It was the third of June another sleepy dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was bailin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered at the backdoor you all remember to wipe your feet
And then she said I got some news this morning from Choctaw Wridge
Today Billie Joe Macallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Papa said to mama as he passed around the black eyed peas
Billie Joe never had a lick of sense pass the biscuits please
There's five more acres in the lower forty I got to plow
And mama said it was a shame about Billie Joe anyhow
Seems like nothing ever comes to no good upon Choctaw Wridge
Now Billie Joe Macallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Caroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night
I'll have another piece of apple pie you know it just don't seem right
I saw him at sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Wridge
Now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Mama said to me child what's happened to your apetite
I've been cooking all morning and you haven't touched a single bite
And nice young preacher brother Tailor dropped by today
Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday oh by the way
Said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you upon Choctaw Wridge
She and Billie Joe was throwin' something off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Year's come and gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson and they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus goin' round papa caught it and he died last spring
Now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything
And me I spent a lot of time pickin' flowers upon Chotaw Wridge
And dropped 'em into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge