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Ode To

Billlly Jloe

Made Famous Byz BOBBIE GENTRY

(Q www.singtotheworld.com
El III E El El
It was the third of June.

Another sleepy, dusty
Delta day
It was the third of June.

Another sleepy, dusty
Delta day
l was out chopping

cotton and my brother
was baling 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 morning
from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy-Joe

MacAlIister 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 BilIy-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 Billy-Joe
Had put a frog down my

back at the Carroll
County picture show
And wasn't I talking to

him after church last
Sunday night?
I'll have another piece

of apple pie. Y'know it
don't seem right
I saw him at the

sawmill yesterday on
Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me
Billy-Joe's jumped off
the Tallahatchie Bridge
And Mama said to me

Child, what's happened
to your appetite?
I've been cooking 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
BiIIy-Joe was throwing

something off the
Tallahatchie Bridge
A year has come and
gone since we heard the
news 'bout Billy-Joe
And brother married
Becky Thompson.

They bought a store
in Tupelo
There was a virus going
'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 picking flowers up
on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into
the muddy water off the
Tallahatchie Bridge
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Title
Ode To Billy Joe
Artist
Bobbie Gentry
Brand
Sing to the World
(19 Other Versions)
Code
STTW2912-01
Genre
country
Link
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