Ode To Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day; pretty.
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."

_
And 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..."
And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow. anyhow-

Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

_
And 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? the crux: and wasn't that you
"I'll have another piece of apple pie. You know it don't seem right.

I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

_
And 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
And 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 oh-
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.


YouTube - Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billy Joe


I love this song.
never posted anything about it here or dlcs? reminded in a general way of it by "Your Sister Cried" though specifically rather different songs. what's the same? something terrible has happened. and something essential, typical is happening in its aftermath: family dinner; driving home.
this song is so sad. perfect song. sleepy dusty Delta day...