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

at the back door

y'all, remember

to wipe your feet

And then she said

I got some news this mornin'

from Choctaw Ridge

today, Billie Joe MacAllister

jumped off

the Tallahatchie Bridge

And papa said to mama

as he passed around

the blackeyed peas

well, Billie 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 Billie Joe

anyhow

Seems like nothin' ever

comes to no good

up on Choctaw Ridge

And now

Billie Joe MacAllister's

jumped off

the Tallahatchie Bridge

And brother said

he recollected when

he and Tom and Billie Joe

Done 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 on choctaw ridge

and now you tell me

Billie Joe's jumped off

the Tallahatchie Bridge

And mama said to me

child, what's happened

to your appetite

Oh, 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 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 Billie Joe

was throwin' somethin' off

the Tallahatchie Bridge

A year has come and gone

since we heard the news

'bout Billie Joe

and brother

married Becky Thompson

they bought a store in Tupelo

There was a virus goin' 'round

papa caught it

and he died last spring

and now mama

doesn't seem to want to do

much of anythin'

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