Bobby Gentry Ode To Billy Joe Reaction
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I'm 60 now and this song hits me in the heart every time I hear it the exact way it did when I was a boy. Bobby Gentry wrote some 10 or 12 verses to this song in a hotel one night while on tour. As a side note, Bob Dylan criticized Bobby Gentry when she recorded this song, saying women can't be poets...I beg to differ.
Rod Bathgate God - Bob's an idiot.
I remember my uncle playing this song when my mom and pops and I would visit. Even as I child this song conjured many thoughts and images in my young mind. I didn't understand it but I could see everything she was singing about. And from the first time I heard it I would always sit quiet when It came on
Dylan sold his soul to the devil... he said so himself... fwiw.
Joan Baez says Dylan told her that her "poetry was lousy" in her beautiful son "Diamonds and Rust" so I guess this is how Dylan talked about women.
I would say this to Bob Dylan. At least you can understand her as she is singing the words to her beautifully written song, unlike you! I have just never cared for Bob Dylan or his music.
A little factoid.... Bobbie sold this to Capital records herself in 1967 AND she produced the record. Unheard of for a female in that time. Also won 3 Grammies.
That's probably why my mother had such a love for Gentry, since she didn't understand the lyrics.
@@annebritraaen2237 Bold move
I think she miscarried a baby and seeing the familys didnt know and they where very young they hid it from their families..billy jo striken with grief killed himself to follow the baby..just a theory..
@@brentmckenzie6281 Yeah, that was always my take as well.
Yep. Gentry was a business woman decades ahead of feminist real successes.
Just an interesting fact, Choctaw Ridge and the Tallahatchie bridge are real places. People still throw flowers off the bridge in homage to Billy Joe and the emotions this song stirs in them.
It's funny to see how small that bridge was though. Nobody would die from falling that short distance from the bridge to the river. They'd just get wet.
The bridge in the movie was actually over the Yazoo and was replaced with a concrete span in the early 90s. There is a plaque there to commemorate the old bridge.
I have one of the cast iron spheres from the top of the original bridge. We used to set hooks for catfish along that stretch of the river. 😉✌️
The girl that looked a lot like the storyteller, is likely to be the same. Something thrown off the bridge may signify the breaking off of a love relationship. Apparently, the separation/rejection was too painful.
She's from Choctaw Ridge
This song is a masterpiece in understatement.
PanglossDr very well said!
I first heard this song at age 11; it still intrigues me.
I was in Navy boot camp when this song came out. Half our company were from the south and most knew the places mentioned in the song. It made them home sick hearing this song. Hearing it now brings back the memories of that time in my life.
SHE SOLD 3,000,000,000 COPIES 1967 ........THE SONG BUMPED THE BEATLES OUT OF THERE #1 SPOT ......A SONG WELL RECOGNIZED WORLD WIDE.
3Billion nah! No way. Maybe 3000000!
3 million, not 3 billion 😂😂😂.
One of the best songs ever recorded. This song was #1 on the pop chart, country chart and also crossed over to the r & b charts. Very beautiful and paints a picture in your head as you listen.
It wasn't #1 on the country chart ... reached #17. It was a big hit, no doubt, but the one that set the "record" as the first to top virtually all the charts around the world was Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden," which would come out 3-4 years after "Ode to Billie Jo."
Is there a recording of Bobbie Gentry singing FANCY ??
It was very big in Britain as well. Beautifully sung, beautifully recorded, and a masterpiece of storytelling.
It sent chills down my spine in 1968 and it sends chills down my spine today.
Said it once and I'll say it again, this is a thousand page Southern Gothic Novel told in less than 5 minutes. I don't think the '76 movie version did it any justice. Have always wanted to see a movie remake or a short tv series with maybe a dozen episodes to flesh out all the different characters and their personal interactions with each other.
OMG YES!
I completely agree! The song's structure and sentence composition is absolutely brilliant. She communicates more in 6 lines than other writers do in 60.
the movie had terrible dialogue
They made a movie with this Title. It inferred he had had a Sexual Experience with he same gender. That that was why he jumped
I always wonder why people assume that he really jumped? Is it a simple secret Teenage Love Affair and she broke up with him and he killed hiself? which happens way too often in real life or that " new Young preacher" knows what exactly was thrown off that bridge.. and he just let her know all Loki an asked her parents can he come for dinner with her all in one sentence
How the family casually discusses Billy Joe, never noticing their daughter is devastated. It's always broke my heart.
I don't think Bobbie Gentry ever said what was thrown off the bridge. I think she left that to the listener's imagination. The point of her song was the level of indifference regarding the boy's death. The announcement was made in passing. The dinner table conversation was interspersed with general chit-chat while occasionally revisiting subject of Billy Joe. No one seemed too curious about the time she and Billy Joe were throwing something from the bridge. The family seemed strong enough but mildly dysfunctional.
The song was deliberately enigmatic. That's a big part of why we still discuss it decades later. I always loved it and thought Bobbie Gentry was just beautiful.
P.S. The movie had nothing to do with the original song. In typical Hollywood fashion, they crafted a story around a chart-topping song that enjoyed a bit of mystery and intrigue. Lazy Hollywood. Should have left it well enough alone.
I always thought the family dysfunction was the point of the song. The whole family seemed unaware that some kind of important relationship had developed between Billy Joe and the narrator. They are also indifferent to the obvious pain caused by the news. "What happened to your appetite?" as they try to steer her in the direction of "that nice young preacher" who's taken an interest in her. What could be more clueless than that?
There was an interview on the Johnny Carson show just before the movie came out and she said it was a doll. Don't know if that in reference to the movie or the song though.
i thought the movie's dialogue was stilted and awful
Bobby threw her childhood doll same bridge Bobbie threw himself after having sex with a man. Bobbie was her boyfriend.
I loved this song and what 13 year old girl didn't want to grow up looking like Bobbie Gentry!
Gentry refused to explain the song. She said questions about what was thrown off the bridge distract from the main point, which was the indifference of the family to Billy Joe's fate, except on the part of the narrator. btw Gentry is believed to still be alive, but she has not appeared in public in nearly 40 years!
She was once married to Jim Stafford, and had a son with him
unless you live on the same street as her .... hint Tennessee
Yeah... we know where she lives... but she doesn’t want it public...
Lot's of people have asked the question "what got thrown?" Another question is " why did Billy Joe jump? "
Maybe Bobby is hanging out with Harper Lee in seclusion.
Did it look like Billy Joe? Maybe Chron? I hear he wanted a transfer from river styx.
One of the most well-written, most influential song in modern history and I haven't heard it in years. Thank you. Thank you.
I totally agree.
She said it was a study in “ unconscious cruelty”.
I've always considered this song a piece of southern gothic. It's a mystery, similar to "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia."
Well said !
I was a young man when this song came out and was mesmerized like a lot of other people by the story, and especially the narrative singing by Bobby. Sort of like Mr. Bojangles, another great story song. I wasn''t stuck on trying to solve the mysteries of the story. The mysteries unexplained where what helped it to be a hit. I strongly encourage you to do this reaction video over, this song deserves your best efforts, because it strongly addresses the Christian principle of caring for others. I was a minister for over forty years.
Amen
Mr Bojangles is an awesome song
It's one of those songs that the older I get the more I appreciate the richness of the story telling.
That lady was the whole package. Beautiful, smart and talented. She also wrote the song Fancy, made famous by Reba McIntire
She also wrote and sang "Fancy" that Reba had a hit with.
Yes, live performance on Johnny Cash show....
Riding the Road really?
Riding the Road Reba’s “Fancy” Didn’t do the song any justice.
Wow !!! I didn't know that. I love both these strong, independent, talented & beautiful women❤
I was 16 when i first heard this song in the mid nineties, I was 16, My big brother had this song I just had to hear, This singer has such a haunting voice. So beautiful. There are some people who think they were throwing a stillborn baby off the bridge.
Did you watch the movie?
@@jessiesstuff6453 I never knew there was a movie until very recently
In the movie it's a doll, could be a symbol for a still born. Could also be a promise ring.
As for the movie, Billy Joe might be considered homophobic today!
But Bobby Gentry has said that this is just a fictional story.
@@lukebourke8292 most definitely probably will be today.
That makes good sense. Who knows?
One of my favorite songs. Bobby Gentry was a great song wtiter.
this song is often described as "Southern Gothic"; to me, it has that odd but interesting combo of catchy guitar riffs with
darker lyrics
I would rather there had been a book written about the story more so than the movie they did. I didn't care for their explanation. A book with the right author....southern gothic perfection.
Thanks for reacting to Ode to Billy Joe. 😁
Song released 1967. Movie 1976.
The movie was directed/produced by Max Baer, aka Jethro Bodine
WWWWOOOOOOWWWWW! The arrangement and her talent shown through anything that may have gone wrong. I didn't even notice until you came in. This was FANTASTIC!
