it is the third of june

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ay0yTaFrPg


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

I have this on my ipod :)
Mornen wyldehorseys

:hi:

Did you ever see the movie?

how are things down your way? i finally got rain 3am. still falling YAY

:hi:

the sea is back to its calm blue-green self. Blue skies and a light breeze. Hot already. Gotta get motivated and go running before it gets much hotter.

Glad you're getting the rain.

glad to hear everything is back to normal.

a day i'll always remember

because that was the day, that my daddy died

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPywUgYi8eo

i watched that movie last night on vh-1. so sad.

and timely :)

Billy Joe never had a lick of sense - pass the biscuits please...

:hi:

:hi:

if you lived near Choctaw Ridge :)

:hi:

granma's dinner table...just catching up on the daily goings ons of a small town.

how was the kayaking?

thats why I like this song, so real.

Bro cancelled at 10:30 that morning. I was a sad panda hehe

What a sad little song, so plaintive and sweet....

I hadn't heard it before...

Thank you for posting it today...

My education continues, doesn't it?

:hug:

sad song, indeed :hug:

who has not received her due, IMO. Gentry really knew how to pack information into a song. In that fourth stanza, the narrator's silence on the topic of Billy Joe speaks volumes, and creates the compelling mystery the song never reveals.

then the 5th stanza jumps ahead to the next year and we never really know do we?

masterful story telling.

:hi:

you know what is inferred? Right?

It was so different from what I had thought from the song as an innocent young'un growing up when I first heard that song.

And then of course it had some resonance to me because of that...interesting.

I mean, was Bobbie Gentry saying that in her song?

yes, i am sure you related to it...

:hug:

An incredible singer and songwriter

love your avvie :hi:

http://deltaking.com :headbang:

thanks for the link

:hi:

gotta tell you this... me and the roomie took the dogs for an evening walk across the street to a favorite swimming hole..and I was telling her about this thread and singing the song (and I ain't a good singer) but she caught the tune and so we were both singing it and then we just got SWARMED by mosquitos and we decided right there and then that the reason Billy Joe jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge was to escape the damn SKEETERS! And if there had been a bridge right then we would have jumped off it.

And she said that probably what was thrown off it was the damn OFF can accidentally...so he jumped in after it, lol.

Whoo! I am glad to be back in the AC.

and prolly the truth:rofl:

i wish i could have been there.

:hi:

That happened to me when Pasado the mule died, I remembered his story on the fifteenth anniversary of his death (it's in my journal, a sad story). Thanks for posting this. :hi:

:hug:

:hi:

Thanks, wildhorses!

:hug:

:hi:

It was the third of June
On that summer's day
When I became a man
At the hands of a girl
Almost twice my age
And she came to me
Just like a morning sun
And it wasn't so much
Her words as such
As the way they were sung
It was the way they were sung

Desiree
Oh, Desiree
There I was found
By the sweet passion sound
Of your loving song
Time was right, the night was long
Remember, Desiree
Oh, Desiree
Somehow I knew
I could only have you
'Til the morning light
If only for that single night
Sweet Desiree, you make it right

Then came the fourth of June
On that sleepless night
Well I tossed and I turned
While the thought of her burned
Up and down my mind
For she was there and gone
Without one regret
But she continues on
Like the words of a song
I could not forget
I could not forget

Desiree
Oh, Desiree
There I was found
By the sweet passion sound
Of your loving song
Time was right, the night was long
Remember, Desiree
Oh, Desiree
And though somehow I knew
I could only have you
'Til the morning light
The night was long, the time was right
Do you remember Desiree

:D

i can just barely remember the tune.

thanks for posting it.

:hi: