OMG IS THIS A TRUE STORY? BOBBIE GENTRY - ODE TO BILLIE JOE (REACTION)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ย. 2021
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“ Pass the biscuits please” - apathy in the face of tragedy. This Southern Gothic tale by her was so popular it was made into a movie!
I wonder how much Flannery O'Connor's southern gothic style of her 60's short stories had an influence on her... She was an educated woman... A philosopher actually.
During Michael McDonald's GREAT CHRISTMAS Song, House Full of Love Michael shows his Southern side when he sings, sit down Right Cheer..
@@gwenvenable6481 I’m sure those stories did have an influence in addition to the fact that she lived in that culture!
@@TheDivayenta Bobby said thus song was an exercise in unconscious mental abuse
My goodness "Southern Gothic". You hit the nail the head.
This lady has my respect 100%....She didn't sell out, and after the late 1970's....SHE DISAPPEARED!! I believe it was 1979 or 1980 was the last time she came out in public. She has been a quiet, do not disturb recluse for 40+ years. It's an amazing story.
She married casino and club owner Phil Harrah. He was a powerful guy, and when they divorced, he supposedly got her black balled.
@@Gromit801 That’s terrible.
@@Gromit801 that’s garbage. Not true. You can’t “blackball” songwriting and millions of fans.
Stop believing crap some hack wrote.
didn't disappear. she just left the industry, lost interest. she shows up every now and then.
My understanding was that she left because of music industry business. They used her and wanted to control her songwriting and music, her looks, etc. She put up with it for a short while, then walked away from it as soon as she got the chance. Said she didn’t need that. I have always had such a respect for her. And I think her vanishing at the height of her career, just made her more famous and more desirable. She doesn’t even do interviews or anything. I loved her song writing and music and she is so beautiful. But I have the most respect for her for not putting up with the music business crookedness of that time.
She knocked The Beatles out of the number one spot on the billboards with that song
This mysterious song shocked you the way it shocked millions back in 1967. It was one of the most unusual Number One hits ever.
Yes, it was scandalous
When this came out on top 40 radio it was so captivating - nobody had ever heard such a sad, mysterious ballad that sounded like this before. She was an instant star, and this was a cross-over hit.
I remember very well when it came out... you are right, mysterious, captivating and sad. I would through in hypnotic too (it pulled me in). My friends and I couldn't stop thinking about this song and what it meant. Gentry was for a time a philosophy major in college I think. I haven't thought about this song in awhile. Forgot how good it was.
There's a book that tells this story and later a movie. I read the book in jr.high. Great book.
True story: me and my wife celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary last May. We knew we wanted to go away for a couple days but had no destination. I told her to get behind the wheel and just drive. We ended up in Clarksdale Mississippi. We stopped at a restaurant to eat. A block away we heard some live music. Turns out it was a blues club owned by Morgan Freeman. As God is my witness, he was there that night to celebrate their anniversary. I didn't get to meet him but I was in the same room with him. We ended up in Greenwood the next day and found the bridge that Billy Joe jumped off. Moral of the story, take random drives every once in a while and just see where you wind up.
Spontaneity is the spark that ignites the adventure of life...
True. Some of the best vacations I've ever had took me to destinations I had no idea about and turned out to be really interesting.
Very cool !
@@vaughnmichael5114 it was amazing. It's a pretty small room filled with dinner tables and a bar. And it was absolutely packed. Shoulder to shoulder. It was 50/50 white and black folks. And everybody was talking and laughing and dancing with each other. The house hand was just unbelievable. Morgan walked around like a normal person. Nobody treated him like a celebrity so I suppressed my inner fanboy. What's funny is, me and the wife had a little argument in Tunica because I wanted to stop there. She reminded me not only was she driving, it was my idea for her to drive. And as always, I was forced to eat crow as she looked on in amusement.
Pretty awesome
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.”
I’ve always wondered!
wow
That's another story in itself, how she's so deeply involved with him and no one in her family seems to know.
Watch the 1976 movie🎉🎉then ull get it!!!
@lightningbug2watch tne 1976 movie..then ull get it!76
No one today could ever sing this but Bobbie Gentry
Miley Cyrus could sing this and so could Dolly . They both can tell a tale
The song is beautifully haunting and raises more questions than it answers!
It sure does.
The movie had the reason why he jumped off the bridge
I remember when this song came out in 1967. It was # 1 on the charts for weeks. Bobbie Gentry was a very unique singer in her own way. Bobbi Gentry also sang a duet with Glen Campbell called "Let It Be Me". One of my favorite songs. It was a Banger!
