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23 Apr 97 - 12:44 AM (#4223) Subject: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: bo Vandenberg This has been bugging me for a week or more. Its a relatively well known song about someone jumping off a bridge. I've only heard bits or rip offs and I want to see the real lyrics. I think it might be Tallahassee bridge. any help would be appreciated -bo |
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23 Apr 97 - 02:15 AM (#4229) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Gene Graham It was 1967 when Bobbie Gentry sang "The Ode to Billie Joe."
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23 Apr 97 - 02:19 AM (#4230) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Gene Graham The "Ode to Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry in 1967 - you can find the lyrics/chords at http://www.roughstock.com/cowpie under g/gentry... |
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23 Apr 97 - 12:35 PM (#4248) Subject: Chords Add: ODE TO BILLIE JOE (Bobbie Gentry) From: Bo Vandenberg Thanx for the title! I checked cowpie and found....
ODE TO BILLIE JOE
F7
is this it? Are there more verses? |
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23 Apr 97 - 01:48 PM (#4252) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: ptimmerman@ifias.ca If I recall, the song more mysteriously says that someone saw someone who looked a lot like you, and she and Billie Joe were throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge. As a footnote, Peter Seeger once remarked that the Tallahatchie Bridge was less than a mile from where Emmet Till was killed. So Black people knew who had really been tossed off that bridge. |
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23 Apr 97 - 05:17 PM (#4262) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: belter That's an interesting historical note. There was a movie made based on the song, I'm guessing, or maybe the song was based on it. In the movie, the boy committed suicide after being raped by a friend of his family. Then his girlfriend let people think he did it because he had gotten her pregnant, rather than reveal the truth. I doubt that any of that happened, because it doesn't jive with the note above. By the way, there are more verses. I can't remember them exactly, but the way it goes, the family discusses Billie Joe's death over dinner with all the empathy you'd show for a beef steer that's been butchered, and wonder why she's not eating. Then it talks about time going on. Her father gets a fever and dies, and her mother pines away, and she spends a lot of time up on Choctaw Ridge. I'd like to get the lyrics too. Can some one explain why Billie Joe is dead if she and Billie Joe were seen throwing someone else off? You can conjecture that they killed someone, threw him off the bridge, and Billie Joe disappeared and was assumed to be the body that washed up. Or a few other guesses could be made, but what is it supposed to mean? |
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23 Apr 97 - 06:36 PM (#4265) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Peter Timmerman the movie was certainly based on the song (as was Harper Valley P.T.A. the hideous follow up smash). The whole question of who threw what off the bridge was a mild obsession of the time. I remember that Bobbie G. gave an interview for Life (?) magazine where she said that there was more money in mystery than in spelling it out. This obviously doesn't seem to have stopped the moviemakers. Two of the lines missing are: "Chile, what's happened to your appetite, I've been cooking all morning and you haven't touched a single bite." |
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23 Apr 97 - 08:19 PM (#4270) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Peter Timmerman Actually it was Jeannie C. Riley who did Harper Valley PTA (song, and then there was a movie). The hair distracted me. |
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23 Apr 97 - 09:06 PM (#4272) Subject: Lyr Add: ODE TO BILLIE JOE (Bobbie Gentry) From: Gene Graham I didn't pay close enough attention to notice the missing verses... only checked the index listing and verified the song was at COWPIE. Here are the missing verses:
ODE TO BILLIE JOE
1. It was the third o' June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day.
2. Papa said to Mama as he passed around the black-eyed peas,
3. 'N' brother said he recollected when he an' Tom an' Billie Joe
4. Mama said to me, "Child, what's happened to your appetite?
5. A year has come an' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billie Joe. |
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02 Jul 01 - 02:52 AM (#496361) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: GUEST,noam_l@inter.net.il Well, I like this song a lot. For me it was always obvious that the girl was in close relationship with the boy; she was hanging around Choctaw Ridge, talking to BJ, and they were picking flowers and throwing them from the bridge. Yet moody BJ commited suicide, and his friend who was reserved is mourning silently over him, even more than at her own father's recent death. Everything changed around her, it seems: Her father, her mother, her brother - but she is stuck in her early and forever love to BJ. The lyrics with the tune are fantastic together. One od the most touching songs ever, and I mean it. Noam |
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02 Jul 01 - 03:02 AM (#496364) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: catspaw49 The story of Billie Joe is based in truth but stylized to some degree. It is an old story, dating back to the the late 40's when the only daughter of John Hatch, a Mississippi Klansman of some note, was in love with the first black attorney in the state, one Jubilee Simmons. He was the grandson of slaves and had gone to school at the University of Chicago and returned to his family's home state, taking up residence in Carroll county in 1948. John Hatch's daughter was known to be a bit wild and young Kelli had already incurred her father's wrath on numerous occasions. Kelli was living with two other 22 year old women in the small town of Campton, Mississippi when she met and began dating Simmons. Her father learned of it a few weeks later and came into town drunk with some Klan buddies to hunt down and kill Simmons. Simmons law offices were across from the county courthouse and from an open window he could hear the drunken invectives hurled his way from across the square. He slipped out a back door and went to Kelli's house to take her away and save them both from the murderous rancor of her father and his Klavern "brethren." Not finding Jubilee in his office the Klansmen split up to search for him and John Hatch went to his daughter's, presumably to beat her or possibly worse. He arrived before the pair had left and headed in through the back porch door adjoining the kitchen. Seeing him coming, Simmons grabbed a kitchen knife and jumped atop the counter and then onto the top of the refrigerator that stood by the door. As John Hatch passed, he didn't notice Simmons who then jumped him safely from behind and in the ensuing struggle, Hatch was stabbed with the knife. The lovers bagged his body and threw it off a bridge on their way out of town. They were on their way to Chicago when they were arrested in Clarksville, Tennessee and returned for trial in Mississippi. Jubilee Simmons himself represented both, and thanks to the testimony of one of the roommates and Mrs. Hatch who had suffered abuse for years at the hands of her husband, both were acquitted and moved to Chicago where he established a moderately successful practice on the south side. The original song told the story as it was, but owing to legal considerations, the Gentry version was done instead. The original was titled, "The Day that Jubilee the Barrister Jumped Off of Kelli Hatch's Fridge."
Sorry.................... Spaw
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02 Jul 01 - 07:24 AM (#496458) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Noreen ...no you're not! |
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02 Jul 01 - 08:54 AM (#496500) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: catspaw49 Okay........You're right..........It's even the second time I told the sillyass thing here and I'm not sorry for that either............so there!!! Spaw |
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02 Jul 01 - 08:29 PM (#497059) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: 53 Catspaw, I, for one, am glad you shared it again, because I never heard it before. Is that really a true or 'told for truth' story? Glenda |
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02 Jul 01 - 08:34 PM (#497062) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: catspaw49 ....uh, well...........Glenda, let's call it "Unadulterated Catspaw Bullshit"............. Spaw |
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03 Jul 01 - 01:32 AM (#497234) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Kaleea I saw the movie in about 1979 as I recall, and I'm glad I didn't have to pay for the ticket! What was thrown off of the Tallahatchie Bridge was, according to Bobbie Gentry in an interview I saw on TV way back then, was the still born baby of the girl and Billie Joe McCallister. The song came first, and then the movie several years later. Now for the scary part . . . When I was a teenager I used to sleep with my (AM)radio on all night. I woke up one night in the middle of a dream where we were sitting around the red checkered tablecloth covered dinner table passing around the biscuits and blackeyed peas, and you guessed it, "Ode to Billie Joe" was playing. |
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03 Jul 01 - 01:40 AM (#497238) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: catspaw49 It would have been a lot scarier if you awoke to find yourself actually sitting around the table and eating biscuits and blackeyes. Perhaps though you did eat some just before bedtime because they lay pretty heavy, give you bad gas, and will cause some weird dreams......and a gawd-awful stench in your bedroom. Spaw |
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26 Nov 02 - 03:22 AM (#835157) Subject: RE: lyrics ? Jumped off a bridge From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull |
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08 Sep 06 - 09:47 PM (#1830389) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST Chords for Okolona River Bottom Band? |
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09 Sep 06 - 12:25 AM (#1830463) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST a rhyming word missing in first verse Words and music by Bobbie Gentry F7 It was the third of June, Cm7 F7 Another sleepy, dusty, [DAY] F7 I was out choppin' cotton Cm7 F7 And my brother was bailin' hay |
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09 Sep 06 - 02:04 AM (#1830491) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: ClaireBear Shouldn't that be sleepy, dusty delta day? |
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06 Oct 06 - 10:47 PM (#1852462) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST I was at work today & this song got stuck in my head. I asked different ones that would have known the song, what the couple were throwing off the bridge. Someone said an engagement ring, in which case it would prove that not only did Billy Joe not have a "lick o' sense", she wouldn't have had much either. Unless maybe it was a cigar band. I picture in my mind this taking place way up in the country. Anyway, someone suggested I go on the internet & I thought, what the heck. I'm so glad I did. I laughed till I cried at catspaw49. What an incredible sense of humor that person has. I was believing the whole story until I got down to what he said the original title was & started laughing so hard I cried. Thank you catspaw49. I needed that!!! |
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06 Oct 06 - 11:46 PM (#1852488) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: catspaw49 Thank you dear Guest. I too needed that! Since then I have tossed that one in on a few other threads over the years and it has always reeled in a few more. I think the last retelling wasprobably a third longer adding in even more detail which is what sells a "Feghoot".......what a story like that is called. Probably the best known Feghoot is the one about Roy Rogers who had a new pair of boots he had left outside the ranch house, mauled and destroyed by a rogue Mountain Lion. Told with great elaboration of course, the beast is finally captured and displayed in a cage at the Double R Bar ranch. Someone viewing it asks, "Pardon me Roy. Is that the cat who chewed your new shoes?" (Pardon me boy. Is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?) Anyway, thanks again. Spaw |
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13 Apr 09 - 12:39 AM (#2609977) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,rachel smith i saw this movie and its is sbut a boy and girl who throw their stillborn child off the bridge and then billy joe kills himself hence why the girl is not eating she has had a miscarriage and her love had killed himself |
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13 Apr 09 - 08:50 AM (#2610113) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Pete Jennings Reading through Spaw's story, I was so engrossed that by the time they were in the kithcne I was almost screaming "don't kill him, they'll lynch you!". Then they got arrested and brought back and I was thinking oh sh*t. Then when Jubilee was acquited I almost sighed with relief. Then I saw the punchline and now I sitting here p*ss*ng myself. Abso-bloody-lutely brilliant! Best laugh I've had for ages, Spaw. Pete |
