Ode To Billy Joe Bobbie Gentry Intro: [D7][D7][D7][D7] It was the[D7] Third of June another sleepy dusty delta day I was[D7] out choppin cotton and my brother was balin' hay And at[G7] dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat And Mama[D7] hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet” And then she[G7] said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge" "Today[D7] Billy Joe MacAllister jumped[C7] off the Tallahatchie[D7] Bridge" And[D7] Papa said to Mama as he passed around the black-eyed peas "Well, Billy[D7] Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please" "There's[G7] five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow" And Mama[D7] said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow Seems like[G7] nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge And now[D7] Billy Joe MacAllister jumped[C7] off the Tallahatchie[D7] Bridge And[D7] brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe Put a[D7] frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show And wasn't[G7] I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night? "I'll have an[D7]-other piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right" "I[G7] saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge" "And now you[D7] tell me Billie Joe's jumped[C7] off the Tallahatchie[D7] Bridge" And[D7] Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite? Well I've been[D7] cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite That[G7] nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today Said he'd be[D7] pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way" He[G7] said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge And she and[D7] Billy Joe was throwing somethin'[C7] off the Tallahatchie[D7] Bridge” A[D7] year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe And[D7] brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo There was a[G7] virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring And now[D7] Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything And[G7] me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge And drop them[D7] in to the muddy water[C7] off the Tallahatchie[D7] Bridge [D7][D7]