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