Ode To Billie Joe Lyrics - Bobbie Gentry

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day 

I was out choppin' cotton, and my brother was balin' 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 blackeyed 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 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 

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-a apple pie; you know, it don't seem right 

I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge 

And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge 

And mama said to me, child, what's happened to your appetite? 

I've been cookin' all morning, 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 throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge