa caught it and he died last Spring
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And now Mama doesn't seem
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to wanna do much of anything
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And me, I spend a lot of time
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pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
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And drop them into
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the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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|
-----------------
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Ode To Billy Joe
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| Bobbie Gentry |
