It was the third of June

[Tuesday Afternoon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc

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 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 jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed 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

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 on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

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"

A year has come 'n' 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 wanna 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

[jobycom]

1. What a song. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. yeah...

Everybody talkin' politics and me ?

I'm still thinking about Billie Joe .

Some people will say this day is owned by a famous history making politician.

[jobycom]

3. Twenty years from now

Tonight will be a minor footnote in political history, and Ode To Billie Joe will still be a great example of American art. :)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. Art Above All --

good to see you tonight.

[jobycom]

6. Thanks. Good to see you, too.

Us writer types have to get all moody and introspective when the rest of DU goes wild, you know. We are the yin. :)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. hey

thanks...I feel better about myself now. Yin to the Yang...somebody has to keep the balance :D

[jobycom]

9. Sounded a little more mature than my other choice

We are the Eeyore to DU's Pooh...

[Robeson]

5. Thanks, Tuesday Afternoon....

...songs can tell a story.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. I love the story this one tells --

I feel like I am sitting at the same table when Papa says pass the biscuits, please.