The movie is what gave the 'gay' angle. There was nothing in the song to suggest it. Even in the movie, as I recall, it's not that Billy Joe was gay as he got too drunk and was raped by a man, although there was some measure of ambiguity about the whole event.
Thank you. I was going to comment on the same thing but you did it for me. She did catch it right away didn't she? A lot of reactors just don't get it. 🤔🥴😆
Yeah, yeah, yeah you all ban talk about causal cruelty as much as you want. To me, this tune is about the secret relationship the daughter had with Billy Joe.
Bobbie’s explanation: “Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge-flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family.” ✌️❤️🎶
Back in that time, most people didn't have the luxury to morn suicide. It was a different mindset back then, suicide was seen as being weak in a lot of cultures. This was an epic story telling song, that reeled you in an left you hanging in suspense.
Yes, you are right about what Bobbie said the meaning of the song. However, the thing that sticks with most people is what was thrown off the bridge and the secret relationship the daughter had with Billy Joe.
I'm 71 now, and live in Minnesota. But for much of my life I lived down South (TN, GA, VA) and I grew up on a farm. Back then (when this song was made) most parents would have gone through both the Great Depression AND World War 2. So death was just a part of life. Nobody was happy about it, but nobody got all drama queen over it, either, unless they had a *_deep_* personal connection to the one who died. In my opinion, it was a good way to live. This is a great song, highlighting the diverse ways in which people react to death...
One of your BEST reactions!! As Gentry told Fred Bronson, “The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty. But everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of the people expressed in the song. What was thrown off the bridge really isn’t that important. “Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge-flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family.”
@@scottyhotty1003 with all due respect i disagree. If there is no importance to what was thrown off the bridge then why add such a verse in the song in the first place. I agree that the first observation anyone really listening to the song has is how they talk about it like a rat died, almost like some abstract thing. However the song is going to make anyone perk their ears when she sings about billy and her throwing something off the bridge. Then theres her actions in the song. Silence and her not eating her food. Phil Collins claimed “in the air tonight” was about his divorce for years, which even a casual listener would find a stretch, before he finally admitted it was about seeing a childhood friend get molested by someone and seeing him after he became famous. Bobby Gentry isn’t stupid. She knew putting those two things together in the song would become its focus. The way they talk about him is, in my opinion, to add to the pain and suffering, possibly even guilt shes holding inside.
@@chriswilliams5982 Possibly, but you're ignoring Bobbie Gentry's own explanation. The action described could simply be two kids talking together & idly throwing pebbles, rocks, flowers, or whatever, off the bridge. Mama is certainly oblivious to her daughter's reaction to the news, but if it had been a baby that was thrown off the bridge, she would have had to have been oblivious to her daughter's months of pregnancy, which isn't at all likely in the farm scenario presented.
@@slkinia i think that is just a silly observation. First why put a line in the song about throwing flowers or pebbles? She purposely draws attention to it, then draws attention to her silence and not eating. You don’t put those verses in a song like that without some purpose for it. Im not sure when bobby gentry made those comments you allude to, but im guessing it wasn’t soon after the sings release. Please don’t think im questioning your honesty about the statement, im not at all, but if she made them later in life its possible her beliefs changed and she didn’t want to go there. I mean the callous nature of the family comments definitely made sense, but i remember when the song came out my first thought was what were they throwing off the bridge and what was the relationship between them. Bobby gentry knew that would be what people focused on because unless she didn’t understand her own song it’s what everyone focused on. She couldn’t be ignorant of that. Everyone i knew back then focused on those lyrics. Im sorry but i just don’t buy it.
Gentry was a huge star back in the 70s. She signed a couple long running contacts for a few years to appear at a couple Vegas hotels and made mega bucks. Suddenly, with no fanfare, she just retired. She made an appearance at the Country Music Awards in either 1981 or '82. Then she just disappeared. She has never given an interview, performed, or been seen in public since. Word is she lives quietly somewhere in Tennessee. Her life is a bigger mystery than what they tossed into that river.
These were hard-working country folk, carving out a living working a farm. You work, you eat, you sleep, and maybe church on Sunday. Not much time nor energy to "explore your feelings".
This was a huge hit for Bobby Gentry. The song sold over 50 million records in the first decade. It was aired across three genres on the radio..... rock, blues, and country. I remember it well as a 1967 release, I was 10 years old. The song ALWAYS transports me outta here, right into the middle of that supper table discussing Billy Joe's death. It invokes so, so , many emotions. I enjoyed your reaction, TY.
The magic in the song is what's not being said. Bobby Gentry said this song is a "study of unconscious cruelty." And how when you commit suicide, the only people who will care are the people who cared. The narrator of the song was Billie Joe's girlfriend, but no one in her family seemed to know that she loved Billie Joe as much as she did.
Angela I got to tell you I've watched a lot of other channels do the song react to this song and you're the only one who catches immediately the callousness and self-absorption of the family all around this girl who tragically lost her boyfriend or more Bravo kudos to you!
It's not self-absorption. People in the '40s didn't have time for navel-gazing. They'd been through two world wars, and were emerging from the Great Depression. Death was part of life. And "Mama said it was a shame about Billy Joe anyhow." So the whole family wasn't indifferent. And her brother wasn't indifferent either; if anything, just perplexed. The interesting part is no one in the family was aware of the connection between Billie Joe and the girl. Also, it was the noon meal: that's when the news got discussed. To a young girl whose boyfriend just committed suicide, it would seem callous.
It’s not knowing the backstory that makes this song so great. You can visualize the setting and feel her pain and you don’t need to know what happened between them. Great storytelling and her sultry but matter-of-fact vocals are perfect.
“The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty.'' - Bobby Gentry Sounds like you understood Genty's message perfectly. Good reaction. Just subscribed.
Trouble is the film doesn't tell the song's story. Gentry didn't know/remember what the song was about, so the film is a guess at best. The song is ambiguous and I think we're all just supposed to make our own story up for why Billy did it and what they threw off the bridge.
@@ianbarker6456 your right, the song leaves it to us to draw our own conclusions as to why he jumped. But pursuant to the movie, I figured that Billy was so conflicted about his sexuality after being involved that night with a man. That he just couldn't live with the possible reality of him being bi -sexual. In the movie he said he wasn't dreaming, wasn't that drunk and he know what was going on. Classic song Classic movie, the good old days of real music and TV.
Sorry, the song was written first, no song, no movie. Except the tv movie script really sucks. Played right into the hands of the dumb public giving them a "why Billie Jo jumped off the bridge" and ruined the mystery and the real mesaage of how crappy human nature is the way they callously react to things and make quick convenient judgements to fit their narcisitic scheme on life...like it really doesn't matter what they dropped off the bridge either.
Actually the movie came out After the song. The movie was a "made up version" to the song. Hollywood are Predators who make money off of others. It's Sick! 😡😠🤣
The line about throwing something off the bridge was to establish that there was a relationship between Bobbie and Billy. Bobbie said what it actually was is irrelevant. It lets the listener know that there is a whole underlying story that we know nothing about, and she wants to keep it that way.
It's always amazed me after all her success in music, she just basically disappeared from the industry and lived a quiet life away from the spotlight.....and she seemed just fine with it.
This is a shortened version of the original song she had written. A few verses were removed for the recording. We all hope that before Bobbie passes on, she releases the lyrics or a full-length version of the song.
The song is about the callousness of her family, and the preacher. The song is written so we will never know what they threw off the bridge. The bottom line is Billy Joe was her boyfriend and now he is dead.
Listening to the song again reminds me of how, in the South--at least when I was growing up there--we called our brother "Brother" and our sister "Sister." Such a lovely old Southern tradition.
Another Bobbie Gentry post. I find it amazing that Bobbie Gentry is being rediscovered. I am 65 and grew up with this song, it was a sensation then and was always on the radio for years. The song was such a hit it inspired the creation of a film, .th-cam.com/video/RFYG5ZMU3YI/w-d-xo.html
My guess is that she backed out of a marriage proposal and it was an engagement ring they threw off the bridge.He became depressed and took his own life. I'm probably wrong but it's interesting to try and guess what happened.
In an interview Bobbie Gentry said she pictured a wedding ring when she wrote the song but, it didn't really matter. She said that isn't what the song is really about.
Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" is considered a Southern Gothic country/folk ballad that exemplifies Southern Gothic storytelling. The song is a first-person narrative by a young girl from a Mississippi Delta family about the suicide of a local boy, Billie Joe McAllister, ... - AI Overview Southern Gothic - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Gothic#:~:text=Southern%20Gothic%20particularly%20focuses%20on,between%20realistic%20and%20supernatural%20elements%22.
Such a haunting song. So beautifully written and performed. She said it was about casual cruelty. Great songs leave you creating your own story about what the meaning of the song.
