Lyrics:

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta dayI was out choppin'' cotton, and my brother was balin'' hayAnd at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eatAnd 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 RidgeToday, Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge''And Papa said to Mama, as he passed around the blackeyed peas''Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, pleaseThere''s five more acres in the lower forty I''ve got to plow''And Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhowSeems like nothin'' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw RidgeAnd now Billie Joe MacAllister''s jumped off the Tallahatchie BridgeAnd brother said he recollected when he, and Tom, and Billie JoePut a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture showAnd wasn''t I talkin'' to him after church last Sunday night?''I''ll have another piece-a apple pie; you know, it don''t seem rightI saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw RidgeAnd now you tell me Billie Joe''s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge''Mama said to me, ''Child, what''s happened to your appetite?I''ve been cookin'' all mornin'', and you haven''t touched a single biteThat nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by todaySaid he''d be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the wayHe said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw RidgeAnd she and Billie Joe was throwin'' somethin'' off the Tallahatchie Bridge''A year has come and gone since we heard the news ''bout Billie JoeAnd brother married Becky Thompson; they bought a store in TupeloThere was a virus going ''round; Papa caught it, and he died last springAnd now Mama doesn''t seem to want to do much of anythingAnd me, I spend a lot of time pickin'' flowers up on Choctaw RidgeAnd drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge