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

One year has 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 and 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 Choctaw Wridge
And dropped 'em down into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge