Ode To Billie Joe chords by Bobbie Gentry (Official Version)
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Intro 1
(D9) (D9) (D9) (D9)
Verse 1
It was the (D9) third of June,
another (A minor7) sleepy, dusty Delta day (D9)
I was out choppin' cotton,
and my (A minor7) brother was balin' hay (D9)
And at (G7) dinner time we stopped
and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama (D9) hollered out the back door,
"Y'all, remember to wipe your feet!"
And then she (G7) said,
"I got some news this mornin'
from Choctaw Ridge
Today, (D9) Billie Joe MacAllister
jumped (C7) off the Tallahatchie Bridge" (D9)
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Verse 2
And Papa (D9) said to Mama,
as he (A minor7) passed around the black-eyed peas (D9)
"Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense;
(A minor7) pass the biscuits, please (D9)
There's (G7) five more acres in the lower forty
I got to plow"
And Mama (D9) said
it was a shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like (G7) nothin' ever comes to no good
up on Choctaw Ridge
And now (D9) Billie Joe MacAllister's
jumped (C7) off the Tallahatchie Bridge (D9)
Verse 3
And (D9) brother said he recollected
when he, (A minor7) and Tom, and Billie Joe (D9)
Put a frog down my back
at the (A minor7) Carroll County picture show (D9)
And wasn't (G7) I talkin' to him
after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have a (D9) nother piece-a apple pie;
you know, it don't seem right
I (G7) saw him at the sawmill yesterday
on Choctaw Ridge
And now you (D9) tell me Billie Joe's
jumped off (C7) the Tallahatchie Bridge" (D9)
Verse 4
(D9) Mama said to me,
"Child, what's (A minor7) happened to your appetite? (D9)
I've been cookin' all mornin',
and you (A minor7) haven't touched a single bite (D9)
That (G7) nice young preacher, Brother Taylor,
dropped by today
Said he'd be (D9) pleased
to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way
He (G7) said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you
up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and (D9) Billie Joe was throwin' somethin'
(C7) off the Tallahatchie Bridge" (D9)
Verse 5
A (D9) year has come and gone
since we (A minor7) heard the news 'bout Billie Joe (D9)
And brother married Becky Thompson;
they (A minor7) bought a store in Tupelo (D9)
There was a virus (G7) goin' 'round;
Papa caught it, and he died last spring
And now (D9) Mama doesn't seem to want to do
much of anything
And (G7) me, I spend a lot of time
pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them (D9) into the muddy water
(C7) off the Tallahatchie Bridge (D9)
Ode To Billie Joe
Bobbie Gentry
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