There's a lot about Bobbie Gentry I reluctantly omitted for the sake of time: the egregious sexism she faced in the music business; the lawsuits over who wrote and produced "Ode to Billie Joe"; the speculation about why she retired. If I want to say anything at all about a song, I have to say less about its artist, unfortunately. For a deeper look, start with Tara Murtha's book Ode to Billie Joe. Although I used still images from the movie Ode to Billy Joe, I chose not to discuss it in any detail. The movie (which was made with Bobbie Gentry's participation) offers an explanation for Billie/Billy Joe's suicide and specifies what was thrown from the bridge. But in these videos, I want to hew as closely as possible to the original texts.
There indeed was a lawsuit brought against Capitol Records and Bobbie Gentry by producer Bobby Paris over his dismissal by Bobbie Gentry as producer. Jimmie Haskell stated in print before he died that Paris had cashed a Capitol Records check which was suppose to be split between him and Gentry and kept all the money. Bobbie Gentry ,in retaliation, booted him off any producer credits for the million selling debut album. Paris waited until 1973 to sue and was awarded 1% of the songs profits which amounted to 32,000 dollars. He essentially won the battle but lost the war. Bobbie Gentry made millions . There was NEVER a legal dispute as to who wrote the song. Singer-songwriter ,Jim Ford, claimed for decades that he wrote O.T.B.J without a shred of proof. He never took his claim to court. Bear Family Records had the audacity to print his libelous claim in the liner notes of one of Fords re-issued albums. Jim Ford was known as an habitual liar and had claimed to have co-authored or authored other songs without his name on them as well. Ironically in the same line notes where Gentry was libeled, Nick Lowe stated Jim was "known to tell tall tales and stretch the truth a bit". Gentry kept her rough drafts of O.T.B.J and donated some to The Un. Of Mississippi which prove she authored the song and show her creative process in doing so. To date, she never bothered to sue Bear Family Records for their libelous claims..
Tara Murtha's book on Bobbie Gentry falls painfully short on any actual information that wasn't already available all over the web. There were researchers into Bobbie's career and particularly this song who shared information with her not widely known or publicized and for whatever reason Ms. Murtha chose to not include it in her book. At least one person I know shared details with her which she glossed over without any specifics, and she failed to acknowledge that person in her credits. She spoke with me for over an hour and for all the help I tried to offer her she failed to follow up on leads to family, friends and musicians still living at the time who could have shared a wealth of information about her career and details regarding 'Ode'. They don't grow investigative music journalists like they used to and the colleges like the one she went to don't prepare them to go the distance. At best, I give her a 'C' for her Cliff's Notes version easily found on Google and Wikipedia long before she ever typed a word on the subject.
@@arilevaux Billie Joe is male. "Brother" says, "And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?" and then, "I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge."
Gentry was quoted as saying "Ode" was an exercise in unintentional cruelty. The vocal phrasing and arrangement can lead the listener to question if Momma knew more than she was letting on or we can wonder if she was simply reciting the local gossip for the family. It's an exquisite piece of songwriting.
I'm constantly blown away finding people who reacted similar to me. You guys have more understanding about what the song actually said, but soon I'm gonna catch up! And yeah btw, I think the song came out in 1967, so as of today, it's about 56 years now.
I'm 75 now, but way back in 1977, when I was 27, I heard word that Bobbie Gentry was auditioning drummers, to perform in her new upcomming Las Vegas production shows at the Frontier Hotel. Living in Southern Ca., I drove into Hollywood to make the audition. I was told many drummers showed up and that some could play well, but couldn't read music. Some could read, but didn't play well. The music for the show was of a "Broadway" style with fully-orchestrated arrangements. After running partially through one of the tunes ( a "5-6-7-8" count-off type of tune) we stopped and I was told I had the gig ! I was elated ! I was given the book of drum charts, packed up my drums, and was told when to return for rehearsals prior to the Vegas shows. At the Frontier, we played two, hour-and-a-half shows per night, 7-nights per week. Al Alvarez was the orchestra conductor and Norm Crosby was the comedian with the show. The next year, 1978, we played at the Aladdin Hotel in Vegas with a whole new show. Al Gambino was the orchestra conductor there. Jim Stafford performed with Bobbie at the Aladdin. This was when Jim and Bobbie were dating each other. Bobbie Gentry was a marvelous and wonderful person to know. She was the consummate artist/performer. Always friendly and eager to make working for her a very pleasant experience. I am always proud to say that I worked for the great Bobbie Gentry.
I also agree. The strings add a depth to the song that just an acoustic guitar arrangement could never have done. They are also restrained enough - not always there - and not overwhelming the way a whole orchestra would have been. They also add a Southern feeling to the piece.
I confess, when I saw the photo of Robby Benson at first, I felt my heart sink. But you got this just right. The narrator’s entire world collapses right there at the table, and no one notices - or more likely, they just skate right by. It’s all in what isn’t said. Bobbie Gentry was a stellar songwriter.
It’s kind of self-centered to assume that the narrator’s world falls apart. We have no evidence of this. Experiencing grief and having your world fall apart or not the same thing.
Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to BillyJoe is a sad story … I love her sultry voice that takes this song to another level. In my option, no one else could perform this number and get the meaning over to the audience better that Bobbie. In the movie, the “something“ they through off the bridge was BobbieLee’s rag doll ‘Benjamin’. Because BillyJoe was jealous of that imaginary friend that BobbyLee always told her secrets to. I use this song on my phone as a ringtone… and weirdly enough, I think of this song every June 3rd.
Being that both my parents worked at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, I got to go backstage to meet Ms Bobbie Gentry! She was delightful and signed my little acoustic guitar. I went home and made the signature permanent with a wood burning pen. That was September 1968.
Bobbies voice was absolutely perfect for the story she wrote. And the music arrangement was absolutely brilliant. A sound that is still as chilling and moving today.
The strings make that song perfection. I wonder why she left the music business. She was a genuis and there is no one like her. And she wrote Fancy that Reba McEntire made world famous. Bobbie thank you for your work. The story of this song is haunting all these years later.
Someone else sang Fancy years before Reba McIntrye sang it. I was a child when it came out and I bought the 45 of it but I can’t remember who sang it. I don’t think Reba made it famous, she made it famous AGAIN.
I remember being absolutely fascinated by this song back in the day, and always wondered exactly what the song was about....as I got older, I was able to read into it that it was about a suicide that no one wanted to talk about (as things like that rarely were back then), but the main character's viewpoint in the song seemed to be overcome with grief and loss, yet couldn't talk about it with her family, who more or less pooh-poohed it like "well, he got what he deserved, after all, he was trouble(d)." Very dark tune for that time of history...but then, the Vietnam war was raging, and all sorts of things were "going down" in the world, so perhaps it actually fit the times well.
I didn't read the book, but was deeply moved by the film. At the time, I believed it was implied that Billie Joe was sexually assaulted by an older man. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be the assault itself, or Billie Joe's realization that he was homosexual that caused him to take his life. So sad.
At one point after the song came out , Bobby was married to Bill Harrah, of Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Lake Tahoe NV. He was much older than she. Fun fact: The movie OTBJ was produced by Max Baer (Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies)
I am old enough to have heard when it was on the charts and coming out of our AM car radio and I'll be honest, (I was 8) it scared me the first time I heard it; it was classic first TV performance. I've been a performing/recording songwriter for 50 years and am still a tenderfoot at the kind of regional nuance that REVEALS THE DARK UNDERBELLY or simply states a harsh, real sin without the make-up that Shame puts on things. Merle Haggard was blessed with this skill set, too. The creepy verse at the kitchen table IS like a movie... the listener is forced to fill-in what no one has the Southern Baptist balls to say out loud. Because it is about a bad thing caused by spiritual parochialism (still and ever the greatest threat to my town, county, country and democracy), it's still relevant. So is 'Harper Valley PTA'.
Both are two very very good songs. JR Cash is another who could make you think and feel things. Most ppl thought he'd been in prison lol. He spent a few hours in a county jail once for picking flowers in someones yard. Busted at the border with tons of pills, uppers in his guitar case. Nothing came of it except he wasn't allowed back into Mexico. I just mean, I rank him up there with Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard etc....
I remember listening to an interview of Bobby Gentry and she said that the focus of the song wasn't about why but it was about how people acted. Unfeeling about a young teen who just killed himself. They were talking about it in-between passing dinner about. Like it was just a story and not about a real person. How gossip and being down right cruel to each other can destroy people.
The religiously sanctioned and societally condoned systematic dehumanization of homosexuality creates a dehumanization of homosexuality that leads to the permissive atmosphere for contempt and hatred to flourish through subjective comparison. Due to said conditioning of the collective societal psyche, Billy Joe was not seen as human, therefore making his death inconsequential.
I agree completely; this was more a tragedy to be mourned than a juicy bit of news to stimulate our minds in the absence of a more positive stimulus. It reminds me of the common cultural thinking of the time "As long as it's not me, or my family, it's not real to me" paraphrasing of course, but you get the drift.
@@DavePuckett But, unfortunately, it is, to a degree, human nature to only be concerned about that which directly relates to one's immediate or future reality.
@lynnbaker2336 I don't think it's human nature. It's more conditioning over the years of culture and so-called professionals. For decades, culture has focused on telling people to take care of yourself only. When one has been on this earth for 60 years, one has lots of time lines to compare this to.
One month ago on a trip from NW Arkansas to the Florida - Alabama gulf coast (Orange Beach) we drove by this river and the bridge. We played this song about 8 times. I think your analysis is the most intelligent breakdowns of this beautiful song.
I had the LP and played it to death. Loved the song, Ode to Billy Joe, and loved the movie based on it. I have maintained through the years, that if the public and press hadn't tortured her the way they had, and she had continued to record, she would have easily become 'the Female Elvis." Her style and voice were unique and fantastic.
Wherever she is. I hope she’s not estranged from any she needs most. Her talent is so immense. You couldn’t even think about her being the most beautiful female performer of her era. And, she carried herself intelligent and educated woman. As a teenager, she could make me blush from the T.V. screen. Long live the Queen of Choctaw Ridge!
Charles, what a great repertoire of information. Fondest memories as a child included, my father being of Native American blood. My mom had told me, they where choc taw and Chickasaw. My whole life I hade no clue the details of the landscapes of the south. Oklahoma being so close I thought was where the bridge was. Now corrected, I have some tips for my genealogy. Clever how hints of History of this nature and stories of this amazing singer. She had always been a favorite. The strums of the violins . Took me to the late sixties. I’m in awe…. Daddy died 1970’ God knows I miss him. JH
This truly is one of the best written songs ever. It has ALWAYS been one of my favorites throughout the late 60s until this very day. Wherever you are Bobbi, I love you. ❤❤
Have not thought about this song in decades. Back in the early 1970s as a child, I heard it often enough. I think my mother owned the 45, though radio play was likely too. Then it faded away. I am partly here for the nostalgia, because it has been so long ago.
Ironically it was Lee Hazelwood who first hit the pop hot with his cover of Ode to Billie Joe. His label had somehow lifted the Jimmie Haskell string arrangements. While Hazelwood's version was gaining momentum on the bottom of pop hot 100, Capitol made the marketing decision to go with O.T.B.J as her label debut .It quickly drowned out the Hazelwood cover on its quick assent to #1. In 1967 alone, Ode to Billie Joe would be covered 9 times .The most successful of these covers was the instrumental by King Curtis and the Kingpins which soared to #6 r&b and #27 pop. I was informed by executives at U.M.G( which currently manage Bobbie Gentry's Capitol Records vault and publishing) that her sales of O.T.B.J alone stand between 8-10 million over the last half century. The classic song now boasts over 200 covers with most being by r&b and jazz artists.
I loved this song when it first came out. The thing that made it stand out to me was that the music itself that underlined the depression of the poor rural area, where attention was on survival - making enough to live, attempting to make a home and failing. The narrator and Billy Jo's tragic relationship. Its also about the cruelty of failure. There is no happiness for anyone.
In 1967 myself and others got to see Bobbie and Glen Campbell in concert at The University of Southern Mississippi. She did Ode to Billie Joe and Campbell did Whicita Lineman. I remember the movie that came along a few years later. Today I live in Meridian, the home of Jimmie Rodgers. Elvis is from Tupelo and Marty Stuart is from right up the road in Philadelphia.
I think the song has to be separated from the movie that came later. The song hearkens toward the Southern gothic aesthetic created and utilized by Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, along with the ironic horror of Flannery O'Connor: a South of the mundane and the genteel that resists highly emotional reactions to pain and tragedy. It's the corn-pone version of the British stiff upper lip. Suffering secretly without complaint should be the lot of people whose fabled heritage and way of life was destroyed by conquering interlopers. In that literary tradition there's always an unspoken darkness that hides behind the hard labor, faith, and values. The song's epilogue tells of the dissolution of the family by the different ways the characters depart: father by death, brother by marriage and relocation, mother by depression, and the teller of the tale through grief unresolved. It's one really great song.
