Ode To Billie Joe Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Verse 1]
[C]It was the third of June,
another [Gm]sleepy, dusty Delta [C]day
I was out choppin' cotton and
my [Gm]brother was bal[C]in' hay
And at [F]dinner time we stopped
and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama [C]hollered out the back door
"Y'all [Gm]remember to wipe [C]your feet
And then she [F]said
"I got some news this mornin'

[Verse 2]
from Choctaw Ridge
[F]
"Today [C]Billy Joe MacAllister jumped
[Bb]off the Tallahatchie Bridge

[Verse 3]
[C]'N' Papa said to Mama as [Gm]he passed
around the [C]blackeyed peas

[Verse 4]
[C]"Well Billy Joe never had a lick [Gm]of sense,
pass [C]the biscuits, please

[Verse 5]
"There's [F]five more acres in the lower
forty I've got [Fm]to plow[F][Fm]
[F]'N' Mama sai[C]d it was[Gm] shame about Billy Joe,
[C]anyhow
Seems like [F]nothin' ever comes to no
good [Fm]up on C[F]hoctaw Ridge
And now [C]Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped
[Bb]off the Tallahatchie Bridge
[C]

[Verse 6]
'N' Brother said he recollected
[Gm]when he and Tom and Billie [C]Joe
Put a frog down my back at [Gm]the Carroll
County picture [C]show
[F]And wasn't I talkin' to him after
church last Sunday night?

[Verse 7]
"I'll have another [C]piece- a apple pie,
you [Gm]know it don't [C]seem right

[Verse 8]
[F]"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday
[Fm]on C[F]hoctaw Ridge

[Verse 9]
"And now [C]ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped
off [Bb]the Tallahatchie B[C]ridge

[Verse 10]
[C]'N' Mama said to me
[Gm]"Child, what's happened to[C]
your appetite?

[Verse 11]
"I've been [C]cookin' all morning and
[Gm]you haven't touched a [C]single bite

[Verse 12]
"That [F]nice young preacher, Brother Taylor,
dropped by today
[Fm][F]

[Verse 13]
[Fm]
[F]"Said he'd be [C]pleased to have dinner on Sunday,
[Gm]oh, by the w[C]ay
[F]"He said he

[Verse 14]
saw a girl that looked a lot
like you up on Choctaw Ridge

[Verse 15]
[F]"And [C]she and Billy Joe was throwing
somethin' [Bb]off the Tallahatchie Bridge
[C]

[Verse 16]
A year has come 'n' gone [Gm]since we
heard the news 'bout Billy [C]Joe
'N' Brother married Becky Thompson,
[Bb]they[Gm] bought a store in Tupelo
[C]There was a vir[F]us going 'round,
Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now [C]Mama [Gm]doesn't seem to
wanna do much of [C]anything
And [Fm]me, [F]I spend a lo[C]t of t[Fm]ime pickin'
flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them [C]into the muddy water
[Bb]off the Tallah[C]atchie Bridge

[Outro 1]
[C]