She makes you feel like you're sitting at the dinner table with her masterful storytelling abilities-and don't get me started on that voice of hers!
Honestly, this is not a country song, this is a blues song. Her phrasing, and how she’s playing that guitar it’s one of the most brilliant pieces of songwriting ever the important thing about music is communication, and she told a very poignant story, and it was so vivid that like you said, it’s like you can see it. It’s like you’re watching a movie the way she’s singing her lyrics. Again, brilliant!
Don't you just love her voice?! Your reaction and questions about this song are just like ours, Thank you💖
What’s great about this is the realism and the mystery. It leaves the truth up to the individual’s imagination.
I was just thinking about the mystery of his death, right before making this comment.
Bobbi is too beautiful.
This was her first song and she displaced The Beatles from the Number 1 spot on the charts.
The Beatles!
She is such a great song writer who wrote and produced her own music.
Hauntingly beautiful.
That's also the theme song from the movie ode to Billy Joe. Stirring Robby Benson. Incredible movie. She's also the original singer of the song Fancy. The original version is so much better than Reba McEntire. ♥️♥️✌️
Yes I agree she does a much better job than Reba.
She has unique talent of you can close you're eyes and see what she's singing about
History
In this song, a family finds out about the death of Billie Joe and shares gossip about him at the dinner table along with their other mundane concerns. Bobbie Gentry explained: "The message of the song revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. The song is a study in unconscious cruelty."
Gentry later clarified that she intended the song to portray the family's indifference to the suicide in what she deemed "a study in unconscious cruelty", while she remarked the object thrown was not relevant to the message of her composition. Gentry's writing was adapted for the 1976 film Ode to Billy Joe.
They throw their dead baby over the bridge
A miscarriage in the first trimester otherwise everybody would have seen girls baby bump
@@keithj6251 ..no Keith, not necessarily. You can google, there have been many young women who have given birth and no one knew they were pregnant. There was a young girl who gave birth at her senior prom in the bathroom and put the poor baby in the trash can. No one knew she was with child. Sad beyond words.
If it's "unconscscious".......and it's behavior that comes from that "unconsciousness".......so your not even aware of it......then how the hell can you fix it in yourself if you don't/can't see it, but it presents itself in your behavior.........but it's "unconscious" I'm not speacialist by no means.......but that's just plain stupid. Made up terms for made up shit people have no explination for the behavior. That's a label that will have no end. Unconscious racism...unconscious patriarchy unconscious failure unconscious whatever. That's a deep evil slippery slope.......and the weapon of accusation will be "your doing it....but it's "unconscious" (you have zero defense) What a mind fuck. It seems to me, life was extremely hard in those days. Seems to me this song was after WW2 time period. The father wasn't indifferent to the tragity. He just didn't have the "luxury" of grieving....because he had a family to take care of and a lot of hard work still left to do. It's not unconscious cruelty......it's called mind survival.......no matter the tragedy.....real life is.....I got to feed my family. Unless it touched your home personally.......you couldn't let yourself grieve but for a split second. And let's brutally honest........if it's a stranger or someone that's not close to us and we hear tragic news about them....sure...you have feelings of empathy and hurt for their situation or whatever......but I gaurantee....at bedtime...you fall fast asleep. It's not the same as a family member spouse or child that affects you personally. If I'm wrong in my veiw....forgive me.....it's not my fault....I'm wrong "unconsciously" an I don't even know it.
It's not a dead baby. Bobbie said in an interview once that she thinks it might have been rings. But she leaves it open.
All these years later, the argument still goes on....
Just what was thrown into the river?
That's what I want to know.
I also want to know what happened to the kid in "Imposter", as well as what really happened to Teresa Halbach.
She's never told anyone. Not even singer Jim Stafford, her husband.
I thought they threw their baby into the water...and the Billy joe got caught taking money from a man to have sex with him...that's what I remember from the movie
A baby
In the movie, it was the bloody clothes from where he was raped, and then he was worried he was gay now so he killed himself..in the movie she disappeared for almost a year so people would think he had impregnated her and she went off to have the baby..if you have a chance watch the show..it will break your heart.
Mel, you looked horrified at the thought of her picking flowers and dropping them into the muddy waters. You both reacted so well. Thank you.
I never knew Bobbie Gentry was so stunningly beautiful. The lyrics are as haunting as her beauty
It's about a fictional character. The message is about how a family talks nonchalant about suicide. When I was younger listening to this I thought she and Billie Joe were hiding their love for each other but she didn't want to upset her family so she left him and he couldn't deal with it. I'm probably wrong but that was my interpretation of it.