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13 Apr 09 - 04:48 PM (#2610425) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego What's remarkable is that Roberta Lee Streeter, known professionally as Bobbie Gentry, was never able to follow up this hit with anything remotely as successful. She charted something like eight or nine singles and did some TV work, but nothing like "Billie Joe." She was last known to be in the Los Angeles area, but had apparently stopped performing in the early 1970's. With her smoky, husky delivery, some still feel she was deserving of a better future. Instead, she remains underappreciated and tabbed as a "one hit wonder" by many who remember her at all. |
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17 Apr 09 - 10:25 AM (#2613092) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,treefrogdemon Rachel Harrington, on Bob Harris' Radio 2 country show last night, said the song actually has 11 verses but Bobbie Gentry's record company said that would make the song too long...don't know whether the missing verses solve the mystery! Having said that, RH proceeded to sing it but left off the last verse - the most poignant of all, where we find the narrator has lost not just Billie Joe but all her loved ones. |
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11 Jul 10 - 03:35 PM (#2943564) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,Cliff For those like catspaw47 who deny the essential tragdy which occurs when reality overrides love, only means that they haven't faced it yet and, as each year passes, they fear it even more. Those who accept it have either experienced it themselves. As a Vietnam vet who was exposed to Agent Orange in an attempt to avoid a budgetary crisis and a person who has experienced the damage of PTSD and depression for most of my life, I speak from experience. At this point in my life, I am left with the hope that I can somehow make a difference in other peoples lives. My desperation can be best measured by the fact that, within the past few minutes, reading the lyrics and thinking about what I was about to write forced me to cry, beg for forgiveness and burst into tears. Clifford Goad |
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13 Jul 10 - 04:32 PM (#2944509) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Jim Dixon Cliff: It is tragic that your loss and your pain should go unnoticed. Other than that, I don't have much to say, except that I hope you have people in your life to whom you can unburden yourself. |
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11 Sep 13 - 04:00 PM (#3558168) Subject: Lyr Add: CLOTHES LINE SAGA (Bob Dylan/B Gentry) From: Jim Dixon I learned about this parody from Wikipedia, so I had to look it up on Spotify. CLOTHES LINE SAGA Words, Bob Dylan; music, Bobbie Gentry, ODE TO BILLIE JOE. As sung by Bob Dylan with The Band on "The Basement Tapes" (1975) After a while we took in the clothes; nobody said very much— Just some old wild shirts and a couple pairs o' pants which nobody really wanted to touch. Mama come in an' picked up a book, an' Papa asked her what it was. Someone else asked, "What do you care?" Papa said, "Well, just because." Then we started to take back the clothes, an' hang 'em on the line. It was January the thirtieth, and everybody was feelin' fine. 'Bout next day, ever'body got up, seein' if the clothes were dry. The dogs were barkin'; a neighbor passed; mama, of course, she said, "Hi!" "Have you heard the news?" he said with a grin. "The vice president's gone mad." "Where?" "Downtown." "When?" "Last night." "Hmm! Gee, that's too bad." "Well, there's nothin' we can do about it," said the neighbor. "It's just somethin' we're gonna have to forget." "Yes, I guess so," said Ma, then she asked me if the clothes were still wet. I reached up, touched my shirt, and the neighbor said, "Are those clothes yours?" I said, "Some of 'em, not all of 'em." He said, "Y'always help out around here with the chores?" I said, "Sometimes, not all the time," then my neighbor he blew his nose, Just as Papa yelled outside, "Mama wants you to come back in the house and bring them clothes." Woo-hoo! I just do what I'm told, so I did it, of course. I went back in the house, an' Mama met me and then I shut all the doors. [Also recorded by— Suzzy & Maggie Roche on the tribute album "A Nod to Bob" (2001) Cowboy Junkies on "Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of The Band, Vol. 1" (2010) Invisible Republic on "A Basement Tapes Revival" (2011)] |
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13 Jul 14 - 11:01 PM (#3641946) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Songwronger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaRacIzZSPo A BBC performance, 1968. |
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14 Jul 14 - 12:00 AM (#3641950) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: PHJim I recall Leonard Feather used to do "Blindfold Tests" in Downbeat magazine. When Oscar Peterson did his test, one of the songs was Bobbie's version of Ode To Billie Joe. Oscar loved the tune and said, "I'd like to record that tune." I never heard any more about that till just now. I went on Youtube and there it was, Oscar's version of Bobbie's song. Oscar Peterson's version of Ode To Billie Joe |
