Ode To Billy Joe Lyrics - Café Blue - Patricia Barber

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" 

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"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" 

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"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