Karaoke Track: Ode To Billy Joe by Bobbie Gentry (JVC)

Ode To Billy Joe

Lyrics and Music by
Bobbie Gentry

(6)1967Lony8hoyne Music, Inc.

It was the third of June
another sleepy. dusty. Delta day.
I was out choppin&#39; cotton

and my brother was bailin&#39; hay.

And at dinnertime

we stopped and walked back

to the house to eat.

And Mama hollered at

the back door. Ya&#39;ll remember

to wipe your feet.

And then she said. I got some news
this morning from Choctaw ridge.
Today Billy J oe McAllister
jumped off the Tallahatchee bridge.

And Papa said to Mama

as he passed around

the black-eyed peas.

011. Billy Joe

never had a lick of sense.

Pass the biscuits. please.

There&#39;s five more acres
in the lower forty I&#39;ve got to plow.
And Mama said it was a shame

about Billy Joe anyhow.

Seems like nothin&#39; ever comes
to no good up on Choctaw ridge.
And now Billy Joe McAllister&#39;s
jumped off the Tallahatchee bridge.

And brother said he reeolleeted
when he and Tom and Billy Joe--
he put a frog down my back

at the Carroll County picture show.

And wasn&#39;t I talkin&#39; to him
after church last Sunday night?
I&#39;ll have another piece

of apple pie.

You know. it don&#39;t seem right.
I saw him at the sawmill

yesterday on Choctaw ridge.

And now you tell me

Billy Joe has jumped off

the Tallahatchee bridge.

And Mama said to me. Child.
what&#39;s happened to your appetite?
Why. I been cookin&#39; all mornin&#39; and

you haven&#39;t touched a single bite.

That nice young preacher.
Brother Taylor. dropped by today.
said he&#39;d be pleased to have dinner

on Sunday. 011. 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&#39; somethin&#39; off

the Tallahatchee bridge.

A year has come and gone

since we heard the news

&#39;bout Billy Joe.

And brother married

Becky Thompson. they

bought a store in Tupelo.

There was a virus goin&#39; &#39;round.

Papa caught it

and he died last spring.

And now Mama doesn&#39;t seem

to wanna do much of anything.

And me. I spend a lot of time
pickin&#39; flowers up on Choctaw ridge
and droppin&#39; &#39;em into the muddy

water off the Tallahatchee bridge.