Ode to Billie Joe
Bobbie Gentry called this song "a study in unconscious cruelty." It certainly is that. She was one of the first women in country to write her own material. She was born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc Ode to Billie Joe Bobbie Gentry 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 a 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-a apple pie; you know, it don't seem right I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge And now ya 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 and 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 want to 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 Songwriters: Bobbie Gentry |
John, Thanks for posting this.
It's a brilliantly told story. Unconscious cruelty. The most insidious of all cruelties. After all these years I'm still uncertain what happened up there on Choctaw Ridge. Here’s what she had to say about the song and the questions about what happened up there at the bridge: Those questions are of secondary importance in my mind. The story of Billie Joe has two more interesting underlying themes. First, the illustration of a group of people's reactions to the life and death of Billie Joe, and its subsequent effect on their lives, is made. Second, the obvious gap between the girl and her mother is shown, when both women experience a common loss (first, Billie Joe and, later, Papa), and yet Mama and the girl are unable to recognize their mutual loss or share their grief. If there is a more probing, deep pop/country lyric than this I’d like to hear it. The sound of the sliding, descending strings in the video at the end of the last verse is chilling. This song has been described as “Southern Gothic”. The staging of the song with the life-sized wooden/clay figures of the family at the dinner table is macabre. Btw, she is a beautiful woman. (Can someone still say that in today's world? Ahh, unconscious cruelty : ) x |
Hey Jim,
Yup, the staging with the family at the table is I think inspired. At the video (and the song's) end, she gets up, walks over and joins them at the table. Aargh. I agree with pretty much everything you wrote. :-) Cheers, John |
Wow, John! I don't know how many times I've heard that song over the years... but, do you know, I've never listened properly to it till now! Thank you for posting both the link and the words; it made me really concentrate on the song when I watched the Youtube clip.
As Jim said, it's a brilliantly told story - and with such an intriguing ending. (And yes, Jim, Bobbie Gentry is a very beautiful woman; nothing wrong with saying so, as far as I'm concerned :)) Thank you so much for posting this, John. I've watched a couple of versions of the song now, and keep thinking how simple - yet how good - it is. Jayne |
Hi Jayne,
I first discovered this song covered by Tammy Wynette, but it's good to hear - and share - the Bobbie Gentry original. I like the video too, she's a gifted performer. I'm glad you found the song deepened by seeing it in this context! Yup, the narrator and Billie Joe drop something off the Tallahatchee Bridge, and a couple of days later, he drowns himself. What did they drop? They made a film with this title in 1976, where his secret is a gay encounter. But Bobbie Gentry preferred to leave us hanging. I'll have another piece of apple pie, says the brother, as when in L'Etranger Meursault and Marie witness a guy beating his girlfriend, and Meursault shortly afterward remarks, "Marie wasn't hungry so I ate her dinner." Cheers, John |
Hi John,
I've just half-listened to the Tammy Wynette version... I couldn't make it to the end, simply because Bobbie owns it, and gives it so much more feeling... I've also read a few suppositions on the internet about what Billie Joe and his girlfriend might have thrown off the bridge. (Hey, I'm telling you, John, you've REALLY fired me up with this one!) but I agree with the writer (BG) that it's not the most significant aspect of the song at all. It's the intrigue that makes it so successful!!! Thanks again, John. This has made my day in a most unexpected way :) Jayne |
Hi Jayne,
And you spurred me to google what Billie Joe threw off the bridge! Yes, lots of theories, but I like not knowing. Spielberg said one plus for Jaws was not having the money for a fancier shark, so they showed it as little as possible. It was also interesting to learn a bit more of Gentry's biography. What made her disappear? Cheers, John |
Now off on my favorite ride: The Tangent : )
I by chance heard an NPR program yesterday that mentioned the 150 best female albums of all time. It's an excellent source of great music. Here is the link to the list. Bobbie Gentrie's Ode To Billie Joe was #83. Another lyrical masterpiece of storytelling is Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" -- Here is the link to her live performance of the song along with the lyrics below. In different ways both songs are seminal: Woodstock Joni Mitchell I came upon a child of God He was walking along the road When I asked him where are you going This he told me. I'm going down to Yasgurs farm Think Ill join a rock and roll band I'll camp out on the land I'll try and set my soul free. We are stardust, we are golden And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. Then can I walk beside you I have come here to lose the smog And I feel just like a cog in something turning. Well maybe its the time of year Or maybe its the time of man And I don't know who I am But lifes for learning. We are stardust, we are golden And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. By the time I got to Woodstock They were half a million strong Everywhere there were songs and celebration And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky Turning into butterflies Above our nation. We are stardust, we are golden And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. We are stardust, we are golden And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. We are stardust, we are golden And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. x |
Hi Jim,
I do think Joni Mitchell is tremendous. Will post a song lyric or two, but now sitting in the Boston Public Library waiting for my wife. Cheers, John Update: I'll likely post The Circle Game. Update II: If the street were time and he were at the end of the street. |
So here is one of my favorite Joni Mitchell lyrics, inspired by Neil Young's Sugar Mountain, she said. A fellow Canadian.
Cheers, John The Circle Game Joni Mitchell, L.A. Express Yesterday a child came out to wonder Caught a dragonfly inside a jar Fearful when the sky was full of thunder And tearful at the falling of a star And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game Then the child moved ten times round the seasons Skated over ten clear frozen streams Words like, when you're older, must appease him And promises of someday make his dreams And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now Cartwheels turn to car wheels through the town And they tell him, Take your time, it won't be long now Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true There'll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty Before the last revolving year is through And the seasons they go round and round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return, we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game And go round and round and round In the circle game |
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