This is a well covered song on reaction channels and not surprising as Bobbie has a great voice and this is a very enigmatic song. Another great one by her is ' Fancy'-Colin Ward
Growing up in a remote rural area full of small farmers and ranchers in the '50's and 60's this is exactly the way the grownups behaved and I suspect this behavior goes back thousands of years where life was tough, children were viewed as a possible asset to help eventually with the work or ner do wells who were a nuisance. But the children were expected to stand on their own two feet as soon as possible as the family unit was always in jeopardy.
searching on the internet tonight ran across your show wow really good : - ) not to embarrass you but I must confess you have drop dead gorgeous & knockout eyes : - )
Thanks for keeping the comments about Angela’s physical appearance family-friendly. In the past, others weren’t respectful, turning their postings into #MeToo/#TimesUp violations. ✌🏽
When this mystery song came out, everyone speculated they had a baby together (stillbirth or not). There was a movie made about this song too. Same name as the song in 1976.
it's a story about a girl that broke up with a boy and he killed himself. Now she can't move on with her life. I guess the guilt and the pain is too much to bear
They made a movie about the song. It came out in the mid 70's. It was a love story, with a sad ending. Here is the movie link. You can see for yourself what it was they threw off the bridge...!! th-cam.com/video/noQglt5x6DY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yd6wnpaVTQlv0icL
The song had many folks baffled for years, a mystery...what does it mean? I think the girl in the story was writing about herself and Billy Joe in a very subtle way. She was in love with Billy Joe and her mama and papa didn't know this, her father did not approve of Billy Joe, so the girl kept their relationship secretive. Clue number 1...she lost her appetite instantly at the dinner table after hearing that Billy Joe committed suicide. Clue number 2...She and Billy Joe were seen together throwing something off the bridge. Maybe an aborted baby? A mystery only the two lovers would know about. Clue number 3... she mentioned "me, I spend a lot of time picking flowers up on Chocktaw Ridge...and throw them into the muddy waters off the Tallahatchee Bridge" in memory of Billy Joe...because she lost the one she loved. Why else would she spend a lot of time picking flowers for him? But she never told her parents or anyone else about their love affair. A type of Romeo and Juliet. Brilliant writing by Bobbie Gentry.
It is what people today feel where all the gun-shooting at schools and yet we go on living our lives and not putting too much emphasis. It is a way how people don't put emphasis on what other people problems are about and keep living their lives. I'm sure not everyone means to be that way but is how society works in general lacking empathy for the boy Billy Joe and his problems.
So glad you popped up in my feed again. I watched so many of your reactions over the last couple years and it's always great. This song was kind of the music of my childhood, and yeah there's a lot of mystery to it but you got it pretty right. I just wanted to point out that she was playing a really complicated Riff on the acoustic guitar while she was singing in a different Rhythm against it. She was so talented. One of the few women to really do that kind of thing that caught the public eye back then. And I didn't know this until really even recently, although I love this growing up, and it was on the radio all the time you have to understand and everybody talked about what in the world were they throwing off that bridge? But she had like a masters degree in sociology and another one and something else and she actually retired from being a singer-songwriter fairly early on in order to pursue more intellectual things. But I believe you can see that show up in this song. At one point in an interview, she described it along the lines of the cruelty of casual indifference in the face of tragedy
Bobbie Gentry is an amazing story teller... and this is a very compelling story. I think we all draw our own conclusions.. and arrive at possibly the same one.
The year this song was released and quickly became a big hit, a local radio station offered a contest to see who had an original idea of what she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge. A 8th grade classmate of mine was the winner from who knows how many entries. First, I’ve always loved this song, the kitchen table lyrics, and the spectacular string arrangements. My classmate, not so much. Her winning suggestion was they tossed over a bag full of sappy, emoting 45 rpm vinyl records. Her sarcasm got some attention. (45s were the main media for radio airplay and top selling recordings to all young demographics).
Watch the movie. Ode to Billy Joe is both a song and a movie. The song came first. In the movie, Billy Joe discovered he was gay, so he killed himself.
There's a lot that could be unpacked with this song. Speculation ran rampant on what some of the story lines in the song meant when it came out. The callousness of people is one.
Pollock....yr kidding me.... Pollock....what a name... Nevermind....my last name sounds like...Ass...A!. Mr. Azz A. It's you're turn...I just said....I didn't do it. I hate book reports! Lol ....
