Lyricist: Various Artist, The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, The Monkees
Lyrics:
It was the third of June another sleepy dusty Delta day I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was a bailin' hay At dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat And mama hollered at the backdoor y'all remember to wipe your feet She said I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Wridge Today Billie Joe Macallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Papa said to mama as she 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 It seems like nothing ever comes to no good upon Choctaw Wridge And now you tell me Billie Joe's 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 don't seem right I saw him at the sawmill yesterday upon Choctaw Wridge And 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 cookin' all mornin' and you haven't touched a single bite That nice young preacher brother Tailor dropped by today Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday oh by the way He said he saw a girl that's looked a lot like you upon Choctaw Wridge And she and Billie Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge