Wow. You hit the meaning of this song right on the head. Most reactors don't pick up on it. She was singing about the lackadaisical attitude the family has about Billy Joe's suicide, not knowing that she's was involved with Billy Joe and is grieving.
@@scoobysnacks Exactly. They were in a secret relationship likely because she knew her father didn't think much of Billy Joe, so wouldn't have approved of nor allowed the relationship. It could very well be what drove Billy Joe to the suicide her father spoke so casually of. The irony. Another hint was when her mom asked her what had happened to her appetite. Many Southern cooks will spend hours and hours cooking really delicious meals. If someone is around that and not eating anything, something has GOT to be bothering that person. Not a true story, by the way. Totally fiction. Captivating, tragic and chilling, but fiction, even though I'm sure this same fictional story, or some variations of it, has played out in the lived of some.
I was 13 years old in Atlanta when this song came out. It captivated all of us. There were debates over why Billie Joe committed suicide. I think most of us thought there was a child born out of wedlock which was thrown into the river. But it was fiction. It was a very very southern song, but it was very universal.
I've loved this song for years. It always chokes me up. We all know that casual dinner conversation where tragedy is mentioned among the eating and we all move on. Her family were mostly unaware of her relationship with Billy Joe and the conversation swirled around her as she silently grieved. I don't think it is a true story, although it sure feels true as she sings it
I have sung this song throughout my life since I was a teenager. I was born in 1960 and remember it well . The way I understood the story was a Love story between Billy Joe McAllister and the girl at the family table....the secret she was carrying was WHAT she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge ( before he eventually took his own life off that bridge.) Think about it and listen to the words closely. Remember...they were LOVERS in secret and together threw something over into the river from that bridge. They lived in a time of hard work in the south in a religious tight community where everyone knew everyone. My understanding is she got pregnant ( her biggest secret )... now listen to the song again 😊👍👍👍
This was a smash hit number one record. The story was open for interpretation and captured the imagination of millions, literally millions. Thanks for the thoughtful reaction.
Or their grimly practical "life must go on" stoicism, resignation vis-a-vis a tragedy, likely as they'd experienced the like before ... and afterward after Papa dies from an unforeseen virus contagion, "Mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything." And besides Billy Joe's suicide, the song is about the singer character grieving what she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge, their secret, society forbidden newborn baby. Instrumentally at the song end the violins beautifully mimic the slow spiral down of the memorial flowers the singer mournfully tosses into the river at the bridge where both Billy Joe and their baby had drowned. While the narrative never expressly says what the "something" was that she and Billy Joe had tossed down, the circumstances imply it.
She makes this sound like it really did happen but it didn’t. Bobbie Gentry is an incredible lady. She quit music when she was at the top too. I would love to meet her in person.
It's actually not a true story at all, although she said there was a haunting murder of a 14-year-old boy in the area at that time that provided some inspiration. I have to say, it was fun to watch you discover this timeless pop jewel from the 60s. The song actually knocked two Beatles songs out of the top spot. What a voice on this gal. Thanks for sharing this!
The distinction is really that she produced her own songs. There were many women who wrote their own music in the 60’s. Loretta Lynnn wrote “You Ain't Woman Enough” (1966), “Don't Come Home a Drinkin'” (1966), “What Kind of Girl (Do You Think I Am)” (1967), “Fist City” (1968), “Your Squaw Is on the Warpath” (1968). Dolly Parton was a prolific songwriter as well.
She was singing a story from the perspective of the girl singing a song about herself, having had a secret love affair with Billy Joe, a local teenager. This girl singing the song is heartbroken and grieving about Billy Joe having killed himself as her family talk about it, and gossip and speculate about it. Did she and Billy Joe have a baby in secret, maybe still born, and they threw it off the bridge into the river and that's what the preacher saw? Watch the movie, it's a good one, a little dark, but a good story. The Choctaw Indians were native to Mississippi way back when, thus the Indian names of places, rivers, etc in the song.
I think that's how it was intended to be interpreted. But the movie went somewhere else with it. The girl in the song was a virgin. Billy Joe was seduced by the preacher when they were both drunk, and committed suicide over guilt from that. Nobody knew the preacher was gay, and she felt burdened to keep that secret, although the entire town thought she was pregnant by him. So at the end, she was leaving town for a while, to let them think she either had an abortion or went to a home for unwed mothers.
Thank you for your selection of Bobbie Gentry's music. That bass fiddle playing the falling leaves is haunting, giving me goosebumps! Love Bobbie. I was 18 when this song was first released, I will be 75 in July, 2023.💚💙💜
I saw Bobbie on a talk show after this song was released. She was asked about the inspiration for the song. She said she was talking on the phone, and started writing random things. (She did that instead of doodle like most people.) When she finished the conversation, she had written, "Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge". She said she thought "that would make a good song". So she wrote one.
Yes, it was not a true story, though many assume it is at first listen. I wish I could hear the verses that she cut because the producers thought it was too long.
I was around when this song hit the top 10 charts. But something that didn’t come up was that it hit the Pop music charts. We didn’t listen to country music at my house, but this song was *always* on the radio. It was in Billboard’s top 10 pop music chart, and the R&B top 10! Ode to Billy Joe was a ballad, and ballads were really starting to come in strong.
I’ve watched a few of these reaction videos to this song, and there’s a mistake I’ve seen made on a couple of them. What papa says at the dinner table is that “Billie Joe never had a lick of sense”. This is a common phrase in the South and Midwest (my mother, aunts and grandmother have all used it while speaking of me!) It is easy to mis-hear it as “Billie Joe never had liquor since…”. Another misinterpretation I’ve seen repeated is that the boy and girl were there together when he jumped; I believe the timeline is that the boy and girl were seen there together by that nice young pastor last week, and that “they were throwing something off the Tallahatchee bridge”, and then today Billie Joe jumped off that same bridge. In an earlier version of the song, in a verse not sung in this version, there’s a local girl who’s been “acting real sad since…”. Friggin great tune. A lesson in storytelling.
I was 20 when this song was released. It captured my imagination and my heart. I think you can equate this song to a parable. It tells a haunting story while teaching people to be less callous in their judgement of others… in other words to have a kinder heart. Millions of people have listened to this song over the years, I hope they have been able to understand it’s message and make changes in how they regard the people in their lives, if the lesson is applicable to them. I know it has been an important lesson in my life. Everyone has there own interpretation of the story, which is a stroke of genius by Bobby Gentry. As we each tend to judge people in a different way, the story line takes on our own prejudices and mirrors them back to us, hopefully with enough strength to make us want to make changes in ourselves. Please forgive me for rambling on. This song has always meant so much to me and I have had very few chances to share my thoughts about it. Thank you for this opportunity. You did a wonderful response and I think if you have enjoyed it enough to play it for yourself in private, it will mean more and more to you each time you hear it…you really seem to be that kind of person. Peace and love…
I love that a young man such as yourself is able to appreciate, and enjoy music from generations before you. Thank you for the trip down memory lane ♥️♥️♥️♥️
I'm 62 and remember from childhood the song on the radio. During the '70s, there was a movie, "Ode To Billy Joe", starring Robbie Benson. The movie has its own take on what happened and why. I've seen the movie on TV 2 or 3 times over the years and enjoyed it.
Hear her sincerity? You don’t play like that, sing like that, or make faces like that, unless you KNOW tragedy and sorrow. I hope you have listened to this in full and spent a little bit of time with it in your head Mugnify. It’s a true story and still very relevant. I haven’t seen the movie plan on NOT seeing the movie. I know what happened. I don’t need a movie producer’s fake interpretation. • FOR ONE, people usually tend to climb OVER barriers on bridges when they want to plunge to their death. Not THROUGH the barrier on the bridge. (The bridge Bobbie Gentry was walking on in the video was the Tallahatchie bridge. See the big hole in the barrier?) • She and Billie Joe were childhood sweethearts. • It became more but they kept it their own secret. • She became pregnant with their baby. • In that small part of the country, in that particular time period, you DO NOT become with child while still a child! Life and survival was hard enough for your parents, without a bad reputation. • Woops. Lucky for her she was skinny enough to be able to hide a pregnancy to full term. • Billie Joe was at the saw mill to make a tiny casket. • She and Billie Joe had talked about their plan after church last Sunday night. • They disposed of the newborn over the bridge together. (TRY NOT TO JUDGE. It still happens every single day in this country. That’s why there are posters posted in bathrooms with a phone number for terrified girls to be able to surrender their baby, no questions asked.) • The preacher witnessed it. • DADDY STOPPED PLOWING AND WENT AND KILLED THAT BOY FOR GETTING HIS DAUGHTER PREGNANT. • He was 5 whole acres behind on his work. • The man that was the love of her life, who was the only one who knew what she had just been through and stuck by her,,, was within a second, GONE. • She was in shock, which is why the story is described in a surreal way because she was frozen. She was watching an absurd scenario and time stopped. • THE WHOLE FAMILY KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON, BUT THAT WOULD BE CROSSING THE LINE AND UNACCEPTABLE TO SPEAK OF. If you don’t say it out loud, it didn’t happen. • Momma is in hopes she might date the preacher. • Then her brother moved away, her daddy died, her mother went into a deep depression, AND she lost the love of her life and the only child she might ever have. Literally all for NOTHING. I believe Bobbie Gentry explained the song as “A study in unconcious cruelty.”
Been listening to this song for decades and it’s as profoundly haunting now as it was then. (I encourage you to listen all the way through without interruption when you get a chance. The way she tells the story you really need to hear all the words.)
Right but they all had men producing their records, they didn't start producing their own material until later in their careers. Porter Wagoner was Dolly's producer and basically employer for the early part of her career.
Bobby Gentry is an American singer-songwriter who was one of the first female artists to compose & produce her own material. A lot of her songs were stories. Her biggest hit was in 1967 with "Ode To Billy Joe". Other songs are "Mississippi Delta", "Fancy", "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", "Sunday Mornin" (with Glen Campbell) etc.
"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" and "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" were written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. "Sunday Morin'" was written by Margo Guryan.
You had to have been there to realize the power this song had when it was released. Very different from anything at the time and she was so powerful to watch.
Ode to Billy Joe is a 1976 American drama film, directed and produced by Max Baer Jr., with a screenplay by Herman Raucher, and starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. It is inspired by the 1967 hit song by Bobbie Gentry, titled "Ode to Billie Joe."
It was released in 1976. In the adaptation, the pair throw a rag doll off of the bridge, while a homosexual experience with the owner of the sawmill is established as the reason for Billy Joe's suicide. "Ode to Billie Joe" reappeared on the charts in 1976.