Many interpretations think it was a baby that they threw off the bridge, and Billy Joe committed suicide after he realized what he had done.
Thats exactly what I've thought all these years. Maybe the baby was stillborn or it was a miscarriage
I thought that aswelll but Maybe it was a ring, he couldnt take the rejection
There was actually a real story years ago in NJ of a teen couple killing their newborn.
I always thought it was the remains of a baby and that Billy Joe jumped because he couldn't handle being gay. But the two events together don't make sense.
@@jeffjames4064That sounds more like the movie (Billy Joe being gay). Personally, I go with the idea that they killed their baby because they couldn't deal with the shame of having a baby out of wedlock. We are talking the deep south in the mid 20th century. Billie Joe then committed suicide because he could not deal with the guilt of having murdered his child.
You might want to check out One Tin Soldier by Coven. It was in the movie "The Legend of Billy Jack."
Indeed!
Just watch the version that has the Billy Jack movie clips...it's a far more powerful version with the video
It's a mystery. Bobby leaves it to your imagination as to what was thrown off the bridge. I don't think Bobby has ever actually explained what she meant.
She never explained what was thrown from the bridge, but she did explain what the song meant.
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.”
Many conversations over what was thrown off the tallahatchie bridge.Such a good song and great singer
yup, based on what I recall and what I've been able to piece together she made a deliberate choice to leave it up to the listeners imagination which naturally sparked discussion
So, in 1967, philosophy major/Gothic country singer Bobbie Gentry composes a song about a teenager who witnesses her family's and community's apathy towards the death of a local kid.
Bobbie happens to be from the same town in which Emmitt Till, an African-American child was brutally murdered and dredged up from the Tallahatchie River (an event that finally shines a national spotlight on the casual murder of black people in Mississippi) in 1955- the year she turned 13 and went to live with her mother in California.
During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, in 1967, only a month before the song was recorded (whether inspirational or not), MLK gave a speech (THE CASUALITIES OF THE WAR IN VIETNAM , February 25, 1967, which is just as relevant today as it was then, if not more so) dealing in part with the indifference of people to the Vietnam War.
I believe this song is a criticism of apathy in the wake of tragedy, and a reminder that someone is always affected. While a lot of this is speculative, the song is obviously a lot more complicated than it seems.
I'm just saying she could have picked a lot of rivers' names that were easier to work with.
Nobody knew what she and Billy Joe threw off the tallahatchie bridge. That's what made the song, nobody knew. I was a teenager when this came out and I think everybody liked it.
I'm sure the brutality of the torture and murder of Emmitt Till affected her. Now whether or not this song had anything to do with that idk, but it is a strange coincidence.
The meaning of the song was intentionally left up to the listener, so any story line you come up with is right. Some of the clues we are given is:
1. Billy Joe was from Choctaw Ridge and nothing any good came from Choctaw Ridge, so Billy Joe was obviously from the wrong side of town.
2. Billy Joe and the narrator were in some kind of relationship which made her more concerned about Billy Joe than the rest of her family. Billy Joe was forbidden fruit that her family would have opposed any relationship.
There was a movie(same title as the song) made based on this song in the 1970s. Bobby Gentry is also the original singer of the song "Fancy" that was covered by Reba McEntire.
And Cher
@@audreyorozco1280 What about Cher?
@@linkfromhyrule5504 She also covered Fancy.
@@sounder9393 Oh, I didn't know that. I may have check Cher's version one day.
In the movie it is inferred that he jumped because he had had a Sexual Encounter with a Man
Classic example of "Southern Gothic" story telling in a song. You can almost feel what it must have been like in post WWII rural Mississippi. My great-grandparents are from that state and while I've never been I definitely want to see it one day.
Most people guess it was a baby, a ring, or some other symbol of secret love that dropped into the dark water, though Gentry repeatedly said that question missed the point, which was indifference. “This boy’s death did not get his neighbors involved,” she explained at the time. She explained that the object thrown off the bridge was just a way to establish motivation for Billie Joe’s suicide. “I left it open so the listener could draw his own conclusion.”
Another similar song is "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C Riley. I hope you give it a reaction.
Oh yes. Harper Valley PTA is great. And just an example of life to this day.
Not alike at all. One speaks of women’s empowerment and ends on a high note. The other is slower, sadder, and ends with questions and sadness.
Tom T Hall wrote Harper Valley PTA (actually an entire album of songs on the theme of Harper Valley PTA) for Jeannie C Riley when, as I heard it, she requested a song like Ode To Billy Joe. The whole album is great.
I was just about to ask him to do that one.
I was just going to say this. Another story telling song from my youth. If you enjoy those types of songs The Raconteurs did a wonderful one called Carolina Drama, which I love.
Summer of '67, this, Brown Eyed Girl and Sgt. Peppers were all over the radio.
Michael Cooper Good Vibrations too.
Sgt. peppers on blotter dot is wild stuff. Really expands ones horizons.
THIS SONG WON SONG OF THE YEAR IN 1968. SHE WAS A WONDERFUL SINGER/ SONGWRITER. SHE ALSO WROTE "FANCY" , AND RECORDED IT. LATER REBA MCINTYRE RECORDED IT WITH MUCH ACCLAIM. SHE WAS ALSO A VERY SAVVY BUSINESS WOMAN. SHE FORMED HER OWN PRODUCTION COMPANY AND RECORDING STUDIO. SHE WON 3 GRAMMIES FOR THIS SONG BUT 7 TOTAL GRAMMIES FOR OTHER WORKS. SHE IS AND WAS A VERY BIG DEAL. I LOVE HER SOUTHERN GOTHIC SOUND. IT IS ACTUALLY SOUTHERN BLUES! GREAT!!!
I was eleven years old when this song came out. I thought that they threw their baby off the bridge. I was too young to realize that couldn't be it. I Loved the song and singing along to it. The real message of the song is how the family nonchalantly discusses suicide. Knowing that made the song even more special and sad to me.
That’s the mystery of the song!
Great tune, great accent and just a beautiful haunting track 😊
Did you know that Bobbi was married to Jim Stafford, the singer of the song you reacted to last night ''wildwood weed'' and I know that at one time she was the part owner of the Phoenix Suns here in Arizona.
" I Don't Like Spiders & Snakes" LOL! I had that on a K-Tel record mix of hits! I believe it also had " Knock 3 Times" . Played in my basement record player just like that 70s Show~ Ha! Bobbie was a stone FOX!
Wow. That's a moment of trivia. Did not know she was married to him Stafford. Nor that she was part of a professional sports team. That's cool.
Oh man this is an old one...I remember singing this while I was fishing with my dad...I didn't know, then, I couldn't sing a note. LOL
My dad must have loved me cuz he listened to me sing all day and never said a bad word about my singing.lol ❤
Hi Suzie, your name is famous in a reggae song by Jacob Miller, the title of the song, "Suzy Wong". Check it out👍🏾
@@raymondsemper5161 I haven't been on line for awhile.
I just saw your comment and I didn't know that! I definitely will look up the song!👍👍👍
@@suziewong2181 hi Suzie, I think you'll like the song. It's a old song, late 70's or early 80's. I live in London, England, do you live in the States?
@@raymondsemper5161 That was a cute and fun song! Thank you for telling me about it.
London is lovely! Yes, I do live in the States...I live in L.A. but not in the city proper. I live in Northridge California on the far north east side of the county. A mostly quiet neighborhood with small homes built in 1951...they did well in the earthquakes so far.
I really should get Earthquake Insurance though. Things have been very busy and I never find the time during working hours to call around. Unfortunately all the insurance is expensive and only covers 80% but it's better than nothing.
Thank you again and have a lovely day/night.⚘
@@suziewong2181 cool Suzie😎👍🏾
@Modern Renaissance Man , Bobbie Gentry came to the deep south from CA with her demo. CA wouldn't play it- reason: too country. She walked in to my father's radio station when he was on air. She had a guitar on her back and demo in hand. Daddy saw her and said he'd give it a spin right then. Fans called in and asked for more play.
Daddy called some friends in the business. "Ode To Billie Joe" went stratospheric. My father received a gold 45 and mahogany plaque for "breaking" the single. Of course he asked her questions all of us still want to know. At the time, she kept quiet.
She was savvy, sexy, Southern, sophisticated and a shrewd businesseswoman.
They remained friends until she passed.
I think once "Fancy" got that "Georgia mansion", she knew the days of hunger were long gone.
Miss Gentry loved to shop. Folks who come out of poverty are often given to do that.
Daddy and I had passes before the film's release. Seeing it was a mistake. I was too young to understand and my father was shaken visibly.
The movie was *not true*, though some elements are historically accurate. It is important for folks to remember that when breaking it down.
The whole Truth went to the grave with Miss Gentry. That's good for business in perpetuity.