There was a book and a film with Robby Benson in it..the thing that her and Billy Joe threw off the bridge was a their baby that died in childbirth..remember she mentions 'last spring' they hid the pregnancy as it would have caused major problems..this was the bible belt and set in the early 50's !! The book was one l chose to do a presentation on in one of my English Literature exams..this was in the 70's..l knew the song as it was one of my sisters favourites..so that gives you a bit more background to the song and why she throws flowers off the bridge..Billy Joe was classed as a 'bad apple ' from a rough family..but he was a sweet guy..🇬🇧💕✝️🙏👏👍🇺🇸
In the movie, Billy Joe was with a man and consequently couldn't be with her. They threw her childhood doll off the bridge. At the end of the movie, her brother believed she was pregnant, so they were sending her away. As she's leaving town, the man Billy Joe was with met her on the bridge and told her she didn't have to leave, he would tell the truth. She told him she would rather Billy Joe be remembered as the guy who got the girl pregnant. The song was written first, the movie was made because of the song.
This song came out when i was 5 and i loved her voice and the mystery of what they were throwing 7 or 8 yrs later they made a movie and i was there to find out the secret and walked away hating that movie and never watched it again.
We actually drink booze and joke around at our family funerals. Not getting drunk but casually drinking and telling funny stories about the family member that died. I’m not sure how other people deal with death but that’s how we do it.
Angela, please give a listen to "I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats. A true story about one of the first mass shootings, before they were a common event.
Your reaction is exactly as mine was in 1967. I am 76 years old and this song has always captured the haunting sorrow and mystery about Billy Joe. When the song first came out many of us young people thought maybe they threw their premature baby to its death. What else could make a man that young take his life? I've heard this song hundreds of times over the years and it always sad. You could almost see hurt watching Bobby Gentry sing it. I appreciated your reaction because so many others spend the whole song stopping and talking.
I always thought it was a still birth baby - the two had a baby without anyone knowing
watch the 1976 movie - PLOT TWIST!
@@jollyrodgers7272That movie really sucked. Just made up some homosexual crap.
I always had the impression that billy joe was gay....??
@@MsTeaRex That's the least possible explanation I'd come up with...and it would make no sense whatsoever.
The movie is what gave the 'gay' angle. There was nothing in the song to suggest it. Even in the movie, as I recall, it's not that Billy Joe was gay as he got too drunk and was raped by a man, although there was some measure of ambiguity about the whole event.
You hit the nail right on the head. The song is more about the callous nature that the tragedy is talked about, rather than what actually happened.
Thank you. I was going to comment on the same thing but you did it for me. She did catch it right away didn't she? A lot of reactors just don't get it. 🤔🥴😆
He jumped off the bridge I thought
Bobbie Gentry said in an interview that this song shows how we show casual cruelty to those around us and don’t even realize what we are doing.
To be fair, Billy Joe never had a lick a sense, pass the biscuits please.
Yeah, yeah, yeah you all ban talk about causal cruelty as much as you want. To me, this tune is about the secret relationship the daughter had with Billy Joe.
Bobbie’s explanation:
“Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge-flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family.” ✌️❤️🎶
Back in that time, most people didn't have the luxury to morn suicide. It was a different mindset back then, suicide was seen as being weak in a lot of cultures. This was an epic story telling song, that reeled you in an left you hanging in suspense.
In the movie it was a doll. The myth from before the movie was it was a stillborn
Yes, you are right about what Bobbie said the meaning of the song. However, the thing that sticks with most people is what was thrown off the bridge and the secret relationship the daughter had with Billy Joe.
@@EnoShadow-Walkerher childhood went off the bridge with the doll.
She wasn’t his girlfriend. He was gay. That is why he jumped off the bridge.
I'm 71 now, and live in Minnesota. But for much of my life I lived down South (TN, GA, VA) and I grew up on a farm. Back then (when this song was made) most parents would have gone through both the Great Depression AND World War 2. So death was just a part of life. Nobody was happy about it, but nobody got all drama queen over it, either, unless they had a *_deep_* personal connection to the one who died. In my opinion, it was a good way to live. This is a great song, highlighting the diverse ways in which people react to death...
"It's sad, and it's creepy, and I liked it!" Maybe the best short description of this song ever.
One of your BEST reactions!!
As Gentry told Fred Bronson, “The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty. But everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of the people expressed in the song. What was thrown off the bridge really isn’t that important.
“Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge-flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family.”
@@scottyhotty1003 with all due respect i disagree. If there is no importance to what was thrown off the bridge then why add such a verse in the song in the first place. I agree that the first observation anyone really listening to the song has is how they talk about it like a rat died, almost like some abstract thing. However the song is going to make anyone perk their ears when she sings about billy and her throwing something off the bridge. Then theres her actions in the song. Silence and her not eating her food. Phil Collins claimed “in the air tonight” was about his divorce for years, which even a casual listener would find a stretch, before he finally admitted it was about seeing a childhood friend get molested by someone and seeing him after he became famous. Bobby Gentry isn’t stupid. She knew putting those two things together in the song would become its focus. The way they talk about him is, in my opinion, to add to the pain and suffering, possibly even guilt shes holding inside.
@@chriswilliams5982 Possibly, but you're ignoring Bobbie Gentry's own explanation. The action described could simply be two kids talking together & idly throwing pebbles, rocks, flowers, or whatever, off the bridge.
Mama is certainly oblivious to her daughter's reaction to the news, but if it had been a baby that was thrown off the bridge, she would have had to have been oblivious to her daughter's months of pregnancy, which isn't at all likely in the farm scenario presented.
@@slkinia i think that is just a silly observation. First why put a line in the song about throwing flowers or pebbles? She purposely draws attention to it, then draws attention to her silence and not eating. You don’t put those verses in a song like that without some purpose for it. Im not sure when bobby gentry made those comments you allude to, but im guessing it wasn’t soon after the sings release. Please don’t think im questioning your honesty about the statement, im not at all, but if she made them later in life its possible her beliefs changed and she didn’t want to go there. I mean the callous nature of the family comments definitely made sense, but i remember when the song came out my first thought was what were they throwing off the bridge and what was the relationship between them. Bobby gentry knew that would be what people focused on because unless she didn’t understand her own song it’s what everyone focused on. She couldn’t be ignorant of that. Everyone i knew back then focused on those lyrics. Im sorry but i just don’t buy it.
Gentry was a huge star back in the 70s. She signed a couple long running contacts for a few years to appear at a couple Vegas hotels and made mega bucks. Suddenly, with no fanfare, she just retired. She made an appearance at the Country Music Awards in either 1981 or '82. Then she just disappeared. She has never given an interview, performed, or been seen in public since. Word is she lives quietly somewhere in Tennessee. Her life is a bigger mystery than what they tossed into that river.
I was a little boy when this song aired. I lost my mind when I saw how beautiful she was. This old man still loves the song.
This old man does too. I love her duets with Glen Campbell. Two of the greats. Great reaction.
A woman with drop dead looks sings a ballad about a mysterious death.
I've watched many reactions to this song, and you're the only one who immediately got what it's about.
Angela's good !!!!
These were hard-working country folk, carving out a living working a farm. You work, you eat, you sleep, and maybe church on Sunday.
Not much time nor energy to "explore your feelings".
Always church on Sunday.
When you’re Sharecropping on a piece of land in the Mississippi Delta in the 40s, you got no time for nonsense.
This was a huge hit for Bobby Gentry. The song sold over 50 million records in the first decade. It was aired across three genres on the radio..... rock, blues, and country. I remember it well as a 1967 release, I was 10 years old. The song ALWAYS transports me outta here, right into the middle of that supper table discussing Billy Joe's death. It invokes so, so , many emotions. I enjoyed your reaction, TY.
It was also on the country stations.
As a person who grew up in the South, Bobbie Gentry was the gal next door. Every time I hear this, it takes me back. ❤
You hit the nail on the head. It's haunting, for sure.
The magic in the song is what's not being said. Bobby Gentry said this song is a "study of unconscious cruelty." And how when you commit suicide, the only people who will care are the people who cared. The narrator of the song was Billie Joe's girlfriend, but no one in her family seemed to know that she loved Billie Joe as much as she did.
Your main observation was correct; it was the indifference of the family that was the real message of the song...
1. Billy Joe never had a lick a sense.
2. They'd been working all day and it was dinner time. Mama should have kept quiet until dessert.
Angela I got to tell you I've watched a lot of other channels do the song react to this song and you're the only one who catches immediately the callousness and self-absorption of the family all around this girl who tragically lost her boyfriend or more Bravo kudos to you!
It's not self-absorption. People in the '40s didn't have time for navel-gazing. They'd been through two world wars, and were emerging from the Great Depression. Death was part of life. And "Mama said it was a shame about Billy Joe anyhow." So the whole family wasn't indifferent. And her brother wasn't indifferent either; if anything, just perplexed. The interesting part is no one in the family was aware of the connection between Billie Joe and the girl. Also, it was the noon meal: that's when the news got discussed. To a young girl whose boyfriend just committed suicide, it would seem callous.
This is the song that knocked The Beatles All You Need Is Love out of the #1 slot on the charts in August 1967.
Bobbie Gentry wrote the songs she sang. So she was talented And beautiful.
It’s not knowing the backstory that makes this song so great. You can visualize the setting and feel her pain and you don’t need to know what happened between them. Great storytelling and her sultry but matter-of-fact vocals are perfect.