Women in the '60s we're allowed to have credit cards without their husband's co-signature. Writing and producing music was revolutionary. Also, she's not "country." This song was played on pop/rock channels as a type of folk music. There were no crossovers back then.
Being born in '63, I grew up to this, maybe Dad's album collection. Platters, Jim Reeves, Charlie Pride, Statler Brothers, were one of many influences on my taste And my singing! Great reaction, brother! Peace, from NC
I'm late in to comment, but I was a little girl when this song came out. I'm from close to the area she singing about. And yes, the song is about cruelty and how we treat others badly without even thinking about it. She was in love with Billy Joe. Her family didn't know. The movie is a classic masterpiece. Bobbie Gentry was beautiful, talented, kind and independent. She walked from the music industry for obvious reasons and lived a quiet life in Memphis afterwards. Thank you for posting this review. Brought back memories ❤
Back then, mental health care was not really a thing. Suicide was something shameful. It got hushed up and/or ignored. This song brought the issue into the public consciousness like it had never been before. Her commentary was about how people could casually say pass the biscuits please in the middle of talking about the death of someone they knew.
This song was first released in 1967, I was 2 years old. This song was played a lot when I was growing up, we had a few of Bobbie Gentry's albums. Fancy is another song she did, a long time before Reba McEntire recorded it. Ode To Billy Joe was also made into a movie. Bobbie Gentry was a soulful, bluesy country singer and nothing today compares to her. She was amazing. She could tell one heck of a story with her songs. Her voice is haunting, if that makes any sense. She beat the Beatles with this song!!
I've fished the Tallahatchie River my whole life. My late father in law climbed to the top of the old bridge and got one of the decorative cast iron spheres. I may or may not know where it is today. 😎 And you're absolutely right about the Indian names. ✌️
The bridge in question was a wooden bridge in Money, Mississippi which burned down in the 1970s and was replaced by a metal one. This is information that Ms. Gentry gave us. But it is 50 miles from Chocktaw Ridge which is up near Tupelo.
The music mirrors the lyrical ballad. She has perfectly presented Southern Gothic literature in a song. She has a beautiful voice, and very good control!
This song is so powerful. You can feel the trauma coming off her in waves. The shock hearing about Billy Joe and the casual conversation of the dinner table. Their general kindness and complete oblivion of the torrents tearing her heart out.
I’m from tallahatchie county, in Mississippi. I’ve always loved Ms Gentry. I read where this didn’t really happen, but she wrote it to kinda prove a point of how people were and hot they talked about things etc. I will say this, it could have very easily been true. That’s the way things go around here sometimes and especially years ago.
The movie took privileges not in the song. They had Billy Jo jumping off the bridge because he realized he was gay. Nothing was implied like that in the song.
I remember everyone was disappointed with the movie. Robbie Benson was perfect as Billy Joe, but the storyline of the movie deviated too much from the meaning of the song. The reason that Billy Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge should have probably been left ambiguous in the movie.
my Grand father loved his country music and EVERYONE in my family knows the lyrics to this song.. the whole family all came together for christmas every year (32 family members) and this song got played day and night and from Boys to the girls we all sang along word for word❤❤❤
You might also be interested in a similar song “Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” Written around the same time and performed originally by Vicki Lawrence. Vicki Lawrence was a regular on the “Carol Burnett Show”. She also had a show of her own “Mommas Family” based on a character developed on the “Carol Burnett Show” FYI: the original writer of the song says “Ode to Billy Joe” was based upon Emmett Till and what happened to him.
I'm 62 yrs. old and as a sound tech for a very very long time I can tell you what that sound is in her vocal that sounds so cool - it's a trick not used much even then and not at all now and its the fact that she is singing in a different time count then she is playing on the guitar, and yes that is and sounds cool. Awesome vid. And as for the story in the song, thats what is wrong with music of today, it has no story or feelings or true heart or soul in it, like its all just a bunch of key popular lines or phrases kinda slapped together.
This song knocked the Beatles out of the number one slot. It was not a true story. Bobbie Gentry said: The cruelty was that the family didn't realize that the daughter at the table was Billie Joe's girlfriend. The song was inspired by Emmitt Till being found in the Tallahatchie River.
Newbie here. Found you with in the ghetto. Loved seeing you love it! I knew when I saw this one you would be blown away. 70's were my Era. The best music! B safe!
The song was on the radio all the time when I was a little kid. It really is a fantastic story and it leaves lots of questions, but it is so well told. And keep in mind she is doing the most intricate and incredible phrasing with her vice while she's also playing a somewhat difficult finger-picking part on the guitar to hold down the tempo but still accommodate her phrasing. Pretty impressive. And her voice sounds awesome and the delivery is just perfect for the feeling of this song. She just drops those lines one-by-one and lets the story build itself.
Was 17 in '67, the song was on our station's small town rock. n.roll program. I had a high contrast black and white newspaper pic of her wallpaper-pasted to my wall.
