Ode To Billie Joe

Written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry



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It was the third of June another sleepy dusty Delta day

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I was out chopping cotton and my brother was a bailing hay

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At dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat

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And mama hollered at the backdoor y'all remember to wipe your feet

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She said I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge

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Today Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge



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Papa said to mama as she passed around the black eyed peas

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Billie Joe never had a lick of sense pass the biscuits please

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There's five more acres in the lower forty I got to plow

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And mama said it was a shame about Billie Joe anyhow

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It seems like nothing ever comes to no good upon Choctaw Ridge

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And now Billie Joe McAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge



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Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe

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Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show

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And wasn't I talking to him after church last Sunday night

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I'll have another piece of apple pie you know it don't seem right

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I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge

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And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge



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Mama said to me child what's happened to your appetite

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I've been cooking all morning and you haven't touched a single bite

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That nice young preacher Brother Taylor dropped by today

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Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday oh by the way

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He said he saw a girl that's looked a lot like you upon Choctaw Ridge

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And she and Billie Joe was throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge



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One year has come and gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe

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Brother married Becky Thompson and they bought a store in Tupelo

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There was a virus going round and papa caught it and he died last spring

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And now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything

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And me I spent a lot of time picking flowers upon Choctaw Ridge

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And dropped them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge