Chords for Rosanne Cash, Ode to Billy Joe

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_ _ _ [A] _ [Abm] _ _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ _ And that list became an education for me, a template for great songwriting.
And I strive to be as good as the songs on that list.
[D] One of the great regrets of my [D] life is not [Db] asking him to expand the list from 1973 forward.
And I've [B] spent a lot of time thinking about which songs would be on that list and which songs would be on my list.
And I think this one will [D] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
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_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [D] _
[Am] _ [D] be. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ It [D] was the third of June, the love of my life has been felt for a year and a half.
_ _ _ I was out chopping cotton and my brother was bathing hay.
_ _ _ [Am] _ And [G] at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to be.
_ _ [E] And _ [D] Mama haunted us. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] She said I got some news [F] this morning.
Chalked [Bbm] her _ _ [G] ribs.
_ _ [D] Today Billy [G] Joe [B] McCallister [G] jumped off the cabin [E] and cheated [Am] pretty.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ And Papa [Am] said to Mama [E] as he passed her around the black-eyed peas.
_ [D] _ _ [Am] _ [D] Well, Billy Joe never had [Am] liquor since acid [D] biscuits please.
_ _ _ _ Oh, [G] there's a _ liquor's in the love of 40 I got. _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ Mama said it [D] was a shame about [Am] Billy Joe anyhow.
_ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _ [D] Seems [G] like nothing ever comes to [B] _ [F] a chalked [G]-off rib.
_ _ _ _ And now [Dm]
Billy Joe McAllister [Am] jumped [G] off the tower and cheated [D]
pretty.
_ _ _ _ _ Then brother said he'd rather like [Am] to keep him talking in the town.
_ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _ And [D] put a frog down my [G] back at the Campbell County [D] Pitch. _
[Am] _ _ [D] _ _ [Am] _ And [G] all tonight I'll _ come to [A] church last [G] Sunday night.
_ [C] _ _ [D] I'll have another piece of apple pie.
[Am] You know I don't sing and cry.
_ [D] _ _ _ [Am] _ I [G] saw him at the sawmill yesterday.
[Dm] The bum chalked all _ ribs.
_ [G] _ _ [Dm] And while he'd tell me Billy Joe's jumped [C] off the tower too.
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_ _ _ _ [Am] _ [D] Then Mama said to me, child, [Em] what's happened to [Dm] your appetite?
[Am] _
_ [D] _ _ _ Well, I've been cooking all morning.
You [Am] haven't [E] touched a single.
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_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] Oh, that nice young preacher [D] brother Taylor stopped [Bm] by today.
_ [C] _ _ Said [D] he'd be pleased to have dinner on [A] Sunday.
[Dm] Oh, by the [Am] way, [D] _ _ _ _ _ [G] he said some girl [Dm] looked a lot [Am] like you.
Her bum [Bbm] chalked all ribs.
[G] _ _ And she [D] and Billy Joe was throwing [Am] something off the [D] tower and cheated pretty. _
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_ _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ [Dm] A year has come and gone since [B] we heard the news about [D] Mary. _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
Well, Mary Becky Thompson, [Em] they bought a storm into [D] the house.
[Dm] _ _ _ [D] _ There [G] was a virus going around.
[Dm] _ [F] And he died [G] last spring.
_ _ [Gbm] _ _ [D] Well, Mama doesn't seem to [Am] want to go much. _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ [Am] _ _ [G] And we all spent a lot of time [A] picking [F] flowers.
Our bum [Bb] chalked [G] all ribs. _ _ _ _
And [D] drop them into the muddy [Ab] water off [C] the Tower. _ _ _ _ _
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