If you go to that part of Mississippi it's a beautiful place, and this song still represents the area. It describes it. I love it. Thank you for reacting to this. 🤘🔥🤘🔥🤘❤️❤️❤️❤️
Im glad you're so open to things not of your particular place/time That's how I raised my sons. They're in their forties now, and often comment on how other people their age don't know about anything that came before them ☮️
It was exactly that, she was dismayed at her families casualness over a boy jumping to his death, talking about it as thu it was a weather report.She wrote the song after hearing about a death of the bridge, but in the story,she leads you to believe( if you listen) that she knew billie joe, her brother mentions seeing her with him on that very bridge throwing something off, most thank it was a doll( not a girl anymore) then the real store was of a black boy, so was she thinking of him, and how people reacted and the song leads you to feel she cared deeply for him, she goes to the bridge often to throw flowers into the water?, first love?? What made him jump if so?? Forbidden love?? Was he threatened by older brother, or( and dad) to stay away from her?? Hard to say, bobbi has been asked in interviews( she has always left it a bit of a mystery) I guess that is what also gives the song this kinda hunting trip back in time( to a different time, area). Peace all...
The thing I love most about Bobbie Gentry, her awesome talent as a songwriter-singer-musician-music producer-clothing designer-artist (she painted the covers of several albums), and I believe she choreographed at least some of her Las Vegas show. She grew up in Mississippi and its in her voice, her manner of singing, the way she phrases her songs...When I hear her sing about the south, especially this album and the Fancy album, is, I feel like I am right there. For anyone who watched this video, the song is not a true story, but even to this day people wonder what they threw off the bridge.
I was 7yo when this song came out…still love it and I wanted to be Bobbie Gentry! It’s 56yrs and we are still not sure what they threw off the bridge…she never confirmed or denied anything?????????shes 80..wow!!
"She's still around! Nice!" - In 1982, Bobbie Gentry basically said, "Bye Felecia!" to the whole business. Packed up her stuff and never appeared in public again. She doesn't do interviews. She just disappeared from the public eye. Miss Gentry is badass.
Choctaw Indians: In 1830, the Choctaw were removed by the United States from their southeastern U.S. homeland to Indian Territory that became known as the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Some of the Choctow refused to leave hiding in the Delta and swamps. My great-great-great grandmother was Choctaw. Proud of that. As Americans are a gumbo of cultures, I'm also French and Scotch-Irish.
Back in the day we loved this song so much, we also spent so much time trying to figure out what her and Billy Joe through off the Tallahitchie bridge 😮😢😊
Wow. You hit the meaning of this song right on the head. Most reactors don't pick up on it. She was singing about the lackadaisical attitude the family has about Billy Joe's suicide, not knowing that she's was involved with Billy Joe and is grieving.
Never new that. Wow. Thank you for sharing!
There is a movie made centered around this song. By the same title.
Some of this tangent in the middle of tbe song can wait .
@@scoobysnacks Exactly. They were in a secret relationship likely because she knew her father didn't think much of Billy Joe, so wouldn't have approved of nor allowed the relationship. It could very well be what drove Billy Joe to the suicide her father spoke so casually of. The irony.
Another hint was when her mom asked her what had happened to her appetite. Many Southern cooks will spend hours and hours cooking really delicious meals. If someone is around that and not eating anything, something has GOT to be bothering that person.
Not a true story, by the way. Totally fiction. Captivating, tragic and chilling, but fiction, even though I'm sure this same fictional story, or some variations of it, has played out in the lived of some.
Lots of mysteries. Did they hide a pregnancy and toss the body? baby? off the bridge the day before Billy Joe jumped?
She was more of a folk singer than country
I was 13 years old in Atlanta when this song came out. It captivated all of us. There were debates over why Billie Joe committed suicide. I think most of us thought there was a child born out of wedlock which was thrown into the river. But it was fiction. It was a very very southern song, but it was very universal.
. It could be fictional, but i still feel the song was about throwing their child off the bridge. Most of us in the 60’s believed that was the story..
Her voice is hauntingly beautiful!
It's Southern sultry.
I've loved this song for years. It always chokes me up. We all know that casual dinner conversation where tragedy is mentioned among the eating and we all move on. Her family were mostly unaware of her relationship with Billy Joe and the conversation swirled around her as she silently grieved. I don't think it is a true story, although it sure feels true as she sings it
She tells an amazing and gripping story. Her delivery is top 5 among all time country singers.
@@DL-ep5uk It doesn't matter. It is the conversation that was important. Bobby Gentry has never said. I think it was just a thing to discuss.
@@DL-ep5uk You miss the point of the song. The conversation is not nonsence. Did you not listen to what the reacter read about it?
This story has taken place in many places, in many families, races, cultures. Details get changed but it's a recurring story.
I have sung this song throughout my life since I was a teenager. I was born in 1960 and remember it well . The way I understood the story was a Love story between Billy Joe McAllister and the girl at the family table....the secret she was carrying was WHAT she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge ( before he eventually took his own life off that bridge.) Think about it and listen to the words closely. Remember...they were LOVERS in secret and together threw something over into the river from that bridge. They lived in a time of hard work in the south in a religious tight community where everyone knew everyone. My understanding is she got pregnant ( her biggest secret )... now listen to the song again 😊👍👍👍
Absolutely no one can hear this song and not be affected by it. Bobbie was an amazing singer/songwriter. Just incredible works.
So excited to see a young man interested in music from the 60's and 70's . That, in my opinion, was the greatest two decades of music ever produced.
Classic Southern Gothic. “ Pass the biscuits, please”- despite the announcement of a suicide. Brilliant!
Agree. Southern Gothislc. She is an excellent writer. She uses several literary techniques within this lyrical ballad.
This was a smash hit number one record. The story was open for interpretation and captured the imagination of millions, literally millions. Thanks for the thoughtful reaction.
The song isn't just about Billy Joe's suicide it's about the indifference shown by her family of the event with only the narrator seeming to care
Or their grimly practical "life must go on" stoicism, resignation vis-a-vis a tragedy, likely as they'd experienced the like before ... and afterward after Papa dies from an unforeseen virus contagion, "Mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything." And besides Billy Joe's suicide, the song is about the singer character grieving what she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge, their secret, society forbidden newborn baby. Instrumentally at the song end the violins beautifully mimic the slow spiral down of the memorial flowers the singer mournfully tosses into the river at the bridge where both Billy Joe and their baby had drowned. While the narrative never expressly says what the "something" was that she and Billy Joe had tossed down, the circumstances imply it.
This is not a true story, but a well-written and convincingly-delivered fiction.
A perfect example of what has been called “a study in unconscious cruelty.”
She makes this sound like it really did happen but it didn’t. Bobbie Gentry is an incredible lady. She quit music when she was at the top too. I would love to meet her in person.
It goes along with the movie of the same name. Was a hauntingly great movie. I liked it anyway. Pissed me off and made me cry.
It's actually not a true story at all, although she said there was a haunting murder of a 14-year-old boy in the area at that time that provided some inspiration. I have to say, it was fun to watch you discover this timeless pop jewel from the 60s. The song actually knocked two Beatles songs out of the top spot. What a voice on this gal. Thanks for sharing this!
I am 60 yrs old and I have always LOVED this song! I sometimes sing it at Karaoke. Great reaction and you have earned a subscription! Well done! 🥰🥰
63 here! Loved this song as a young boy! Those were the days!!!!
I'm 63 and love this song, too. My friends and I used to wonder what they threw off the bridge. We were just kids talking about this song!
Welcome to the family ❤
60 here and same!!! 😁
The distinction is really that she produced her own songs. There were many women who wrote their own music in the 60’s. Loretta Lynnn wrote “You Ain't Woman Enough” (1966), “Don't Come Home a Drinkin'” (1966), “What Kind of Girl (Do You Think I Am)” (1967), “Fist City” (1968), “Your Squaw Is on the Warpath” (1968). Dolly Parton was a prolific songwriter as well.
She was singing a story from the perspective of the girl singing a song about herself, having had a secret love affair with Billy Joe, a local teenager. This girl singing the song is heartbroken and grieving about Billy Joe having killed himself as her family talk about it, and gossip and speculate about it. Did she and Billy Joe have a baby in secret, maybe still born, and they threw it off the bridge into the river and that's what the preacher saw? Watch the movie, it's a good one, a little dark, but a good story. The Choctaw Indians were native to Mississippi way back when, thus the Indian names of places, rivers, etc in the song.
I think that's how it was intended to be interpreted. But the movie went somewhere else with it. The girl in the song was a virgin. Billy Joe was seduced by the preacher when they were both drunk, and committed suicide over guilt from that. Nobody knew the preacher was gay, and she felt burdened to keep that secret, although the entire town thought she was pregnant by him. So at the end, she was leaving town for a while, to let them think she either had an abortion or went to a home for unwed mothers.
Billy Joe was molested and to save his reputation she left town for a period of time to create the illusion of having his baby.
It’s because life goes on even though someone dies.
One of my favorites - good ‘ol days. Her voice is sultry. We’ve all speculated the meaning of this song. I say she was in love with Billy Joe.
nobody knows, not even Bobbie Gentry. she left it open for us to decide.
Thank you for your selection of Bobbie Gentry's music. That bass fiddle playing the falling leaves is haunting, giving me goosebumps! Love Bobbie. I was 18 when this song was first released, I will be 75 in July, 2023.💚💙💜
I caught the fiddle and leaves analogy too.
Her song, Fancy, is also terrific. Plus you get to see her dance.🔥💃🔥
I saw Bobbie on a talk show after this song was released. She was asked about the inspiration for the song. She said she was talking on the phone, and started writing random things. (She did that instead of doodle like most people.) When she finished the conversation, she had written, "Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge". She said she thought "that would make a good song".
So she wrote one.
True artist
Yes, it was not a true story, though many assume it is at first listen. I wish I could hear the verses that she cut because the producers thought it was too long.
What a great story teller and song writer. I believe she will forever be among the greats of music and poetry.
Country music tells stories of reality.
I was around when this song hit the top 10 charts. But something that didn’t come up was that it hit the Pop music charts. We didn’t listen to country music at my house, but this song was *always* on the radio. It was in Billboard’s top 10 pop music chart, and the R&B top 10! Ode to Billy Joe was a ballad, and ballads were really starting to come in strong.
I’ve watched a few of these reaction videos to this song, and there’s a mistake I’ve seen made on a couple of them. What papa says at the dinner table is that “Billie Joe never had a lick of sense”. This is a common phrase in the South and Midwest (my mother, aunts and grandmother have all used it while speaking of me!) It is easy to mis-hear it as “Billie Joe never had liquor since…”. Another misinterpretation I’ve seen repeated is that the boy and girl were there together when he jumped; I believe the timeline is that the boy and girl were seen there together by that nice young pastor last week, and that “they were throwing something off the Tallahatchee bridge”, and then today Billie Joe jumped off that same bridge. In an earlier version of the song, in a verse not sung in this version, there’s a local girl who’s been “acting real sad since…”. Friggin great tune. A lesson in storytelling.
