|
It was the third of June |
|
Another sleepy, dusty Delta day |
|
I was out choppin' cotton |
|
And my brother was balin' hay |
|
At dinner time we stopped |
|
Walked back to the house to eat |
|
Mama hollered out the back door |
|
"Y'all remember to wipe your feet" |
|
Then she said, "I got some news |
|
This mornin' from Choctaw Ridge" |
|
"Today Billy Joe Mac Allister |
|
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge" |
|
Papa said to Mama as he passed |
|
Around the black eyed peas |
|
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense |
|
Pass the biscuits, please" |
|
"There's five more acres |
|
In the lower forty I've got to plow" |
|
Mama said it was shame |
|
About Billy Joe, anyhow |
|
Seems like nothin' ever comes |
|
To no good up on Choctaw Ridge |
|
And now Billy Joe Mac Allister's |
|
Jumped off the Tallahatchie 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 a 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 were throwing |
|
Somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge" |
|
Well, a year has come 'n' gone |
|
Since we heard the news about Billy Joe |
|
Brother married Becky Thompson |
|
Bought a store in Tupelo |
|
There was a virus going 'round |
|
Papa caught it and he died last Spring |
|
Now Mama doesn't seem |
|
To wanna do much of anything |
|
And me, I spend a lot of time |
|
Pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge |
|
And drop them into the muddy water |
|
Off the Tallahatchie Bridge |
