Mama said to me, "Child, what's happened to your appetite?
And mama hollered of the back door, "Y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Today Billie Joe Macallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
He said, he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
Now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite
Said, he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last spring
And at dinner time we stopped and walked out to the house to eat
Then she said, "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And Mama said, "It was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
There's five more acres in the lower forty that I've got to plow"
And now Billy Joe Mac Allister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