Bobbie Gentry is such a beautiful woman, and a massively talented musician (singer, instrumentalist, writer, producer). This song/album was such a massive hit, when it came out in '67, it knocked The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album out of the #1 spot on the charts. Every track on this album sounds like they're telling different parts of a main story.
*GREAT TUNE, Ive Requested This Tune A Few Times*
Thank you for coming back and covering your reaction!
There have been theories galore over the years but the most popular was she had gotten pregnant but had a stillborn and that is what they tossed over the Tallahatchie Bridge. But it has never been explained.
Except in the movie it was a rag doll, meant to symbolize the character's "throwing off" their childhood and moving towards adulthood.
Watch the movie. And it's not a true story.
@@jessiesstuff6453 The movie isn't a reflection of the artist's intent. Bobby has declined to say for sure what was thrown off the bridge, leaving it up to the listener to decide, and also because it wasn't the point of the song. The movie just went Hollywood with it.
this was my thinking too. that she miscarried early on. before she got big enough for people to notice.
@Cal Bowman didn't destroy the song for me. I have my own interpretation of it. Someone else's matters not to me.
I'm from Mississippi and I have never known what it was!
We have been wondering what was thrown of the bridge since the song first came out.
My father was in WWII. Back then the guys from Appalachia wore their first pair of shoes when they entered the army. However, what they knew was music. When Ode to Billy Joe came out, my father was more than familiar with those type of songs. They were called mountain talkies or hillbilly talkies. All those Appalachian guys sang/ talked those songs all the time. There's nothing revolutionary or new about Ode to Billy Joe. Now, this form of talkie ballad is to be found way up in the hills/mountains that are known as hollers. They are, or used to be, inaccessible by vehicles. These guys lived in four-walled shacks that were made out of whatever materials they could find. I spent 2 years there back in the early '70's. In those days not much had changed since the 1940's. They have since, though. Bobbie Gentry definitely had in mind what Billie Joe and Bobby Gentry threw off the bridge. That's the point of the song, not people's indifference. The story is building and reaches its crescendo when Bobby Gentry is throwing flowers into the muddy waters of the river. The talkie is a story; it's not an abstract moral tale. The final scene concludes the story which is a mystery though the hint is given in the final scene. It may be Bobbie Gentry's song, but, she's not coming clean.
Noone knows what they threw off the bridge, but I always thought it was their stillborn baby, and that Billy Joe jumped because he was overwhelmed with guilt and grief.
People have been wondering what was thrown off the bridge since the song came out 50+ years ago.
It was a rag doll that she carried around and Billy was trying to in essence make her grow up.
This song still gives me the goose bumps!!
I don't believe it's ever really been definitely confirmed what was thrown, but I believe it POSSIBLY alludes to a baby? In any event, since I was a kid, it was always one of those haunting ones that make you listen and contemplate what you hear. A great, but somber melody.
So glad you played this song. Another great singer from Mississippi. I definitely remember this song. Have been listening to it lately. Love the old songs. I definitely remember watching this movie. I don't understand why people don't know why things happened. This is what I remember from the movie. They through a Ray doll off the bridge. It had a name but I can't remember it. The reason Billy Joe jumped off the bridge is because he was at a party some where. He was drinking. Got drunk and woke up with another man. It drove him crazy. He couldn't live with that. So sad. His girlfriend left town for a while and people thought she was pregnant but she wasn't. She and Billy Jo really loved each other. This movie was set in Mississippi up North in the Delta 1953. Any questions do some research. That's what I remember.
Vintage Pop, love Bobby Gentry's vocals and your IRIE reaction MRM! 🤩👍
I was around 16 when this song came out, and I always thought an engagement ring was thrown off the bridge. Billy Joe jumped because he was heartbroken. People around that table seemed so cold and unfeeling. Someone you know commits suicide, and it’s remarked on like it’s as common as those black eye peas.
It's not about what was dropped off of the bridge. It's about the disconnect and unconscious cruelty shown at the dinner table.
She retired from the music industry many, many years ago and refuses to give interviews or “do a comeback”. What a rare classy singer - never selling out or performing beyond her peak. She also had a number one hit single in Britain in 1969 with the Hal David/Burt Bacharach song “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”.
You are clearly new to Bobbie Gentry’s music but good on you for giving her music a spin.
People have speculated for years about what they threw off the bridge. Most people think it was a still born baby.
Everybody wants to know what they threw off that bridge. It's never been explained. A mystery.
It’s been rumored that she had many more verses to this song butt the record company said it was to long. At least 8 to 12 verses. The song is a mystery.