"It was sad and creepy... and I liked it a lot!" Yep, you and millions of other listeners. Amazing and very unique song.
“The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty.'' - Bobby Gentry
Sounds like you understood Genty's message perfectly.
Good reaction. Just subscribed.
You should see the movie by the same name. I saw it in the theater when I was a young boy.
This is the theme song to the 1976 movie "Ode To Billy Joe" staring Robby Benson, great song, great movie and great reaction.
Trouble is the film doesn't tell the song's story. Gentry didn't know/remember what the song was about, so the film is a guess at best. The song is ambiguous and I think we're all just supposed to make our own story up for why Billy did it and what they threw off the bridge.
@@ianbarker6456 your right, the song leaves it to us to draw our own conclusions as to why he jumped. But pursuant to the movie, I figured that Billy was so conflicted about his sexuality after being involved that night with a man. That he just couldn't live with the possible reality of him being bi -sexual. In the movie he said he wasn't dreaming, wasn't that drunk and he know what was going on. Classic song Classic movie, the good old days of real music and TV.
Sorry, the song was written first, no song, no movie. Except the tv movie script really sucks. Played right into the hands of the dumb public giving them a "why Billie Jo jumped off the bridge" and ruined the mystery and the real mesaage of how crappy human nature is the way they callously react to things and make quick convenient judgements to fit their narcisitic scheme on life...like it really doesn't matter what they dropped off the bridge either.
@thomastimlin1724 It was not a TV movie, it was a theatrical release.
Actually the movie came out After the song. The movie was a "made up version" to the song. Hollywood are Predators who make money off of others. It's Sick! 😡😠🤣
The line about throwing something off the bridge was to establish that there was a relationship between Bobbie and Billy. Bobbie said what it actually was is irrelevant. It lets the listener know that there is a whole underlying story that we know nothing about, and she wants to keep it that way.
In the 50s Sharecropping in the Delta? Papa had no time for nonsense.
Bobbie's life is more interesting and a bigger mystery than the song. You should look into it.
As to what was thrown of the bridge, I always thought that it was a baby.
She was a brilliant song writer and singer.
It's always amazed me after all her success in music, she just basically disappeared from the industry and lived a quiet life away from the spotlight.....and she seemed just fine with it.
There''s a 1976 movie of the same name based on this song by Bobbie Gentry
I didn't like the movie, probably bc I already had my own ideas about the song.
Tenuously based on the song.
Like Daddy always said- "Billy Joe never had a lick of sense anyway..."
There is a movie that describes what happens in this song.
Bobbie Gentry had a style about her. I was 13 when this song hit the airways. It floored me. It still does.
Bobbie Gentry described the song's depiction of the narrator's family's indifference "a study in unconscious cruelty".
Ut was rumored it was a stillboorn baby and billy joe jumped off the bridge our of grief
This is a shortened version of the original song she had written. A few verses were removed for the recording. We all hope that before Bobbie passes on, she releases the lyrics or a full-length version of the song.
The song is about the callousness of her family, and the preacher. The song is written so we will never know what they threw off the bridge. The bottom line is Billy Joe was her boyfriend and now he is dead.
Listening to the song again reminds me of how, in the South--at least when I was growing up there--we called our brother "Brother" and our sister "Sister." Such a lovely old Southern tradition.
This is one of the gratest songs in popular-musik, ever!
Great reaction.
You should check out “Grandma’s Hands” by Bill Withers.
Thank you
Another Bobbie Gentry post. I find it amazing that Bobbie Gentry is being rediscovered. I am 65 and grew up with this song, it was a sensation then and was always on the radio for years. The song was such a hit it inspired the creation of a film, .th-cam.com/video/RFYG5ZMU3YI/w-d-xo.html
The most mysterious song ever written.
A common thought was that it was an unwanted baby that got tossed off the bridge.
I have been wondering for well over 50 years by now what they threw off that bridge - and I still don't know.
It was nothing, as it's just a song.
My guess is that she backed out of a marriage proposal and it was an engagement ring they threw off the bridge.He became
depressed and took his own life. I'm probably wrong but it's interesting to try and guess what happened.
In an interview Bobbie Gentry said she pictured a wedding ring when she wrote the song but, it didn't really matter. She said that isn't what the song is really about.
Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" is considered a Southern Gothic country/folk ballad that exemplifies Southern Gothic storytelling. The song is a first-person narrative by a young girl from a Mississippi Delta family about the suicide of a local boy, Billie Joe McAllister, ...