Watch the movie he was raped by the preacher an
@@pennyrollings267 the song was written first. The movie made up that scenario, not the song writer. That was not the point of the song. The point was the indifference of the family about the death. And that they didn't even realize that their own daughter was involved with Billy Joe, and how affected she was by the announcement of his suicide.
@@pennyrollings267 ...Hollywood
That's what I thought too.
@@cathysorge8433 the mother in the song even asks her what's happened to her apatite, but is either too stupid to put two and two together or doesn't care that the news has made her physically ill.
She had a way of pulling you in. CHILLS is the word. Great reaction thank you.
I listened to my mom's album of this all through my childhood. This, Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, Three Dog Night, Simon and Garfunkel.... what a wonderful childhood.
How bout the Carpenters?
This song always leaves me crying my eyes out.
This was based on a Best Selling Novel written by Herman Raucher who also Wrote Summer Of '42 and Class '44 who many folks thought was one of the best books about growing up. Choctaw Ridge may have been a Land owned by Native Americans. It was "Pass The Biscuits Please". Also they were sweethearts and a very cruel thing happened to him. He apparently had "Relations" with a Man and in the 1950's it was a sin especially in The South. He apparently took his own life because he felt so ashamed & guilty. Folks thought she was Black like Dusty Springfield.
Imagine turning on your TV to tune into a variety show and trying to process this. I was 9 years old when this came out.
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 fifty years and it is 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 was a huge name ! She wrote this song, it was song of the year in COUNTRY MUSIC! SHE WON BEST NEW FEMALE SINGER. I BELIEVE THE SONG WAS ALSO SINGLE OF THE YEAR! Bobby was the first female to form her own recording studio. She also wrote the song. "Fancy" that Reba McINTIRE made a hit. She was a force of nature! Hey, by the way , she was from the same general area that ELVIS was from!
This is exactly like a family sitting around the dinner table having a conversation. You can picture it as she sings.
I STILL get chills...
After all these years.
Bobbie Gentry, whew! She can tell a story, play guitar and sing while she,s sitting there just being Miss Gentry
There is a movie based on this song. It's called Ode to Billy Joe as well. Made in 1976. Starred Robbie Benson. It's a tear jerker for sure.
What a great song it's still such a great song. I remember when this song came out, but I've always thought that her and Billy Joe we're throwing an abortion or something criminal over the bridge which drove Billy Joe to jump over the bridge, which drove her to pick flowers and throw them into the muddy waters what a great song.. I remember they made a movie about this song and I went with my girlfriend to the drive-in to see it and I was a young teenager so you know we did not pay attention to the movie at all, in the drive-in!!
I know, huh. When you went to the drive-in with your boyfriend, you didn’t see much of the movie.
You said she's giving you chills. It's been years since I heard this song and I was getting chills right with you.🙏🙏😁
64 years old and I still get the chills
The guitar picking is my favourite part of this song. Everything is so simple, so clean; and the strings that accompany it... Absolutely lovely tune.
Bobbie also wrote the Reba hit "Fancy".
I did not know that!!!
The whole story is the dinner table conversation. Her reaction to the news of her lost love. I absolutely love this song, always has been a favourite. Poor Billy Joe. This song was so real and so popular they made it into a movie starring one of my favourites Robby Benson.
oh how i loved that movie
I just saw the movie... my Lord. It brought me back. 😢
@@dana-dane Now you have me wanting to rewatch it.
one of the greatest "story songs" ever written. and what a voice.
and all these decades later people are still wondering whether it was real and what exactly happened ... it's a mystery
Her voice is hauntingly beautiful!
You know she was having an affair with Billie Joe. Kind of a secret relationship? Various people in the song claim that they saw her hanging out with him a lot.
If you haven't listened to Reba McEntire's song "Fancy" or "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia", you should. They are the same wonderful story telling as this was, as they bring you into the story and really make you think!
Fancy was written, and first recorded, by Bobbi Gentry❤️
@@leannmiller7153 The night the lights went out in Georgia, first recorded by Vicki Lawrence, yes Carol Burnett's cohort and Mama on Mama's Family TV show
@@frankphillips5660 Vicki’s is the one I listen to. I’ve heard Reba’s covers of both songs.
SKIP reba and listen to the REAL FOLKS!
