It was the 3rd of June,
another sleepy, dusty day today
Sis was out shopping cotton,
yeah, yeah, I was bailing hay
And at dinner time we stopped
and walked back to eat
And my 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 McAllister
Jumped off the Tallahassee Bridge
You know my papa said to my mama
As they passed around
the black eyed peas
Well Billy Joe never had a licker since
Pass the biscuits please
There's five more acres in the low forty
I've got to plow
And mama said it was a shame
about Billy Joe anyhow
Seems like nothing ever
comes to no good
up on Choctaw Ridge
And now my buddy Billy Joe McAllister
jumped off a Tallahatchie bridge
I said I recollected when me
and Tom and Billy Joe
Put a frog down since his back
at Carroll's County Picture Show
And I was talkin' to him at church
last Sunday night
And I saw him at the sawmill,
yeah, and it seemed all right
I remember I saw him at
the sawmill
yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me, Billy Joe
jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Mama said to sis, 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 yesterday
Said he'd be pleased to have dinner
on Sunday,
an d by the way
He said he saw a young lady down,
down on Choptop Ridge
Looked like you, she and Billy Joe
was throwing something out
At the Tallahatchie Bridge
One year has come and gone
Since we heard the news
about Billy Joe
My father married Becky Thompson
They had a story to blow
There was a virus going round
Papa thought he could die last spring
And now my momma doesn't seem
to want to do much of anything
And me, I spend my time with my sis,
picking flowers on Choctaw Ridge
We take them and drop them
into the muddy waters
off of the Tallahatchie Bridge
Bye Billy, bye buddy, oh yeah