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Southern Gothic - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Gothic#:~:text=Southern%20Gothic%20particularly%20focuses%20on,between%20realistic%20and%20supernatural%20elements%22.
angela you're a doll .one of the best reactor on you tube keep it up
Such great story telling - regular every day talk and a mystery that draws you in.
90 minutes from my house. Been there many times. Believe you me... it might be 57 years later, but time stands still in these parts...
I think the image of the river is of time heals or buries everything. Lots of unanswered questions in all ours lives.
Great song, great performance! This song even inspired a movie starring Robby Benson and Glynis O'Connor.
They made a movie of this song starring Robbie Benson and Glynnis O'Connor in 1976.
The song has everything and that beautiful young lady does a good job pointing that out.
Beautiful and haunting... and mysterious. Great reaction!
If you liked her at all, next up is “Fancy”, she wrote and performed the original version, I’ve seen u react, seat belt on for this one !
Such a haunting song. So beautifully written and performed. She said it was about casual cruelty. Great songs leave you creating your own story about what the meaning of the song.
This is a well covered song on reaction channels and not surprising as Bobbie has a great voice and this is a very enigmatic song. Another great one by her is ' Fancy'-Colin Ward
Phenomenal performer and song. Gentry was so beautiful and talented!
Growing up in a remote rural area full of small farmers and ranchers in the '50's and 60's this is exactly the way the grownups behaved and I suspect this behavior goes back thousands of years where life was tough, children were viewed as a possible asset to help eventually with the work or ner do wells who were a nuisance. But the children were expected to stand on their own two feet as soon as possible as the family unit was always in jeopardy.
The strings on this song are top notch. They drive the unease in the song by exposing its hidden sense.
They added strings to Gentry's demo tape, which she had submitted hoping to get a job as a staff songwriter.
This song was msde into a movie.
Story songs are such a unique, wonderful niche. They're more like movies than songs. This is one of the greatest.
In the movie it was a doll that got thrown off the bridge.
It was the stillborn baby they had
It's called a Ballad , there are many , this was one of the good ones to tell a sad story .
searching on the internet tonight ran across your show wow really good : - ) not to embarrass you but I must confess you have drop dead gorgeous & knockout eyes : - )
Thanks for keeping the comments about Angela’s physical appearance family-friendly. In the past, others weren’t respectful, turning their postings into #MeToo/#TimesUp violations. ✌🏽
When this mystery song came out, everyone speculated they had a baby together (stillbirth or not). There was a movie made about this song too. Same name as the song in 1976.
it's a story about a girl that broke up with a boy and he killed himself. Now she can't move on with her life. I guess the guilt and the pain is too much to bear
I always thought it was a baby they threw off the bridge, either a new born she had kept hidden or a preemie. And that's why he committed suicide.
They made a movie about the song. It came out in the mid 70's. It was a love story, with a sad ending.
Here is the movie link.
You can see for yourself what it was they threw off the bridge...!!
th-cam.com/video/noQglt5x6DY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yd6wnpaVTQlv0icL
The song had many folks baffled for years, a mystery...what does it mean?
I think the girl in the story was writing about herself and Billy Joe in a very subtle way. She was in love with Billy Joe and her mama and papa didn't know this, her father did not approve of Billy Joe, so the girl kept their relationship secretive.
Clue number 1...she lost her appetite instantly at the dinner table after hearing that Billy Joe committed suicide.
Clue number 2...She and Billy Joe were seen together throwing something off the bridge. Maybe an aborted baby? A mystery only the two lovers would know about.
Clue number 3... she mentioned "me, I spend a lot of time picking flowers up on Chocktaw Ridge...and throw them into the muddy waters off the Tallahatchee Bridge" in memory of Billy Joe...because she lost the one she loved. Why else would she spend a lot of time picking flowers for him? But she never told her parents or anyone else about their love affair. A type of Romeo and Juliet. Brilliant writing by Bobbie Gentry.
They made a movie on it.
It is what people today feel where all the gun-shooting at schools and yet we go on living our lives and not putting too much emphasis. It is a way how people don't put emphasis on what other people problems are about and keep living their lives. I'm sure not everyone means to be that way but is how society works in general lacking empathy for the boy Billy Joe and his problems.
So glad you popped up in my feed again. I watched so many of your reactions over the last couple years and it's always great. This song was kind of the music of my childhood, and yeah there's a lot of mystery to it but you got it pretty right. I just wanted to point out that she was playing a really complicated Riff on the acoustic guitar while she was singing in a different Rhythm against it. She was so talented. One of the few women to really do that kind of thing that caught the public eye back then.
