Ballad of Billy Joe

I'm the man they're gonna hang for killin' Billy Joe
 But there's a whole lot more to the story than they know
 Listen to my side of it and I think that you will see
 The reason that I killed the boy that made a fool of me
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 There was a girl named Mary Anne
 And Mary Anne was all the world to me
 We planned to get married
 And we set the date the wedding was to be
 But I walked up to her house one night
 And out there on the front porch they sat
 And I swore they'd never get away with that
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 Billy Joe took Mary Anne
 And went up to the dance hall one night
 They didn't know that I was standin'
 Back there in the shadows out of sight
 They sat down at a table
 And she smiled as he gave her hand the pat
 And I swore they'd never get away with that
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 I swore they would never get away with breakin' my heart
 I knew that that was just one way to keep them apart
 Everybody says his mother
 Begged him not to take his guns to town
 He should have listened to her
 'Cause she knew that I was gonna shoot him down
 I'll be hung tomorrow just because I had to kill that little rat
 But I swore that he'd never get away with that
 And Billy Joe didn't get away with that