This was delivered in a low voltage style - but a shocker song with a heavy dose of reality in its day, tackling a taboo subject.
I was 20 when this song was released. It captured my imagination and my heart. I think you can equate this song to a parable. It tells a haunting story while teaching people to be less callous in their judgement of others… in other words to have a kinder heart. Millions of people have listened to this song over the years, I hope they have been able to understand it’s message and make changes in how they regard the people in their lives, if the lesson is applicable to them. I know it has been an important lesson in my life. Everyone has there own interpretation of the story, which is a stroke of genius by Bobby Gentry. As we each tend to judge people in a different way, the story line takes on our own prejudices and mirrors them back to us, hopefully with enough strength to make us want to make changes in ourselves. Please forgive me for rambling on. This song has always meant so much to me and I have had very few chances to share my thoughts about it. Thank you for this opportunity. You did a wonderful response and I think if you have enjoyed it enough to play it for yourself in private, it will mean more and more to you each time you hear it…you really seem to be that kind of person. Peace and love…
I love that a young man such as yourself is able to appreciate, and enjoy music from generations before you. Thank you for the trip down memory lane ♥️♥️♥️♥️
I'm 62 and remember from childhood the song on the radio. During the '70s, there was a movie, "Ode To Billy Joe", starring Robbie Benson. The movie has its own take on what happened and why. I've seen the movie on TV 2 or 3 times over the years and enjoyed it.
Hear her sincerity? You don’t play like that, sing like that, or make faces like that, unless you KNOW tragedy and sorrow. I hope you have listened to this in full and spent a little bit of time with it in your head Mugnify. It’s a true story and still very relevant.
I haven’t seen the movie plan on NOT seeing the movie. I know what happened. I don’t need a movie producer’s fake interpretation.
• FOR ONE, people usually tend to climb OVER barriers on bridges when they want to plunge to their death. Not THROUGH the barrier on the bridge. (The bridge Bobbie Gentry was walking on in the video was the Tallahatchie bridge. See the big hole in the barrier?)
• She and Billie Joe were childhood sweethearts.
• It became more but they kept it their own secret.
• She became pregnant with their baby.
• In that small part of the country, in that particular time period, you DO NOT become with child while still a child! Life and survival was hard enough for your parents, without a bad reputation.
• Woops. Lucky for her she was skinny enough to be able to hide a pregnancy to full term.
• Billie Joe was at the saw mill to make a tiny casket.
• She and Billie Joe had talked about their plan after church last Sunday night.
• They disposed of the newborn over the bridge together. (TRY NOT TO JUDGE. It still happens every single day in this country. That’s why there are posters posted in bathrooms with a phone number for terrified girls to be able to surrender their baby, no questions asked.)
• The preacher witnessed it.
• DADDY STOPPED PLOWING AND WENT AND KILLED THAT BOY FOR GETTING HIS DAUGHTER PREGNANT.
• He was 5 whole acres behind on his work.
• The man that was the love of her life, who was the only one who knew what she had just been through and stuck by her,,, was within a second, GONE.
• She was in shock, which is why the story is described in a surreal way because she was frozen. She was watching an absurd scenario and time stopped.
• THE WHOLE FAMILY KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON, BUT THAT WOULD BE CROSSING THE LINE AND UNACCEPTABLE TO SPEAK OF. If you don’t say it out loud, it didn’t happen.
• Momma is in hopes she might date the preacher.
• Then her brother moved away, her daddy died, her mother went into a deep depression, AND she lost the love of her life and the only child she might ever have. Literally all for NOTHING.
I believe Bobbie Gentry explained the song as “A study in unconcious cruelty.”
I must have heard this song 100s of times in my life and it still make me cry. This has to be one of the most haunting songs ever written.
The strings give it a Hitchcock movie vibe. Haunting.
This is definitely one of my favorite storyteller songs. 😍 Thanks for your reaction 💖🦋
Been listening to this song for decades and it’s as profoundly haunting now as it was then. (I encourage you to listen all the way through without interruption when you get a chance. The way she tells the story you really need to hear all the words.)
Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette were all writing their songs in the 60's.
Right but they all had men producing their records, they didn't start producing their own material until later in their careers. Porter Wagoner was Dolly's producer and basically employer for the early part of her career.
This song still makes me cry after all these years.
Bobby Gentry is an American singer-songwriter who was one of the first female artists to compose & produce her own material. A lot of her songs were stories. Her biggest hit was in 1967 with "Ode To Billy Joe". Other songs are "Mississippi Delta", "Fancy", "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", "Sunday Mornin" (with Glen Campbell) etc.
I never knew she wrote Fancy or those others. TY for the info.
"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" and "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" were written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. "Sunday Morin'" was written by Margo Guryan.
That soft sharpness is called TWANG
You had to have been there to realize the power this song had when it was released. Very different from anything at the time and she was so powerful to watch.
Ode to Billy Joe is a 1976 American drama film, directed and produced by Max Baer Jr., with a screenplay by Herman Raucher, and starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. It is inspired by the 1967 hit song by Bobbie Gentry, titled "Ode to Billie Joe."
The movie took a lot of liberties with the meanings of the song. Bobby Gentry was surprised that people didn't understand *her* meaning.
You mean Jethro Bodine?
Jethro, yes!!
I’ve watched many reactions to this song, You are the only one who got the story. Excellent reaction! I’m 64 and miss the music of the 60’s and 70’s.