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14 Jul 14 - 12:34 PM (#3642077) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Q (Frank Staplin) Thanks, PHJim. Oscar Peterson is one of my favorites. |
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09 Jun 16 - 03:48 AM (#3794544) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,CoriSCapnSkip Sorry I can't provide links. Last time I tried to post on here and do so I lost all I had written and never did finish the post, maybe sometime. |
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09 Jun 16 - 05:02 AM (#3794554) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,CoriSCapnSkip Tried posting the above, then going to try to create a link and coming back to see if I could paste it in, but couldn't. I may have joined this forum but if so can't see where to Login so am posting as a guest. Anyway, just wanted to say that the site linked below was the most interesting resource and the rest you can find yourselves as it's so darn hard to create links here! http://jjmccullough.com/billyjoe.htm This site offers endless speculation on the song's events, showing that "Rashomon" has nothing on Billie Joe, as well as invaluable insights which listeners unfamiliar with the time and place might miss. One of the most useful items was the one narrowing down which bridge was the most likely referenced in the song based on the location of Choctaw Ridge. I am left with no answers, only additional questions. For those looking for something to do, here they are: 1. In the novelization based on the movie script written by a man who came up with his own ideas based on Bobbie Gentry's song, the narrator's mother adds, "He's dead" after relating that Billie Joe had jumped, with a phrase such as "as if there could be any doubt of the outcome of such an act." Well, IS there? CAN there be any doubt? Wikipedia, if that's a trusted source, states the Tallahatchie River is about 50 feet deep and full of large sharp rocks. Is jumping off bridges not a "thing" on any part of the Tallahatchie River, especially near Choctaw Ridge? Has anyone jumped, fell, or been pushed off any such bridge, and if so what was the result? I say, send MythBusters to the several best candidate bridges and run crash tests with dummies! 2. Did Bobbie Gentry ever actually state that the object thrown off the bridge was an aborted, stillborn, miscarried, or any kind of baby? I thought she stated she didn't know what they threw and that was not the point of the song. Is this truly from an interview or someone's imagination? 3. Does anyone have the full text of the original long version with the missing verses? The song was said to be originally 7 minutes edited to 4. I found handwritten lyrics on display from Ole Miss beginning with a verse about a girl who does not seem to be the narrator, at first sounding as if she is missing, then as if her whereabouts are known but she avoids all public contact due to some knowledge of the song's events. It seems this one verse would not be enough to render the song nearly twice as long! Are there other verses and what is their content and purport? 4. Someone at the above link states "that nice young preacher Brother Taylor" bears closer examination. He seems to know a lot about the whereabouts and doings of the narrator and Billie Joe at different times and places, as if following them. Perhaps what happened to Billie Joe was blackmail or murder by a rival for the hand of the narrator. All I ever saw was this poor girl has just lost someone of deep significance to her--much deeper than her family knows or acknowledges--and here her mother is trying to shove some other guy at her--but others see more here. 5. Lastly, and most important, why is the song titled "Ode to Billie Joe" when preferred spellings would be "Billy Joe" (male) or "Billie Jo" (female)? Does this hint at the character being of uncertain gender? Billie Joe could be a girl. Of course, that would make the "he" in verse 3 refer to Tom, to whom Billie Joe was a friend or relative. The song will be fifty years old next year and the movie is at least forty. Time for a gender bender remake! Billie Joe could be a known female who had always acted tomboyish, if that could be accepted in the rural south in the mid 20th century. There was an "Andy Griffith" episode about "Frankie the pretty good farm hand," whose father made her dress and act so as he was afraid to lose her for farm chores, so dressing or acting boyish wouldn't necessarily be taboo for the 50s or 60s. Or it could be a real case of the child being intersex or transgender, sent by embarrassed relatives to live with the parents of Tom. Of course presumably the family would know the child was born female or