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 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 got some news
this mornin'
from Choctaw Ridge
Today
Billy Joe MacAllister
jumped off the
Tallahatchie Bridge
And 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
And Mama said
it was a shame about
Billy Joe anyhow
Seems like
nothin' ever comes
to no good
up on Choctaw Ridge
And now
Billy Joe MacAllister's
jumped off the
Tallahatchie Bridge
And Brother
said he recollected
when he and
Tom and Billie Joe
He 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 now you tell me
Billie Joe's jumped off the
Tallahatchie Bridge
And Mama said to me
Child
What's happened
to your appetite
Well 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
Tallahatchie Bridge
A year has come and gone
since we heard the news
about Billy Joe
And 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' flowers
up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them
into the muddy water
off the Tallahatchie Bridge