It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day . . .

[Tactical Peek]

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day

I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay

[snip]

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

Producer: Arif Mardin
Drums: Bernard Purdie
Organ: Billy Preston
Guitar: Cornell Dupree
Masterer: Jean Ristori
Producer, Saxophone: King Curtis
Electric Piano: Truman Thomas
Composer: Bobbie Gentry
Contributor: Jerry Jemmott
Arranger: King Curtis
Contributor: Pancho Morales
Contributor: The Memphis Horns
Contributor: Tom Wilkes

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



Artist: Bobbie Gentry



(thanks to mahatmakanejeeves for the reminder)

[chowder66]

1. One of my all time favorite songs.

[Walleye]

2. The best songs grab you by the heart and haunt you forever

This is one of them. The new one by Bonnie Raitt did the same to me. “Just Like That”. It haunts me beautiful tune and lyrics

[stopdiggin]

7. lyrics that grab you by the throat

Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris

[randr]

3. Thanks!

[Boomerproud]

4. Great storytelling.

One of the great songs and memories from my childhood. THANKS!

[stopdiggin]

5. great song.

Brilliant lyrics. Haunting. Evocative. Mystery.

Instinctively true. And, listening as a teen, there was this immediate recognition of the gaping maw - between the genuine pathos (devastation, shock, crushing loss) of the narrator - and the clueless pig ignorance and casual disdain of surrounding family and common social mores. The utter loneliness ...

It packed a wallop, and struck a note with a lot of people.

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 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"

Sitting at that table - was as easy as looking into your mind's eye ...

[Bayard]

6. I never did figure out what they were throwing off the Tallahatchie Bridge....

[stopdiggin]

8. the song left it a mystery ..

The movie, which came a decade later (and which Gentry collaborated with?), fleshed out the story (pleasing some - and not others)

In the movie what goes off the bridge is actually a favorite doll (with the obvious symbolism of a rending loss of innocence)

But many people preferred the (creative and evocative) mystery that the song itself carried.

(hope I didn't 'spoil' things for you .. )

[Hugh_Lebowski]

9. Me neither but it's cool that it's left a mystery, insinuating that the narrator

and Billy Joe were perhaps co-conspirators in something untoward, and that hence the narrator has a pretty good idea WHY he jumped off the bridge.

[Bayard]

11. Whew!

Glad its not just me then.

I kind of thought it might be a baby from a miscarriage or abortion. Also why he jumped off the bridge?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

12. That thought crossed my mind as well but could be a sack of loot too (nt)

[shrike3]

15. I always thought it was a baby.

Abortion or born dead. She could handle it, he couldn't. Why, I don't know.

[3_Limes]

10. And from the subline to the rediculous. . .

Coming up on Tuesday:

Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June
In a Kenworth pullin' logs
Cab-over Pete with a reefer on
And a Jimmy haulin' hogs
We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck"
"And I'm about to put the hammer down"

[Hekate]

13. Haunting, always

[Celerity]

14. Let's talk about why Billy Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.... Beau of the Fifth Column

[shrike3]

16. Gentry's thoughts on the song

In August 1967, Gentry told the Los Angeles Times she wanted to show "people's lack of ability" to empathize with others' "tragedy." She pointed out the mother, who noticed but did not understand her daughter's lack of appetite, while later the daughter is unaware of the similarity of her mother's behavior after the father dies. Gentry explained that both characters had "isolated themselves in their own personal tragedies" and remained unconcerned for the others. The songwriter compared the end product to a play. On the object thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge, she commented that the audience had found more meanings than she had intended. Gentry mentioned that theories of the time included a baby, a wedding ring and flowers. While she indicated that what happened at the bridge was the motivation behind Billie Joe's suicide, she also left it open to the listener's interpretation. Gentry said she had no answer and her sole motivation was to show "people's apathy"