[Verse 1]
It was the third of June
Another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton
And my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped
And we walked back to the house to eat
And 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 Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister's
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

[Verse 2]
And Papa said to Mama
As he passed around the black-eyed peas
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense
Pass the biscuits, please
There's five more acres in the lower forty
I've got to plow"
And mama said
It was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good
Up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
[Verse 3]
And brother said he recollected
When he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back
At the Carroll 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"

[Verse 4]
And mama said to me
"Child, what's happened to your appetite?
I've been cookin' all morning
And you haven't touched a single bite
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor
Dropped by today
Said he'd 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 Billy Joe was throwing somethin'
Off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
[Verse 5]
A year has come and gone
Since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And brother married Becky Thompson
They bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round
Papa caught it, and he died last spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to want
To do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time
Pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water
Off the Tallahatchie Bridge