Always liked this song, and "Fancy" too. She had a soft, soothing voice, and told compelling stories in her songs.
She told everyone! Flowers!!! there is a southern legend about throwing flowers off a bridge. anyone from the south should know this.
I believe what was thrown off the bridge was love letters. But the main point was the indifference of the family in the young man’s death.
Great live acoustic performance by her. It's really no wonder they made a movie from this song! Her story telling in this tune is phenomenal! Her guitar playing, her vocal delivery, the visuals just run through your mind as she's singing it.
Don't they though. Get Goosebumps all these years later
I've been listening to this song literally all my life-1 was 7 when it came out! I have always listened to the "words" of a song as much as the rhythm and beat. The meaning TO ME is what makes me fall in Love with ALL KINDS of music. Bobbi Gentry had a specific goal in mind when she wrote ODE TO BILLY JOE just like every other artist-musician,author of literature, art, etc. For Heaven's Sake! She gave us a BEAUTIFUL WORK OF ART that will last forever! To be played for ages in Universities and Schools for students to listen to, tear apart the meaning and discuss the imagery, or to just emulate her vocals or masterful guitar play. I don't mind other's options to things I enjoy but why beat it in the ground or get ugly w/one another! If you want to debate, go back to COLLEGE, You can still enroll even if you are my age and older! Heck, go just to be an observer, I'm sure they will welcome some of your comments! But please stop trying to put an end to the song and if you really love it, ENJOY LISTENING TO IT! PERIOD!! That's all I got to say❣
This was a song that told a story about a young girl from Mississippi delta, her family that were farmers, and a local boy named Billy Joe McAlister, and there was a movie made in 1975-76 based on the song. It starred Robbie Benson, (who did the voice for the Beast in Disney's animated 'Beauty and the Beast), and Glynnis O'Conner. The movie gives the whole backstory to Billy Joe's suicide. Fairly decent movie for the times. I always liked this song. Was a teen when the movie came out. Ode To Billy Joe (1976) Official Trailer - Robby Benson, Glynnis O'Connor Movie HD.
This song, to my 11-yr-old ears way back then, because musically has from my early childhood had a powerful effect on me, was like an arrow into my heart, my soul, my bone marrow.
There's been a lot of speculation of what this song meant and a movie was made and a book too, I think. But my own interp is that the girl narrating, she's probably 12-14 years old, had a thing going with Billy Joe and got pregnant. They both knew that she couldn't bear the child--this was 1950s Mississippi, after all. So they performed an abortion, wrapped the fetus up in something and tossed it off the bridge. Later, Billy Joe was consumed with guilt and threw himself off the bridge to be with the child he felt he had murdered leaving the girl behind to make some kind of sense of it all. What makes the song so powerful is that the story she is telling us in real time. The first time the girl finds out that Billy Joe was dead was at the dinner table when mama announced it. She doesn't react outwardly but she can't eat another bite. And she'll never be able to tell anyone what really happened.
I use to love to drive to Mrytle Beach (SC) on Hwy 9 (the old way) and listen to this one. I would wind that tape back and forth over and over. Back roads of SC just seem like the perfect setting of "Ode"
Bobbie Gentry also wrote and recorded the song “Fancy” which was later recorded by Reba McEntire! Reba said she always loved the song!
When I was a little girl Bobbie Gentry had her own show on tv with different guests. I loved her and would sit in front of the tv and tell my Mom I wanted to be like Bobbie Gentry when I grow up. I was about six I had long dark hair and I would ask my Mom to "Do my hair like Bobby Gentry".
There is a recording I saw with writing on it said she Bobby Gentry stated the song was something of a "study in unconscious cruelty;" in other place I picked up that it was a fictional song but she had been thinking of "Emmett Till, who was murdered and his body was thrown into the Tallahatchie River. Bobby was going to school and studying philosophy when the song was written. Her family could of talked about the young black youth the 14 year old Emmett Till" who was brutally murdered for basically just talking to a "Young White Woman" it happened in that area where they lived. Upon reflection I could see how this could be about that event, although Bobby Gentry said it was Fiction but based in some truth! Has anyone else found same information?Awesome song. Today we can compare what she says about Daddy dying from a virus and her Momma doesn't want to do anything! A song about death and the feelings and memories it brings about the ones lost.
Thank you! I feel like I requested that you watch this months ago and I've been waiting.
If i did in fact request this song it was for the story telling and the famly discussing what happened over a meal. Which alot of families do when they hear news about someone they know.