And I didn't know this until really even recently, although I love this growing up, and it was on the radio all the time you have to understand and everybody talked about what in the world were they throwing off that bridge? But she had like a masters degree in sociology and another one and something else and she actually retired from being a singer-songwriter fairly early on in order to pursue more intellectual things. But I believe you can see that show up in this song.
At one point in an interview, she described it along the lines of the cruelty of casual indifference in the face of tragedy
Bobbie Gentry is an amazing story teller... and this is a very compelling story. I think we all draw our own conclusions.. and arrive at possibly the same one.
That was the big mystery. She would never tell.
The year this song was released and quickly became a big hit, a local radio station offered a contest to see who had an original idea of what she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge. A 8th grade classmate of mine was the winner from who knows how many entries. First, I’ve always loved this song, the kitchen table lyrics, and the spectacular string arrangements. My classmate, not so much. Her winning suggestion was they tossed over a bag full of sappy, emoting 45 rpm vinyl records. Her sarcasm got some attention. (45s were the main media for radio airplay and top selling recordings to all young demographics).
The movie answers the questions raised by the song. In the movie, Billy Joe is played by Robbie Benson.
Watch the movie. Ode to Billy Joe is both a song and a movie. The song came first. In the movie, Billy Joe discovered he was gay, so he killed himself.
It makes me wonder if that was a song about something like that in her life as a teen
There's a lot that could be unpacked with this song. Speculation ran rampant on what some of the story lines in the song meant when it came out. The callousness of people is one.
Bobby Gentry and Glen Campbell have an album together and it is FANTASTIC!
Pollock....yr kidding me.... Pollock....what a name...
Nevermind....my last name sounds like...Ass...A!. Mr. Azz A. It's you're turn...I just said....I didn't do it. I hate book reports! Lol ....
My parents had that album. And I believe she was on his show also.
She was so captivating singing this!
This song has been creeping us all out for 57 years. We like it too.
There was a book and a film with Robby Benson in it..the thing that her and Billy Joe threw off the bridge was a their baby that died in childbirth..remember she mentions 'last spring' they hid the pregnancy as it would have caused major problems..this was the bible belt and set in the early 50's !!
The book was one l chose to do a presentation on in one of my English Literature exams..this was in the 70's..l knew the song as it was one of my sisters favourites..so that gives you a bit more background to the song and why she throws flowers off the bridge..Billy Joe was classed as a 'bad apple ' from a rough family..but he was a sweet guy..🇬🇧💕✝️🙏👏👍🇺🇸
In the movie, Billy Joe was with a man and consequently couldn't be with her. They threw her childhood doll off the bridge. At the end of the movie, her brother believed she was pregnant, so they were sending her away. As she's leaving town, the man Billy Joe was with met her on the bridge and told her she didn't have to leave, he would tell the truth. She told him she would rather Billy Joe be remembered as the guy who got the girl pregnant. The song was written first, the movie was made because of the song.
(I think her lover was gone…) I remember this song so well. It seemed like it was played every hour all summer long.
This song came out when i was 5 and i loved her voice and the mystery of what they were throwing 7 or 8 yrs later they made a movie and i was there to find out the secret and walked away hating that movie and never watched it again.
We actually drink booze and joke around at our family funerals. Not getting drunk but casually drinking and telling funny stories about the family member that died. I’m not sure how other people deal with death but that’s how we do it.
Angela you like story dongs? "American Pie" by Don McClean.
You get it.
The song is like a poem and you come up with your own meaning.
Angela, please give a listen to "I Don't Like Mondays" by the Boomtown Rats. A true story about one of the first mass shootings, before they were a common event.
Considered one of the best emotional ballads ever written and sung.
A special time and very special songs
From 60s to the 80s
This old universe speaks through the singers
Direct to you
Especially you
Your reaction is exactly as mine was in 1967. I am 76 years old and this song has always captured the haunting sorrow and mystery about Billy Joe. When the song first came out many of us young people thought maybe they threw their premature baby to its death. What else could make a man that young take his life? I've heard this song hundreds of times over the years and it always sad. You could almost see hurt watching Bobby Gentry sing it. I appreciated your reaction because so many others spend the whole song stopping and talking.
Bobbie Gentry had such a haunting voice I felt like I too was there in the Delta with them all.
Sincere reaction.
Storytelling,, weird,, creepy,, yet keeps you involved & makes you wonder,, The Buoys "Timothy"
Part II 😁 Ohh Yaaa! Another lady perhaps forgotten, Miss Phoebe Snow; POETRY MAN!!!! Great Day for a DayOne! 🕊️☮️
You are absolutely right. Most people do not get it. She was in love with Billy Joe. They used to pick flowers and drop them off the bridge.