It was the third of June another sleepy, dusty, delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was bailin' hay
And at dinnertime we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Momma hollered out the back door, y'all remember to wipe your feet
And then she said I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billie Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Papa said to Momma as he passed around the black-eyed peas
Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please
There's five more acres, and the lower forty I've got to plow
And Momma said it was a shame about Billie Joe anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe MacAllister'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 Carrol 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 up on Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Momma said to me, child, what's happened to your appetite
Well, I've been cookin' all mornin' and you haven't touched a single bite
That nice young preacher Brother Taylor dropped by today
Said he 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 Billie Joe was throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge
A year has come and gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe
My brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus goin 'round, Papa caught it and he died last spring
And now Momma doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop 'em in to the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

INVIA LE CORREZIONI