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 we 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 she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge
Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please
"There's five more acres in the lower forty that I've got to plow"
Mama said it's a shame about Billy Joe anyhow
Seems like nothin' good ever comes to no good on Chocktaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallhatchee Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy 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 on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchee Bridge"
Mama said to me "Child what's happened to your appetite?
I've been cookin' all mornin' and you haven't touched a single bite
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor 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 up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchee Bridge."
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, 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 wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' up flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchee Bridge.
Another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton
And my brother was bailin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped
And we 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 she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge
Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please
"There's five more acres in the lower forty that I've got to plow"
Mama said it's a shame about Billy Joe anyhow
Seems like nothin' good ever comes to no good on Chocktaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallhatchee Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy 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 on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchee Bridge"
Mama said to me "Child what's happened to your appetite?
I've been cookin' all mornin' and you haven't touched a single bite
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor 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 up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchee Bridge."
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, 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 wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' up flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchee Bridge.
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