Jun 3 Run: Hot Metal Bridge

Thank-you to Elaine Mormer for this evocative recounting of various runs and even adding lyrics.
I will be thinking of you all as I get ready to race down the Anacostia River in DC.

We had two hot runs last weekend. Sunday Pam took the group on a long and varied route through Frick Park and some hidden treasure neighborhoods of south Squirrel Hill. For Monday’s holiday run we sought the shade of the Schenley Park trails. Coffee was long and lingering both days, and we appreciated sitting outside. We did agree on a run starting at the Hot Metal Bridge for this Sunday. Meet in the parking lot at the corner of Hot Metal Bridge and Second Avenue, entrance directly across from Bates Street. Run to the Run 6:25 Common Place.


And while we are on the bridge theme: on Wednesday’s run this week Tom pointed out that this Sunday’s run will take place on June 3…which many of us remember as the day that…   Billy Joe McCallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge…Friday’s run will be recorded as the first run during which Tom showed up with full lyrics in hand (protected by a plastic newspaper bag) and said lyrics accompanied the group through the entire morning route.
In honor of this special date, and Tom’s special and sensitive affection for this musically notable event, I’ve included the lyrics and a link to the history of Billy Joe’s tragedy. Wendy, Tom, and others are ready and willing to lead an East End Runners soulful rendition of Billy Joe’s heartbreaking ballad…on Sunday. And perhaps we will discuss what was thrown from the bridge, and why….
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110123002150AACYYNa

Ode To Billie Joe lyrics

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"

'n' 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"
'n' 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

'n' 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-a apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
[ From : http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/bobbie-gentry-lyrics/ode-to-billie-joe-lyrics.html ]
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

'n' 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
'n' 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