@@frankphillips5660 The originals beat the crap out of reba'a remakes, especially Bobby's performance on the Rick Hall Produced, eerie song Called Fancy!
She was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material.
Yes! I suggested this song. I knew you would enjoy it. Now the next one to react to is Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie Riley. I really want to see your facial expressions when you hear it. Great reaction.
I absolutely love this! I'm always requesting this with reactors! She sings this HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL!
bobby gentry was a real story teller
She was a great storyteller, fantastic performer and singer, and freaking very beautiful
You two "get it" ... not all do, your reactions are so very appropriate and much appreciated. Thank you both.
It was their passed- away baby that they tossed off the bridge. Then dad (Billie Joe) followed. She was the mom, which is why she throws flowers over now.
Yeah, that is one of many theories...
@@jdsguam i know it's just a theory, but what else rises to the level that would make him jump? Just MHO.
@@joannasunday That theory makes the most sense.
Harper Valley PTA is another great story song. It is a funny song as well.
Watch the movie it gives an idea of what may have caused him to jump.
I first heard this as a little girl. I was immediately captivated with her brilliant storytelling. Guys, Bobby wrote the original Son of a preacher man. You may wish to check her version out
Gosh, what a beautiful singer and such an amazing voice and story.
Bobby was just inducted into the songwriters hall of fame. Of course being a recluce for 40 yrs she didnt show. Love to hear from her!
I am 70 year,s old i rember all older song,s she is great and both of you are great .
I feel like I could be there.Thats what they mean by true storytelling.3 chords and the truth.
Three chords and the TRUTH.
Speaking Of Classic Songs With An Incredible Story,, THE BUOYS "TIMOTHY"..A MUST HEAR!!
Daaaaaaang. I just listened to it. That's messed up. I didn't see that coming. Thanks for recommending the song. I'm glad that I discovered it. I saved that song.
Have you heard Johnny Cash's cover of "I Hung My Head", by Sting?
I was born in "68 to young parents, then moved south to be with my Momma's family. We only had a mattress a sewing machine and a record player She played this often. She was now a single mom to 3 before she was 21. This song forever haunts me. Even at 5 years old I understood every bit of it.
Every song tells a story - Bobbie Gentry tugs at your heartstrings till you can't help but cry.
This song still has the same impact it had on me when it first came out. What a story, what a storyteller.
Welcome to Country story ballads. They build the pictures in your head and pull you in. There are lots of artists that do the style but some of the best are Johnny Cash, Jim Croce,Roy Clark, Jim Stafford , C.W.McCall,and Willie Nelson. One real good song I like is Pancho and Lefty by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.
seven spanish angels by ray charles and willie nelson
He was raped and thought he might be gay
There aren't too many absolutely perfect songs, but this is one of them. Deep deep.
I've seen many of your videos, I'm 70 so I grew up with a lot of the music you are reviewing and when you live in it all the time you don't realized how much talent you're surrounded with coming at you from so many genres and so many 'directions' all at the same time. THAT was the 60's and 70's with so many baby boomers coming of age and expressing their talents. I enjoy your reactions and I love the concept of hearing 'new' artists and reviewing their music for a new audience. Today I'm subscribing. Thanks and peace to you both and to your subscribers.
As you're learning, those of us who grew up in the '50s-'60s had tons of great music....from rock 'n roll songs to love songs to lost love songs to horribly sad songs to silly songs to socially conscious songs to the hope for peace songs...you name it we had it. I hope you'll react to: (1) don mclean - Vincent (3:58) and (2) Peter, Paul and Mary - Blowing in the Wind (3:01). Both are live performances.
Bobbie sang straight to my heart... every song!
I was a teenager of 14 or 15 and a huge Robbie Benson fan. He played Billy Joe. Loved the song. Released as a tv movie mid 70s
She is a master story teller...she leaves a mystery. It bugged people for years.
Her voice and storytelling skills were on point. Great song. Great reaction.
She's such a good story teller...you really feel like you're there. ❤️
I grew up listening to a lot of Bobbie Gentry's music, still love listening to her. She said this story was inspired by the 1954 murder of Emmett Till.
That's some song still bringing intrigue all these years later.
You two beautiful people are replaying my youth. Thank you for listening and appreciating music that came before. I find you both so refreshing. You guys are awesome! 💕
This was one of my dad’s favorite songs and almost three years after his death I’m listening to it for myself in a much deeper context and mindset. I’m only 19 and love to find the deeper understanding of stories, songs, films etc. like Ode. Fictional or not, everyone can relate to a small part of the deeper meaning of stories like this, not just scratch the surface and move on.