As a little girl I watched the movie, it was not until I watched it again when I was about 16 or 17 did I realize why Billy Joe jumped off the Bridge.
It was released in 1976. In the adaptation, the pair throw a rag doll off of the bridge, while a homosexual experience with the owner of the sawmill is established as the reason for Billy Joe's suicide. "Ode to Billie Joe" reappeared on the charts in 1976.
Women in the '60s we're allowed to have credit cards without their husband's co-signature. Writing and producing music was revolutionary. Also, she's not "country." This song was played on pop/rock channels as a type of folk music. There were no crossovers back then.
I was 13 years old when this amazing song hit the radio. IMO, it's one of the best story-telling songs ever made. Bobbie Gentry nailed it.
Bobby Gentry was hauntingly Beautiful in this song!!!!
Being born in '63, I grew up to this, maybe Dad's album collection. Platters, Jim Reeves, Charlie Pride, Statler Brothers, were one of many influences on my taste And my singing! Great reaction, brother! Peace, from NC
I'm late in to comment, but I was a little girl when this song came out. I'm from close to the area she singing about. And yes, the song is about cruelty and how we treat others badly without even thinking about it. She was in love with Billy Joe. Her family didn't know. The movie is a classic masterpiece. Bobbie Gentry was beautiful, talented, kind and independent. She walked from the music industry for obvious reasons and lived a quiet life in Memphis afterwards. Thank you for posting this review. Brought back memories ❤
I remembered all the songs you listen to great music in60 & 70 it’s great to hear them again you forget how brilliant they were
Who thinks it was a baby that they threw off the bridge? I was 10 years old when this was released..
This song takes me back aways. I was 9 years old when I first heard this song in 1967, here in Australia. Absolutely love it to this day.❤
Back then, mental health care was not really a thing. Suicide was something shameful. It got hushed up and/or ignored. This song brought the issue into the public consciousness like it had never been before. Her commentary was about how people could casually say pass the biscuits please in the middle of talking about the death of someone they knew.
This song was first released in 1967, I was 2 years old. This song was played a lot when I was growing up, we had a few of Bobbie Gentry's albums. Fancy is another song she did, a long time before Reba McEntire recorded it. Ode To Billy Joe was also made into a movie. Bobbie Gentry was a soulful, bluesy country singer and nothing today compares to her. She was amazing. She could tell one heck of a story with her songs. Her voice is haunting, if that makes any sense. She beat the Beatles with this song!!
So, that's a big thing, beating The Beatles? (lol)
You obviously don't know who the Beatles were. @@dannutley931
Soothing and sadly comforting. A little bit of the Quiet Riot. Folk singer supreme.
I've fished the Tallahatchie River my whole life. My late father in law climbed to the top of the old bridge and got one of the decorative cast iron spheres. I may or may not know where it is today. 😎 And you're absolutely right about the Indian names. ✌️
This song is basically about the family's apathy in the face of Billy Joe's suicide.
The bridge in question was a wooden bridge in Money, Mississippi which burned down in the 1970s and was replaced by a metal one. This is information that Ms. Gentry gave us. But it is 50 miles from Chocktaw Ridge which is up near Tupelo.
@@hyzercreek yes, he got the sphere in the 70's.
The music mirrors the lyrical ballad. She has perfectly presented Southern Gothic literature in a song. She has a beautiful voice, and very good control!
I remember this song as a little girl, I am 69 now and the song still gives me goosebumps, I used to think it sounded EERILY.
This song is so powerful. You can feel the trauma coming off her in waves. The shock hearing about Billy Joe and the casual conversation of the dinner table. Their general kindness and complete oblivion of the torrents tearing her heart out.
Her makeup wasn't gothic. It was a style for women to wear very heavy, dramatic eye makeup in the late sixties.
Just because I think she and Billy Joe threw a stillborn from the bridge. Always have.
I’m from tallahatchie county, in Mississippi. I’ve always loved Ms Gentry. I read where this didn’t really happen, but she wrote it to kinda prove a point of how people were and hot they talked about things etc. I will say this, it could have very easily been true. That’s the way things go around here sometimes and especially years ago.
Bobby Gentry's "Ode to Billy Joe" has always been my favorite artist.
The movie took privileges not in the song. They had Billy Jo jumping off the bridge because he realized he was gay. Nothing was implied like that in the song.
Thats disrespectful to his life I swear
I remember everyone was disappointed with the movie. Robbie Benson was perfect as Billy Joe, but the storyline of the movie deviated too much from the meaning of the song. The reason that Billy Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge should have probably been left ambiguous in the movie.
You really need to hear That’s the night the lights went out in Georgia.
I really like her voice, and remember watching 'The Bobbie Gentry Show' in the '70's, in New Zealand.
my Grand father loved his country music and EVERYONE in my family knows the lyrics to this song.. the whole family all came together for christmas every year (32 family members) and this song got played day and night and from Boys to the girls we all sang along word for word❤❤❤
My mama was a share cropper and cotton picker in the 50s.
The song and movie was inspired by the 1954 murder of Emmett Till.
Istill have the album. Always loved her music.
Bigg Bobbi Gentry fan. I was in middle school and we all knew every word to this song.❤
I was born and raised 15 miles from Choctaw County...I love the song and you have to see the movie..you will not be disappointed
Oh heck yeah. I was 12 when the song came out. Everybody was trying to figure out who Billie Joe was. Great, great song. She was amazing.
