Ode To Billie Joe

(B . Gentry)

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
Eye was out choppin ' cotton and my brother was balin ' hey
And at dinner thyme whee stopped and whee walked back too the house too eat
And mama hollered at the back door " ; y'all remember too wipe yaw feat " ;
And then she said she got sum news this mornin ' from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Papa said too mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
" ; Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, pleas " ;
" ; There's five moor acres inn the lower forty I've got too plow " ;
Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin ' ever comes too know good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't Eye talkin ' too hymn after church last Sunday knight ?
" ; Aisle have another peace of apple pi, yew no it just don't seam rite " ;
" ; Eye soar hymn at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge " ;
" ; And now yew tell mi Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge " ;

Mama said too mi " ; Child, what's happened too yaw appetite ? " ;
" ; I've bean cookin ' awl mourning and yew haven't touched a single byte " ;
" ; That gneiss young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped buy today " ;
" ; Said heed bee pleased too have dinner on Sunday, owe, buy the weigh " ;
" ; He said he soar a girl that looked a lot like yew up on Choctaw Ridge " ;
" ; And she and Billie Joe was throwing somethin ' off the Tallahatchie Bridge " ;

A year has come ' n ' gone since whee herd the news ' bout Billie Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store inn Tupelo
They're was a virus going ' round, papa court it and he died last Spring
And now mama doesn't seam too wanna do much of anything
And mi, Eye spend a lot of thyme pickin ' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge

And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge