This song has always been,
a song with a great story in it,
and much sadness.But most of all,
it is a story of a sad time
in the delta.Often famlies,
let problems fade and
just dont talk about them.


Ode To Billy Joe

It was the third of June,
another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton
and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped
and walked back to the house to eat,
And Mama hollered out the back door
"y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news
this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister
jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"



'n' 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's five more acres in
the lower forty I've got to plow"
'n' Mama said it was shame
about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes
to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's
jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge



'n' 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 I talkin' to him
after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece-a apple pie,
you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill
yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now ya tell me Billie Joe's
jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"



'n' Mama said to me "Child,
what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' 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, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked
a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was
throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"



A year has come 'n' gone since
we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
'n' Brother married Becky Thompson,
they bought a store in Tupelo.
There was a virus going 'round,
Papa caught it and he died last Spring,
And now Mama doesn't seem
to wanna do much of anything.
And me, I spend a lot of time
pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water
off the Tallahatchie Bridge



Artist: Bobbie Gentry
-peak Billboard position # 1 for 4 weeks in 1967
-Words and Music by Bobbie Gentry




I have a question for you all!
What do you think they threw off the bridge?
Write me and let me know.
This is a very serious question.

Please sign my Guest Book.
Thank you!

Also please read the entry from my Odder Kindred Spirit , in my guest book. She has blessed every page I have ever done, and I just want to say thank you Kindred, I love you.You are indeed a special Lady in my life!








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December 31,2002...Redbird Jan...Updated Nov.5,2004