Ode To Billy Joe chords by Patricia Barber

SimplifiedG · F · Fm · Em · C …

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Intro 1

It was the third of June

Verse 1
Em 
G 
Em 
G 
Another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton
Em 
G 
C 
And my  brother was balin' hay
Bb 
At dinner time we  stopped

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Verse 2

Walked back to the house

to eat

Mama hollered out the back

door

"Y'all remember to wipe

your feet"

Verse 3
Then she said, "I got some news
Bb 
C 
This mornin' from
Bb 
C 
D 
Choctaw Ridge"
G 
"Today Billy Joe Mac Allister
C 
Ab 
Bb 
Jumped off the Tallahatchie
C 
G 
C 
G 
Bridge"

Verse 4
G 
Em 
G 
Papa said to Mama as he passed
Around the black eyed
Em 
G 
Em 
G 
peas
Em 
"Well, Billy Joe never had a
G 
Em 
lick of sense
G 
Pass the biscuits,
Em 
please"
G 
Am 
C 

Verse 5
Bb 
C 
Bb 
"There's five more acres
C 
Bb 
In the lower forty I've
C 
G 
got to plow"
Fm 
Mama said it was shame
G 
About Billy Joe,
Em 
G 
C 
anyhow
G 

Verse 6
C 
Bb 
Seems like nothin' ever comes
C 
Bb 
C 
Bb 
C 
D 
To no good up on Choctaw Ridge
G 
And now Billy Joe Mac Allister's
Ab 
Jumped off the Tallahatchie
C 
G 
C 
G 
Bridge

Verse 7
G 
Em 
Mama said to me
G 
"Child, what's happened
Em 
G 
to your appetite?
Fm 
G 
I've been cookin' all mornin'
Em 
G 
And you haven't touched
C 
a single bite"
G 
C 

Verse 8
Bb 
C 
"That nice young preacher
Brother Taylor,
Bb 
C 
Bb 
C 
dropped by today
G 
Gm 
F 
Said he'd be pleased to have a dinner
G 
C 
On Sunday, oh,
G 
Em 
G 
by the way"
C 

Verse 9
Bb 
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot
C 
Bb 
C 
Like you up on Choctaw
Bb 
C 
Ridge"
D 
G 
"And she and Billy Joe
were throwing
Ab 
Somethin' off the Tallahatchie
G 
C 
Bridge"
G 

Verse 10
Em 
G 
Well, a year has come 'n' gone
Since we heard the news about
C 
G 
F# 
G 
Billy Joe
Em 
G 
Brother mar ried Becky Thompson
Em 
G 
Em 
Bought a store in Tupelo
G 
Am 
Bb 
C 

Verse 11
Bb 
C 
Bb 
There was a virus going 'round
C 
Papa caught it and
Bb 
C 
he died last Spring
G 
Now Mama doesn't seem
C 
G 
To wanna do much
of anything
Em 
G 

Verse 12
C 
Am 
C 
Bb 
And me, I spend a lot of time
C 
Bb 
C 
Pickin' flowers up on
D 
Choctaw Ridge
G 
And drop them into the muddy water
Ab 
G 
C 
Off the Tallahatchie Bridge
G 
C 