Chords for Rosanne Cash, Ode to Billie Joe

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_ _ _ _ _ So the [Bbm] Tallahassee Bridge _ [Ab] _ blooms large in the imagination of songwriters.
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[N] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ _
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[E] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _
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[G] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [G] _ _ [F] _ _
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_ _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _ [Am] _
_ [D] It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty, dull day. _ _ _
_ _ I was out chopping cotton and my brother was bathing [Am] hay.
[D] _ _
[Am] _ _ [Am] _ _ [G] Parentage had me stopped and walked [Em] back to the house for two [G] _ _
[Em] weeks.
_ And Mama hugged [D] that back door and I [D] looked down at your [Am] face. _
_ _ _ [G] She said, I had some news this [F] morning, chopped [G] off my _ [C] ears.
_ _ [D] Today, Billy Joe [B]
McAllister [G] jumped off the tower at [D] T-Bay. _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [D] _ Papa sent him home as he passed [C] a well-dried-out [A] pea.
_ [D] _
_ _ _ Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of [Em] since, God said, this gets [Am] clay.
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_ _ _ [G] Oh, as a robber found a bankers in the low 40, I got to fly. _ _
_ _ _ [D] Mama said it was a shame about Billy Joe and how. _ _
_ _ [D] _ [G] Seems like I'll never come to [Em] know the love of Chopped [G]-off-Ears. _
_ _ _ And now [Bm] Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the [D] tower at T-Bay. _ _
_ _ _ _ Then brother said he'd write a [B] letter to you when he'd been [D] talking back home.
[E] _ _ [D] _
_ [A] _ _ [D] Then brother [G] frogged down my back [Am] at the Carol [D] Andrew Pictures _ _ show.
_ _ Then [G] wasn't I talking to him [F] about the church the last Sunday _ night?
_ _ I'll [D] have another [G] piece of apple [Am] pie, you know, don't say you're right.
[D] _
_ _ _ _ [G] I saw him at the sawmill [F] yesterday, I brought chopped [G]-off ears.
[C] _ _ And [Gb] now Billy Joe [Em] McAllister jumped off the [G] tower at T [D]-Bay. _
_ _ [Am] _ _ [D] Then Mama [C] said to me, child, what's [E] happened to your [D] appetite? _ _
_ [Am] _ _ Well, I've been cooking all [Am] morning, you [Fm] haven't touched a single [D] bite. _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [G] Oh, that nice young preacher [Em] from the town, he's still [G] bad today. _
_ _ _ Said he'd please have dinner [Am] on the sly, [C] oh, by the [Gb] way.
[D] _ _
_ _ [D] _ [G] He says that girl looks a lot like you, I've got chopped-off ears.
And she and [Am] Billy Joe were so much something [C] on the tower at T _ [D]-Bay. _
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_ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [D] A year or so ago, [Am] I heard the news about a [D] very [Dm] gentleman.
_ _ [D] _ _ _ A brother of mine, [Am] Rebecca Thompson, that bought a store in [C] St.
[Dm] Bartholomew. _
_ _ _ There [G] was a farmer still around, Papa caught it, and he died last spring.
_ _ [F] _ _ _ And now [A] Mama doesn't seem to [Am] want to do [F] much of [D] anything.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [G] And me, I spend my time picking [F] flowers, I've [G] grown chopped-off ears.
[C] _ _ _ _ [G]
And [D] drop them into the muddy water [Bb] of the town at T _ _ [G]-Bay. _
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I'm _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ going to get _ out.
[C] _
_ _ You know, that's a [Gb] great song when 40 years later people are saying, what did [F] they throw at us?
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