Ode To Billie Joe Cifras

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It was the third of June another sleepy dusty Delta day
 
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I was out chopping cotton and my brother was a bailing hay
 
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At dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
 
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And mama hollered at the backdoor y'all remember to wipe your feet
 
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She said I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge
 
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Today Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
 
 
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Papa said to mama as she passed around the black eyed peas
 
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Billie Joe never had a lick of sense pass the biscuits please
 
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There's five more acres in the lower forty I got to plow
 
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And mama said it was a shame about Billie Joe anyhow
 
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It seems like nothing ever comes to no good upon Choctaw Ridge
 
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And now Billie Joe McAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
 
 
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Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
 
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Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
 
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And wasn't I talking to him after church last Sunday night
 
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I'll have another piece of apple pie you know it don't seem right
 
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I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
 
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And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
 
 
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Mama said to me child what's happened to your appetite
 
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I've been cooking all morning and you haven't touched a single bite
 
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That nice young preacher Brother Taylor dropped by today
 
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Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday oh by the way
 
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He said he saw a girl that's looked a lot like you upon Choctaw Ridge
 
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And she and Billie Joe was throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge
 
 
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One year has come and gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe
 
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Brother married Becky Thompson and they bought a store in Tupelo
 
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There was a virus going round and papa caught it and he died last spring
 
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And now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything
 
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And me I spent a lot of time picking flowers upon Choctaw Ridge
 
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And dropped them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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