Ode to Billy Joe

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
Well, I was out chopping cotton and my brother was bailing hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to have a bite to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door, hey, remember to wipe your feet
Then she said, I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Papa said to Mama, as he passed around the blackeyed peas
Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please
There are five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plough
And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothing ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

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, by the way
Said he saw a boy that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
And him and Billy Joe were throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge

A year's come and gone since we heard the news about Billy Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round and Papa caught it and he died last Spring
Now Mama doesn't seem to want to 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