Have you watched the movie? It has Robby Benson as Billy Joe McAllister!
You might also be interested in a similar song “Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” Written around the same time and performed originally by Vicki Lawrence. Vicki Lawrence was a regular on the “Carol Burnett Show”. She also had a show of her own “Mommas Family” based on a character developed on the “Carol Burnett Show”
FYI: the original writer of the song says “Ode to Billy Joe” was based upon Emmett Till and what happened to him.
I'm 62 yrs. old and as a sound tech for a very very long time I can tell you what that sound is in her vocal that sounds so cool - it's a trick not used much even then and not at all now and its the fact that she is singing in a different time count then she is playing on the guitar, and yes that is and sounds cool. Awesome vid. And as for the story in the song, thats what is wrong with music of today, it has no story or feelings or true heart or soul in it, like its all just a bunch of key popular lines or phrases kinda slapped together.
This was a big hit , I heard it on the radio all summer. In 67
This song knocked the Beatles out of the number one slot. It was not a true story. Bobbie Gentry said: The cruelty was that the family didn't realize that the daughter at the table was Billie Joe's girlfriend. The song was inspired by Emmitt Till being found in the Tallahatchie River.
Newbie here. Found you with in the ghetto. Loved seeing you love it! I knew when I saw this one you would be blown away. 70's were my Era. The best music! B safe!
I watched this just now…💚
They even made a movie
Great reaction to Bobbie Gentry. I believe it's been mentioned before but I recommend Fancy by Bobbie, as well. Thanks!
I live in Mississippi...I'm 64 and I grew up here, this is a very popular song here
The song was on the radio all the time when I was a little kid. It really is a fantastic story and it leaves lots of questions, but it is so well told.
And keep in mind she is doing the most intricate and incredible phrasing with her vice while she's also playing a somewhat difficult finger-picking part on the guitar to hold down the tempo but still accommodate her phrasing. Pretty impressive. And her voice sounds awesome and the delivery is just perfect for the feeling of this song. She just drops those lines one-by-one and lets the story build itself.
Was 17 in '67, the song was on our station's small town rock. n.roll program. I had a high contrast black and white newspaper pic of her wallpaper-pasted to my wall.
bridge is there as is the sawmill
this is folk story telling or teaching
most then could not read or write
look into the story
eye opening🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓
The rest of the family is oblivious the fact that Billie Joe and the daughter were boyfriend and girllfriend.
I love your analysis of this song is great to hear this song again
The violin is expressing the girl in the song-her emotions.
If you go to that part of Mississippi it's a beautiful place, and this song still represents the area. It describes it. I love it.
Thank you for reacting to this.
🤘🔥🤘🔥🤘❤️❤️❤️❤️
I love your reactions & your openness to appreciate our differences & how we influence each other !!!
I live in Chickasaw County Mississippi and we love us some Bobbie Gentry ❤
Im glad you're so open to things not of your particular place/time
That's how I raised my sons. They're in their forties now, and often comment on how other people their age don't know about anything that came before them ☮️
It was exactly that, she was dismayed at her families casualness over a boy jumping to his death, talking about it as thu it was a weather report.She wrote the song after hearing about a death of the bridge, but in the story,she leads you to believe( if you listen) that she knew billie joe, her brother mentions seeing her with him on that very bridge throwing something off, most thank it was a doll( not a girl anymore) then the real store was of a black boy, so was she thinking of him, and how people reacted and the song leads you to feel she cared deeply for him, she goes to the bridge often to throw flowers into the water?, first love?? What made him jump if so?? Forbidden love?? Was he threatened by older brother, or( and dad) to stay away from her?? Hard to say, bobbi has been asked in interviews( she has always left it a bit of a mystery) I guess that is what also gives the song this kinda hunting trip back in time( to a different time, area). Peace all...
The thing I love most about Bobbie Gentry, her awesome talent as a songwriter-singer-musician-music producer-clothing designer-artist (she painted the covers of several albums), and I believe she choreographed at least some of her Las Vegas show. She grew up in Mississippi and its in her voice, her manner of singing, the way she phrases her songs...When I hear her sing about the south, especially this album and the Fancy album, is, I feel like I am right there.
For anyone who watched this video, the song is not a true story, but even to this day people wonder what they threw off the bridge.
I was 7yo when this song came out…still love it and I wanted to be Bobbie Gentry! It’s
56yrs and we are still not sure what they threw off the bridge…she never confirmed or denied anything?????????shes 80..wow!!
Joan Baez wrote her songs Others did also.
"She's still around! Nice!" - In 1982, Bobbie Gentry basically said, "Bye Felecia!" to the whole business. Packed up her stuff and never appeared in public again. She doesn't do interviews. She just disappeared from the public eye. Miss Gentry is badass.
I am 63 and remember this as a very interesting, popular song. Always love it and her. Great reaction from you. You got it!
Choctaw Indians: In 1830, the Choctaw were removed by the United States from their southeastern U.S. homeland to Indian Territory that became known as the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.Some of the Choctow refused to leave hiding in the Delta and swamps. My great-great-great grandmother was Choctaw. Proud of that. As Americans are a gumbo of cultures, I'm also French and Scotch-Irish.
Not the songwriting, but the producing and keeping control over her work - hard to do at that time.
Back in the day we loved this song so much, we also spent so much time trying to figure out what her and Billy Joe through off the Tallahitchie bridge 😮😢😊