Ode To Billie Joe - Tammy Wynette

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 at the backdoor
Y'all remember to wipe your feet
And then she said I got the news
This mornin' from Choctaw Wridge
Today Billie Joe Macallister's
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Papa said to mama as he passed
Around the black eyed peas
Well Billie Joe never had a lick
Of sense pass the biscuits please
There's five more acres in the
Lower forty I got to plow
And mama said it was a shame
About Billie Joe anyhow
Seems like nothing ever comes
To no good upon Choctaw Wridge
And now Billie Joe Macallister's
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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 of
Apple pie you know it don't seem right
I saw him at the sawmill
Yesterday upon Choctaw Wridge
And now you tell me Billie
Joe has jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Mama said to me child what's
Happened to your apetite
Well I've been cookin' all mornin'
And you haven't touched a single bite
That nice young preacher brother
Tailor 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 upon Choctaw Wridge
She and Billie Joe was throwin'
Somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge
One year has come and gone since
We heard the news about Billie Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson and
They bought a store in Tupelo
There was virus goin' round papa
Caught it and he died last spring
And now mama doesn't seem
To want to do much of anything
And me I spent a lot of time pickin'
Flowers upon Chotaw Wridge
And dropped 'em into the muddy water
Off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Ode To Billie Joe - Tammy Wynette