I remember when this song when it came out.Great songwriting.Flowers never no mystery to those of us that knew the Indian legend.flowers flowing backwards means true love.
The ambiguity and mystery is what makes this song so fascinating
I said dork in a loving way. Ode to Billy Joe was made into a movie back in the 70's with the young actor Robbie Bensen (Benson). I remember his face on Tiger Beat magazine.
He teaches theater now at some small college out west (Idaho, ?somewhere, I think?) I had his posters next to David & Donny's from said Tiger beat! lol!
julie avila Robby Benson was also the voice of the beast in Disney animated beauty and the beast
Robbie Benson was also in in the movie Ice Castles, also in the mid 1970s
@@watcherwlc53 " Looking thru ..(sniffle 😢) the eyes..😭( she went BLIND, ya'll!).. of love..🎶
Don't know how this guy has never heard many of these songs. Judging by the brothers age, didn't they watch tv on crappy days we couldn't go outside. I watched this movie, over and over. I was a grown before I understood what happened in the movie. He threw her doll ( a treasured rag doll she loved). He committed suicide because he had "been with a man".
We didn't have a TV or Radio. Don't assume everyone had everything or access to everything that you did.
Have loved this song since I first heard it, I was probably 5 and remember hearing it on the radio one day when my Dad was taking me to school it had such a haunting melody and it is still on my play list today. Thx for the song good way to start a Friday memories of my Dad and Bobby Gentry...♡
My Mama played this song for me as a child and at 13 she rented the movie for me watch..fell in love with both
The bridge is real, there are directions online that tell how to find it on Google Map. And I've done so. And I think it's the actual bridge in the video (99.99 percent sure)
However, the story isn't real. But plenty of stories like it are.
I've heard the song since I was a kid. It came out the year I was born actually. I didn't pay much attention to it for years though. But I thought about it later when I got older. It wasn't till long after I'd figured out the meaning that I saw the movie, which interpreted it all wrong.
The movie says it was a gay thing. There's, of course, nothing whatsoever in the song to suggest that. It's just a fake movie invention.
The song is clearly about two teenagers who fall in love. She gets pregnant, gives birth, and in a panic because of the imminent scandal, either they deliberately kill the baby, or "accidentally/on purpose" allow the baby to die from a sort of spur of the moment "panicked neglect, coupled with ignorance" of what you're supposed to do to help a baby continue to live after birth.
Later they throw the baby, likely wrapped in a bundle, off the Tallahatchee Bridge. And unbeknownst to them at time, they are observed.
Teenaged Billy Joe can't take the guilt and commits suicide a few days later. Throwing himself into the same water he threw his baby.
The female narrator, when she is told of his death, immediately knows the reason, and immediately turns white as a sheet and loses her appetite.
Then, later, as her family disintegrates for unrelated reasons, she spends her time up on the bridge, throwing flowers she's picked, into the watery grave below of both her baby and boyfriend. She can't tell anyone anything about it for life. And no one will ever know why she does this. Because her romance with Billy Joe was a secret they both kept because of her pregnancy.
To me, this is the most logical story that is supported by "all" the clues in the song, taken as a whole.
Country music, and folk music (like this) a subgenre of country, is full of mysterious stories, both real and invented, or real, but altered to improve the song. Stories, that the listener must figure out from the clues that are laid between the lines. A lot of the time much crucial detail is in "how" something is said, rather than specifically "what" is said. As well as what is "not" said...the things that would have been in a story, but are left out, can also be "part of the story", because it's avoided deliberately in a telling way.
Country music, the REAL stuff, is more intelligent than rock, including the Beatles music, by far. And I love Beatles music. But Golden Era Country (60s, 70s and some 80s, and a small amount of 90s), is even far more intelligent than the Beatles, etc, in the rock world. And that's saying something!
The melodies or instrument choices were not quite as innovative, but the stories and other types of country songs, were as intelligent as a miniature version of a Shakespearean play. And this song, reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, is a prime example of one that is.
Not Applicable The Beatles are overrated IMHO.
My thoughts exactly on this song! The preachers kid that saw them throwing the baby off of the bridge sounds like some weird stalker that was following her around. Her fathers death was her payback for her actions.
I've fished underneath that bridge many times. It's no longer in use but it's still there I think.
