patricia barber
ode to billie joe
it was the 3rd of june another sleepy dusty delta day  i was out choppin' cotton and my brother was bailin' hay.  at dinner time we stopped off on down to the house to eat  and mama hollered out the backdoor y'all remember to wipe your feet.   she said i got some of news this mornin' from choctaw ridge  seems that billy joe macallister's jumped off the tallahatchee bridge.   well papa said to mama as he passed around the black eyed peas  billy joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please  there's 5 more acres in the lower 40 i got to plow  mama said was a shame about billy joe anyhow  seems that nothin' never comes to no good up on choctaw ridge and now you  tell me billy joe has jumped off the tallahatchee bridge.   brother recollected when he and tom and billy joe  put a frog down my back at the carol couty picture show  and wasnt i talkin' to him after church last sunday night  i'll have another peice of apple pie but oh it dont seem right  saw him at the sawmill yesterday up on choctaw ridge  and now you tell me billy joe has jumped off the tallahatchee bridge   mama said to me child what's happened to your appetite?  i've been cooking all morning and you havent touched a single bite   that nice young preacher brother taylor dropped by today,  said he'd be pleased have dinner on sunday,  oh by the way  said he saw a girl who looked alot like you up on choctaw ridge  and she and billy joe was throwin' something off the tallahatchee bridge.   a year's come and gone since we heard the news about billy joe  brother married becky thompson and they bought a store in tupelo  was a virus goin round and papa caught it and he died last spring  now mama doesnt seem to wanto do much of anything  me i spend alot of my time pickin flowers up on choctaw ridge  and throw 'em into the muddy water off the tallahatchee bridge.  