I remember hearing that in certain parts of the country, it was customary to destroy tokens of affection lovers had given one another when the couple broke up. One way of doing that was to throw the items off a bridge. It may have been Bobbie herself who said it in an interview, or a DJ who had experienced it for himself. In any event, I never knew there was a REAL Billie Joe who died on June 3, 1966. As a young teen, that record was one of my favorites.
Damn, I had absolutely no intention of subscribing to this channel, however after that truly first rate and extremely fascinating glimpse into not only the song, but the mind and soul behind it, you left me no real choice.
Jody Reynolds was a very close friend of mine for about 40 years. I played music with him some and we wrote some songs together. I was at his rustic cabin home in Poppet Flats where he was a next door neighbor to Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin up in the San Jacinto Mountains up above Banning near Silent Valley and later on when he moved to Bermuda Dunes after a fire nearly destroyed his cabin in Poppet Flats in 1999 or 2000. Jody was present when Bobbie Gentry wrote 'Ode To Billie Joe' which happened in the summer of 1966 when he was on tour with his band playing clubs across the southwest. Jody found Bobbie playing vibes and guitar in a Jazz club in Palm Springs where both Jody resided, and Bobbie was still living part time with her mother when she wasn't in L.A. while attending college. Jody hired her on the spot as a rhythm guitarist and backup singer, which led to their vocal duet A&B sides single on the Titan label that same year. Jody was impressed with her superb musicianship and her excellent vocal abilities and soon after her songwriting talents after embarking on a tour that began with a 10 night stand at the Majestic Club in Blythe, CA which had a large dancehall and bar as well as a first-class restaurant. Adjacent to the Majestic was the St Charles Hotel where Jody and the band were staying. When I first met him Jody related the story of Bobbie writing Ode To Billie Joe. Jody told me, "One night after the first gig at the Majestic we all gathered out on the veranda of the St Charles Hotel overlooking the nearby Colorado River, which we could see very well at night. It had cooled down some, but it was still real hot, about 100 degrees that night and it was very humid. Bobbie said that the sight of the river with the late night heat and humidity reminded her of her home back in Chickasaw County in Mississippi, where she was born and spent her early childhood down on the Tallahatchie River." "She grabbed her Martin parlor guitar and started playing that funky D7th chord that omits the root in the bass on the 5th string with an A on the bottom on the big E string, which gives the chord a swampy sound. She started singing "It was the 3rd of June..."and that was the actual date that Friday night in 1966! She just sat there with her guitar and wrote the song which started out with about a dozen verses she originally came up with on the spot in about 20 minutes right there in front of me and my small band which consisted of pianist Bobby Craig, bass man Frank Seeley and drummer Ron Coppola who were all longtime well-known local Palm Springs musicians. I told her, "Bobbie Lee, you'd better write that down!" She agreed and handwrote it on a yellow legal pad she had in her suitcase." "She vowed to take it to Capitol Records when the tour ended. She told me, "I'm going to get a hit out of this song!" After our little tour ended, she went to Capitol and walked right in with her guitar in hand and asked to speak with a producer. She explained that she had written a song she wanted them to hear. She was escorted into a room and she sang and played the song for them. They recorded a demo of her playing her guitar and singing her edited version of the song which is the short version everyone knows. She played it in real time just sitting on a stool with her little Martin parlor guitar, playing those fat chords like that uncommon D7th grip she used in that song. She only frets 4 strings on that chord but man what a sound she got out of it. That's a Big-Band chord that Swing era guitarists used to back horn sections back in the 30's and 40's. I heard her play that chord when I first heard her at that Jazz club in Palm Springs. I asked her where she learned chords like that, and she told me she had been around Jazz musicians all of her life and learned a lot just by watching and listening. She also a trained musician and can sight read a lead sheet and knows about arranging." "When she finished singing that song when she wrote it there that night in Blythe, I asked her, "Bobbie, what did they throw off the bridge?" She told me, "I don't know. Let me know when you figure out." Then I asked her why Billie Joe jumped off the bridge and killed himself and she told me, "I don't rightly know for sure. It's a mystery, just like what was thrown off the bridge." "Over the years folks have read all kinds of things into that song and not one but two big mysteries have kept that song alive all these years, what with a book and a film, and none of that is really