Oh come on even if it was stillborn and a secret they'd surely bury the baby somewhere secret you wouldn't throw it of a bridg like a price of garbage for god sake get real people imagine the sadness involved no way would you just toss it like the
This song has been covered over 200 times, sold over 50 million records and won the grammy hall of fame award in 1999. It charted on all major charts, #1 pop( four weeks) # 5 adult contemporary, #17 country and #8 r&b. Bobbie was the first white female to achieve a self penned top ten r&b hit. It would take Teena Marie and a decade and a half later to duplicate the feat. In 1967 alone ,it was covered 8 times. King Curtis and The Kingpins took their instrumental version to #26 pop and #6 r&b becoming their biggest hit sense Memphis Soul Stew. . It was the #1 song of 1967, the #3 single of the year and the album of the same name was the fourth best selling album of 1967 : going #1 on the Billboard top 200 album chart( two weeks) displacing The Beatles, St. Pepper album. Bobbie Gentry's 1967 debut received a staggering 10 grammy nominations( 8 for her in all major categories) and nominations for best engineered recording and best arrangement. Bobbie won three grammys and Jimmie Haskell won the grammy for best arrangement of this classic song.
It was the keys to his '55 Corvette that she tossed off the bridge!
Bobby Gentry was from the Delta. She was so talented and smart, and deep dead gorgeous. Songwriter, musician, singer, promoter, manager and beauty queen. She was the entire ball of wax.
The best country song ever recorded.
This song sort of parallels on several points the other song you recently "reacted" to, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". It is a story in song form (it may or may not be about an actual incident), it is really just a simple song with few musical variations (what some might call "repetitive"), and it has a kind of eerie creepiness. In this instance, it's created by the orchestration.
This song is a favorite of mine. The cadence of the lyrics is so engaging that it's hard for me to even listen to the story. In fact, after all of these years I'm not sure I know what the story is except that it's about a murder. The melody is simple, but it has an interesting musical chorus culminated with the lyric about the Tallahatchie Bridge. As stated, the orchestration is what is so interesting about the song, and it gives the song its life.
She was about 17 when she recorded it, a little genuis
She was 26 when she recorded it. She was born in 1942 and recorded it in 1968.
Loved the song and the movie "ode to billy joe" with Glynis O' Connor and Robby Benson, always stuck with me, a great movie from the early 70's
Everybody gets hooked on what was thrown off the bridge. The song is about the family dynamics of the girl at the table. Her family didn't know that she was in a relationship with Billy Joe. And yes she was the one seen on the bridge with Billy Joe before he died. The girl never says a word while at the table as her family talks about the event of Billy Joe's passing as they pass the food around and act as if it's just another small event in the town. There is a big disconnect with the family. The girl was in shock and in mourning while her family was thinking about finishing the chores on the family farm. Then the story jumps to a year later finding that the father had passed away, the mother went into deep depression, the son had moved away... and the girl still continues to go to Choctaw Ridge to pick flowers....
Even legend Dolly Parton looked up this legend !!
As waves of nostalgia wash over me...
In the movie, made back in the 70s, it was a ragdoll named Benjamin that fell off the Bridge during an argument between Between Billy Joe and Bobbi.
She is throwing flowers into the water for Billy Joe.
I had forgotten how superb this song was. This is pure Americana and one the greatest songs ever written. It belongs in the Smithsonian or wherever they exalt and preserve cultural treasures.
I've always loved this song, for me it's very visual I can see in my mind the family coming in through the back door washing their hands and setting at the table passing the food around and having this conversation. As for what was thrown off the bridge Bobby has kept that a secret.
Heard this literally the first time in 1967 while my family was eating dinner, yes we had blackeye peas, biscuits. I’m a southerner myself from Louisville Ga. Billy Joe And The Female we’re lovers. Symbolism is that Billy Joe did something in the eyes of her that he couldn’t reveal and was ashamed of.
This song and its story telling has always left me with questions.
LOL Great job overdubbing! And finally someone reacted to a song that is older than me! :) Great song! loved this when I was a kid and still love it today.
Great story song, great vocal story telling. And she wrote and produced most of her stuff
The song is a Masterpiece of storytelling. it's about the indifference to the death of Billy Joe, there's still more ploughing to be done, life goes on ...
Bobby Gentry went to UCLA and studied philosophy. One of the points she made about this song was that it was a case study of unintentional cruelty. There’s a casual indifference of each persons behavior regarding a tragic suicide as they “pass the biscuits” or “have another slice of apple pie” while the narrator sits and mourns the loss of her friend. More to the point is her role on what happened on that bridge.
There was a movie made of this. I loved her singing, storytelling, accoustic guitar and her Father's talking about his problems. lol.