[ar:Graham Blvd.]
[ti:Ode To Billy Joe]
[by:]
[00:00.00]Ode To Billy Joe - Graham Blvd.
[00:08.36]It was the 3rd of June, another
[00:10.90]Sleepy dusty Delta day.
[00:16.75]I was out choppin' cotton and my
[00:19.12]Brother was bailin' hay.
[00:24.93]And at dinner time we stopped and
[00:27.09]Walked back to the house to eat.
[00:33.05]And mama hollered out the backdoor,
[00:35.11]"Y'all remember to wipe your feet."
[00:41.09]And then she said, "I got some news
[00:42.95]This mornin' from Choctaw Ridge.
[00:49.11]Today Billy Joe Macallister's jumped
[00:51.99]Off the Tallahatchee Bridge. "
[00:58.07]Papa said to mama as he passed
[01:00.61]Around the blackeyed peas,
[01:06.09]"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense;
[01:09.41]Pass the biscuits please.
[01:14.29]There's 5 more acres in the lower
[01:16.72]40 I got to plow. "
[01:22.56]And mama said it was a shame about
[01:24.62]Billy Joe anyhow.
[01:30.20]Seems like nothin' ever comes to no
[01:32.57]Good up on Choctaw Ridge,
[01:38.59]And now Billy Joe Macallister's
[01:40.90]Jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge.
[01:46.67]And brother said he recollected
[01:48.58]When he and Tom and Billy Joe
[01:54.88]Put a frog down my back at the
[01:57.39]Carroll County picture show.
[02:03.18]And wasn't I talkin' to him after
[02:05.49]Church last Sunday night?
[02:11.20]"I'll have another piece of apple pie;
[02:14.28]You know it don't seem right.
[02:19.69]I saw him at the sawmill yesterday
[02:22.86]On Choctaw Ridge
[02:27.57]And now you tell me Billy Joe's
[02:29.73]Jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge. "
[02:36.11]And mama said to me,
[02:37.55]"Child what's happened to your appetite?
[02:43.94]I been cookin' all morning and
[02:46.25]You haven't touched a single bite.
[02:52.46]That nice young preacher brother
[02:54.53]Taylor dropped by today,
[03:00.08]Said he'd be pleased to have dinner
[03:01.98]On Sunday; oh by the way,
[03:08.80]He said he saw a girl that looked a
[03:10.87]Lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge,
[03:16.65]And she and Billy Joe was throwin'
[03:18.67]Something off the Tallahatchee Bridge. "
[03:25.40]A year's come and gone since we
[03:27.35]Heard the news 'bout Billy Joe.
[03:33.28]'N brother married Becky Thompson
[03:35.50]'N' they bought a store in Tupelo.
[03:41.22]There was a virus goin' round, papa
[03:43.61]Caught it and he died last spring,
[03:49.53]And now mama doesn't seem to wanna
[03:51.84]Do much of anything.
[03:57.87]And me, I spend a lotta time pickin'
[04:00.22]Flowers up on Choctaw Ridge,
[04:05.99]And drop 'em into the muddy water
[04:08.55]Off the Tallahatchee bridge