hermaphrodite, and there would be issues of school enrollment. Or the child could be like Dill in "To Kill a Mockingbird," who only spent summers with relatives and told outrageous stories about how he usually lived. Perhaps Billie Joe was a girl letting out her inner male side while visiting Cousin Tom, but when Billie, transitioning from child to young adult, becomes serious about the narrator, either Tom spills the beans or Brother Taylor, who is in on it, blows the whistle. Then the narrator rejects Billie Joe, even angrily, having believed all along he was a boy, and Billie can't stand it and jumps. What was thrown off the bridge was a romantic offering, only they weren't both throwing it--the narrator was throwing and Billie trying to prevent its being thrown. The narrator carries the guilt and devastation for life. This story is crying for a transgender remake. I'm off to post to Internet Movie Database, or wherever else one goes to propose ideas for remakes which really need to be made! |
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09 Jun 16 - 07:29 AM (#3794564) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,Ebor Fiddler I'd always assumed that Billie Jo(e) was a girl! |
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09 Jun 16 - 09:05 AM (#3794577) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: mkebenn My rather pedestrian take on this song is that they were throwing(dropping) flowers and that Billy Joe pulled a Patches as he felt his love was unattainable. Mike |
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09 Jun 16 - 09:09 AM (#3794579) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: mkebenn PS. Bobby Gentry also wrote Reba and Dolly's hit "Fancy", a remarkable song and I too wish I'd heard more from her. Mike |
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09 Jun 16 - 05:11 PM (#3794642) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: MickyMan I like to call it, "Ode To The 7th Chord" |
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02 Jun 20 - 12:35 PM (#4056722) Subject: BS: Ode To Billy Joe From: Senoufou Since tomorrow is 'the third of June' I can't stop singing this haunting song in my head. And as usual I'm wondering yet again what exactly WERE the couple throwing off the Tallahachie bridge? And why DID Billy Joe commit suicide? And why were the singer's parents so unmoved by the news? Apparently, Bobbie Gentry couldn't enlighten people about the lyrics, so I wonder if anyone on Mudcat has any ideas about the story? |
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02 Jun 20 - 04:21 PM (#4056760) Subject: RE: BS: Ode To Billy Joe From: Stilly River Sage I've heard a podcast-style discussion of this, but at the moment I can't think of the direction to point you, except to look for the topic at some of the American public broadcasting companies. National Public Radio (NPR), American Public Radio (APR), Public Radio International (PRI), etc. |
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02 Jun 20 - 04:47 PM (#4056762) Subject: RE: BS: Ode To Billy Joe From: meself I think this could go above the line ....? It seems pretty clear the poor boy committed suicide, otherwise ... he went in for a swim? The parents are 'unmoved' because they have other things to think about ... and are not unused to tragedy and disaster, presumably. It never occurred to me that there was anything unusual about their reaction; I could imagine the farm people of my family and acquaintance reacting in much the same way. As for what they threw off the bridge ... now that is the big question - and I fear we'll never know ... ! |
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02 Jun 20 - 04:50 PM (#4056763) Subject: RE: BS: Ode To Billy Joe From: meself Whoops! I missed the 'why' next to the 'DID' in your question - apologies! Anyway, wouldn't the implication be that Billy Joe's perceived disappointment in love led him to suicide? |
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02 Jun 20 - 05:35 PM (#4056770) Subject: RE: BS: Ode To Billy Joe From: Senoufou I see that I have made a mistake in the spelling of the lad's name. It should be Billie Joe. I remember that Bobbie Gentry has said that she couldn't clear up the mystery about what was thrown from the bridge, because when she composed the song, it wasn't clear even to her! I still feel that the family's attitude to the death is a bit cavalier. Every year on 3rd June, I wonder about poor Billie Joe McAllister! I agree perhaps this should be above the line. Or if it's too trivial, I shan't mind if a Mod bins the thread. Thank you for your suggestions about the story. |
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02 Jun 20 - 09:00 PM (#4056815) Subject: RE: Ode To Billie Joe From: GUEST,Starship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Billie_Joe Excellent study about the song at that link. |