I was 10 in 68, when I heard the ode to Billy Joe. When I heard it in 69 on the radio I picked up on the meaning of the story.. quite a few didn't.. still makes me said to this day..
I have oth Jeannie C. Riley & Bobby Gentry on vinyl! I'm So glad somebody other than me got to hear them both!! Check out ***"The Ballad Of Louise - Jeannie C. Riley"*** & ***"Fancy - Bobbie Gentry"*** GOOD STORIES!
Very moving reaction from both of y'all. Surely made me cry. Great storytelling.
Is it true?
No. While Bobbie Gentry admits the story is fictionalized, she did explain that it was inspired by the 1954 murder of Emmett Till. Till was only 14 years old when he was shot and thrown over the Black Bayou Bridge in Mississippi for offending a woman in a grocery store.
And what's worse is that the woman that accused Emmitt admitted years later that she had lied. Last I heard, she was still alive. Side note, I have fished the Tallahatchie River many, many times. My late father in law had one of the decorative cast iron spheres from the top of the original bridge. It's been closed for many years now. ✌️
I just looked him up; he was hanged.
Yeah, the lady he supposedly offended lied about it. She said so before she died. Poor kid.
@@RayfordRaySiegel Yes don’t always believe the geniuses who post comments here on TH-cam 👍😂
I don’t know how the heck that song is anything at ALL like the tragedy with Emmett. Even if it was only an “inspiration”. That’s just a weird story.
This is real country music!
This song was so powerful THEY made a movie about it! Off to Billy Joe!
Ode
Makes you feel as though you were right there with them! Chilling song that gets a spectacular reaction from y'all!
Nothing like real storytelling! Love your reactions :)
can only give you one thumbs up. about the fourth time through so here's 3 more.
It starred Robby Benson & Glynis O'Conor who were Two Of Hollywood's Hottest Young Actors. Robby became a director and did The Voice of The beast in Beauty & The Beast.
Great reaction video. This song highlights the contrast between the deep felt sense of tragedy some people can feel about a death while normal everyday life goes on, and how that can seem almost cruel. I was hoping to hear your reaction and thoughts about the key line: "He [the preacher] said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw ridge. And She and Billy Joe McAlister were THROWING SOMETHING off the Tallahatchie bridge". So....what did they throw off the bridge that would cause him to later commit suicide?
Some of the early theories was that it was their baby. I don’t want to spoil the movie for you 🙂 check it out.
I thought it was a baby also
Not a true story yet so much here to discuss and some of it rather controversial. Great song!
One of the best country-blues songs ever recorded. it was released in 1967, 5 weeks later it reached No 1 on Billboards Pop single charts and by week #6 it had sold a million copies. It spent 4 weeks at the #1 spot and sold more than 3 million copies world wide. I never grow tired of this song. Great reaction, TY.
Telling a story and painting a vivid picture. Thanks Bobbie Gentry, much appreciated.
This song has always made me cry...decades worth
I've always loved this song and have been hoping you'd react to it
Oh yeah good music 🎶
Love Bobbi Gentry. Fancy is also one of my favorites
According to the movie they went deeper than the lyrics did
You see Billy Joe was assaulted by a well standing man up on Choctaw Ridge. Billy Joe, couldn't handle the guilt of the assaults continuing as a result he jumped off The Tallahatchie Bridge
There was a movie about this song, starring Robbie Benson.
Back in the day, us country folks called the noon meal dinner.
I was 12 when the song came out. So lovely spooky and haunting for a kid, even more because it was in such a normal setting and conversation. And of course sung and arranged so perfectly. You could imagine your parents or your aunts and uncles talking about just such a thing like that. Only what if you were secretly the reason for whatever caused it ...
I'm from Chickasaw County Mississippi and we love us some Bobbie Gentry❤❤
You really should watch the movie. It explains a lot. There is more to the story. It was a very controversial story at the time. I read the book when I was in high school. I checked it out of the library, but, hid it from my parents. I'm pretty sure they would not have allowed me to read the book. I cried and cried through the movie. The movie came out in 1976 when I was 15 years old. I didn't get to watch it till I was grown though. I love this song, but, it makes more sense if you read the book or watch the movie. I had a crush on Robbie Benson back in the day as well, so watching him in this movie made it even more powerful.
the movie is still out there......i remember seeing this at a drive in movie.
That song was incredibly heartbreaking. But it really makes you think.
Her voice is so smooth and warm like a good gumbo roux.