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02 Jun 20 - 09:02 PM (#4056818) Subject: RE: Ode To Billie Joe From: Steve Shaw As I recall, Bobbie Gentry just made it all up. |
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04 Jun 20 - 09:26 AM (#4057176) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Bee-dubya-ell The song can be easily interpreted if viewed through the lens of social stratification. The singer's family is fairly well off by Mississippi Delta standards. They're not sharecroppers. They own the land they farm. That the brother and his new wife were able to buy a store in Tupelo indicates that one or the other of them had money or good credit. Papa may have had enough saved up that, when he died, Brother got a decent inheritance. It doesn't sound like Mama and the singer moved from the family farm, but they may have sold or leased some acreage. Billie Joe, on the other hand, is from Choctaw Ridge, the song's version of "the wrong side of the tracks". Mama says, "Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge," and that's not far from "Seems like nothin' no good ever comes from Choctaw Ridge," and if Billy Joe is from there, then he's no good. His family doesn't own their land. They are sharecroppers, if not something worse. That's why the family is so cavalier about his death. The singer and her brother included Billie Joe in their social circle, but it was a grudging and condescending inclusion. But, despite their differences in class and status, Billie Joe was in love with the singer and attempted to propose marriage and give her an engagement ring. She rejected him outright and was so enraged at the idea that he would be so presumptuous as to think she would marry him that she attempted to throw the ring off the bridge. When the preacher saw the couple on the bridge, they weren't jointly throwing something from it. The girl was trying to throw the ring and Billie Joe was trying to stop her. Their struggle is what drew the preacher's attention. Billie Joe committed suicide not only because of his rejected marriage proposal, but because he realized why it was rejected. He had thought himself in some way equal to the members of the singer's family and worthy of marrying into it. But he was obviously deluded. The singer's family considered him an inferior and always would The singer's propensity for picking flowers and throwing them from the bridge is her way of atoning for her actions and attitudes. Her rejection of Billie Joe's marriage proposal may have been the proximate cause of his suicide, but the low regard in which Billy Joe and the other folks from Choctaw Ridge were held by her family was the underlying cause. That's why she specifically picks flowers from Choctaw Ridge. Picking them elsewhere wouldn't work. |
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04 Jun 20 - 10:34 AM (#4057189) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: meself You know, I think that is a really interesting interpretation - but it is going far beyond what we are actually given in the song - particularly, "Their struggle is what drew the preacher's attention." That's just made-up - there is nothing to indicate any kind of a "strumggle", IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong). As for why the speaker rejected Billie Joe (which is certainly implied), there is nothing to indicate it was for social-class reasons - you're reading that into it. All very interesting, nonetheless. |
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04 Jun 20 - 10:50 AM (#4057195) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Steve Shaw And suppositions about what was thrown off the bridge, unsupported by anything Bobbie Gentry sez... |
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04 Jun 20 - 11:40 AM (#4057202) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Bee-dubya-ell Yes my post goes way beyond what the song says. I incorporated a bit more imagination than a real critic would. I suppose it could serve as genesis for a short story based on the song. Perhaps I'll try to squeeze writing that story in amongst all the pressing things I need to do, like wasting time on Mudcat and Facebook. |
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04 Jun 20 - 11:48 AM (#4057206) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: meself Hey - I came here for an argument: this isn't an argument! |
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04 Jun 20 - 12:05 PM (#4057214) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Senoufou Bee-dubya-ell, that's an excellent and well thought-out suggestion as to the story behind the song. It seems to me to fit the words and the atmosphere perfectly. Thank you for that! :) Obviously, we can't ever know, and Bobbie Gentry didn't even know either. But it's always intrigued me, and every year the same thoughts come to mind on the Third of June. Not knowing much about the location, social structures and history of the area, I couldn't have formed such a likely explanation. |
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10 Sep 20 - 12:48 AM (#4071396) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Joe Offer And in French.... "Marie-Jeanne" C'était le quatre juin, le soleil tapait depuis le matin Je m'occupais de la vigne et mon frère chargeait le foin Et l'heure du déjeuner venue, on est retourné à la maison Et notre mère a crié de la cuisine: "Essuyez vos pieds sur l'paillasson" Puis elle nous dit qu'elle avait des nouvelles de Bourg-les-Essonnes Ce matin Marie-Jeanne Guillaume s'est jetée du pont de la Garonne Et mon père dit à ma mère en nous passant le plat de gratin: "La Marie-Jeanne, elle n'était pas très maligne, passe-moi donc le pain. Y a bien encore deux hectares à labourer dans le champ de la canne" Et maman dit: "Tu vois, quand j'y pense, c'est quand même bête pour cette pauvre Marie-Jeanne On dirait qu'il n'arrive jamais rien de bon à Bourg-les-Essonnes Et voilà qu'Marie-Jeanne Guillaume va s'jeter du pont de la Garonne" Et mon frère dit qu'il se souvenait quand lui et moi et le grand Nicolas On avait mis une grenouille dans le dos de Marie-Jeanne un soir au cinéma Et il me dit: "Tu te rappelles, tu lui parlais ce dimanche près de l'église Donne-moi encore un peu de vin, c'est bien injuste la vie Dire que j'l'ai vue à la scierie hier à Bourg-les-Essonnes Et qu'aujourd'hui Marie-Jeanne s'est jetée du pont de la Garonne" Maman m'a dit enfin: "Mon grand, tu n'as pas beaucoup d'appétit J'ai cuisiné tout ce matin, et tu n'as rien touché, tu n'as rien pris Dis-moi, la sœur de ce jeune curé est passée en auto Elle m'a dit qu'elle viendrait dimanche à dîner... oh! et à propos Elle dit qu'elle a vu un garçon qui t'ressemblait à Bourg-les-Essonnes Et lui et Marie-Jeanne jetaient quelque chose du pont de la Garonne" Toute une année est passée, on ne parle plus du tout de Marie-Jeanne Mon frère qui s'est marié a pris un magasin avec sa femme La grippe est venue par chez nous et mon père en est mort en janvier Depuis maman n'a plus envie de faire grand-chose, elle est toujours fatiguée Et moi, de temps en temps j'vais ramasser quelques fleurs du côté des Essonnes Et je les jette dans les eaux boueuses du haut du pont de la Garonne |
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10 Sep 20 - 01:03 AM (#4071397) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST Translated (and adapted) and performed by Joe Dassin. Joseph "Joe" Ira Dassin (5 November 1938 – 20 August 1980) was an American-born French singer-songwriter. He was born in New York City to American film director Jules Dassin (1911–2008) and Béatrice Launer (1913–1994), a New York-born violinist |
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04 Jun 21 - 02:02 AM (#4108690) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Joe Offer Well, it's still the Third of June here in California, so I guess I still have time to refresh this thread. |
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04 Jun 21 - 10:12 AM (#4108731) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: GUEST,henryp C'était le quatre juin, le soleil tapait depuis le matin Je m'occupais de la vigne et mon frère chargeait le foin And it's the fourth of June in France! |
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06 Jun 21 - 01:32 PM (#4109057) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: BTMP I remember driving north on Hwy 22 in Mississippi heading to Memphis to visit family, and there was a sign indicating the road was passing over the LittleTallahatchie River. This was a hwy bridge and not THE Tallahatchie Bridge which is in LeFlore County but I had no idea the song was referencing real life places. Another early misconception on my part was that Bobbie Gentry was African American, judging from the texture of her voice and the phrasing of various words and sentences. I had only heard the song on radio, but later got to see Bobby on TV. A fantastic song which I play in open F#7 on the guitar. |
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06 Jun 21 - 04:51 PM (#4109086) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: Helen About 20 years ago when I was teaching in post-school education, I made a joke about the date being the 3rd of June. The young adults in the class just looked at me blankly, even when I quoted the words of the song. I had to admit that I was old and they were way too young to remember it. No matter how hard I try to forget that song, it always pops into my head once a year and bugs me for the whole day. :-( LOL |
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06 Jun 21 - 10:14 PM (#4109126) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) From: BTMP Helen - I also get the same date-related effect in my mind on July 2 every year. “Like a ship out on the ocean on the 2nd of July …” -Amelia Earhart’s Last Ride. |