about what really happened, it's all speculation and nothing more than fodder for conspiracy theories. Bobbie has always said the song is really about apathy and the cruel nature of people in the South, where she was born and lived as a pre-teen, around everyday people who can look at the plight of other folks, even their neighbors and their family and others around them without the least hint of concern or slightest care. They see it but they just look a hole through it and look right thru the people who are suffering around them, and they are unfazed by it. It's not about drugs or teen pregnancy or abortion or racism or some cinematic drama scene like the Max Baer film about a young boy being in love with a girl who gets drunk and commits suicide after being sodomized. That stuff was all in the minds of magazine writers and newspaper journalists and movie script writers. None of that is even hinted at in the song." "Years later I saw Bobbie here in Palm Springs where she has always kept a home even though she has lived in Hollywood and Vegas, Memphis and Nashville and other places including back home in Chickasaw County. I asked her if she knew that was thrown off that bridge or why Billie Joe killed himself and she told me she had an idea of what it might be, but she had never revealed it to anyone not even her mother. I said I thought it might have been a diary and she said, "That's good, but that still not it. It's a secret I plan to take to my grave." As long as people continue hearing that song, they are going to speculate about what happened, what was thrown off the bridge and why Billie Joe killed himself."
It’s for comments like this I always prowl the comment section. Thank you for trying that in and sharing it. But dang, I wish she had shared what she thought the answers were to the two mysteries!
@@MiJaHa That was the point of writing a mystery into a song - it generates a lot of interest, and the theories just keep coming. That's the brilliance of great writers like Bobbie and Tom T Hall - don't ever tell all you know and leave folks hanging on the details.
@@CiscoDuck That's always been my feeling ever since the song first came out. "Good" girls didn't get pregnant out of wedlock,especially at that time in the south.
@@MiJaHa Well, that was the general accepted perception in the Bible belt and the south, but good ol' boys will be boys and good ol' girls get preggers and those who do keep it out of sight one way or the other. I remember stories of family members who got in the family way way back when were sent away to live with relatives in another state or they were shunned. Of course, nothing done to the boy who contributed needed biological sample to get those girls in that condition. "Eve's to blame for all sin," and all that. Bobbie certainly addressed a lot of levels of southern hypocrisy in 'Ode...' and others she dealt with between the lines and the unsaid. That song is actually deep. And the general story line lends to the novelization and cinematic portrayal of the various characters in some interesting light - which Bobbie knew about - she had creative control over her intellectual property. Very talented and very smart gal. She quit while she was ahead and went away to live her life in peace and silence - adding yet more mystery to the equation.
That string swirl was not stupid, Stupid. It was greatness. Added to the Haunting, and yes Sadness. I also sensed that something unjust had happened. Attagirl Bobbie💜👍!!!
Of course I heard it growing up, and felt the mood of it at the time, but I didn't know really know anything about this strange but fascinating song. Thanks for the education. Well done again and appreciate all the varied cultural touchpoints along the way.
Bobbie, one of my top favorite artists, brought me to your channel. Your assessment of Jimmie Haskell's perfect-for-the-mood arrangement as 'stupid' turned me around. I won't let the doorknob hit me.
I think the year was 1967, maybe 1968 or 66. I kept hearing this song in the newly opened recreational center near the junior high school, probably in hopes of keeping kids out of trouble, where we all went to play pocket pool, table soccer, and the like. I never knew exactly what the song was about but Gentry's subtle blend of tragedy and funky blues sank deep into my soul and quietly burned . . . Without my realizing it. In my head those words "Chocktau Ridge", sassy strings, and the feeling that something either naughty, tragic, or mysterious had happened, repeated over and over. I was a weird kid to begin with, and always obsessed with one thing or another but never realized until much much later that certain kinds of masterpieces were constantly entering me and thriving . . . in other words I'm a music guy. I never heard the song again until this masterful analysis of yours, which brings it all together for me. Thanks so much for posting! And You're right, Bobbie Gentry is a forgotten genius. Man, I'm gonna study this song as soon as I can get around to it . . .
Yes, it was a wedding ring! But she also threw over her ragdoll to represent the loss of innocence, because Billy Joe was violated, and he didn’t think he was worthy of marriage after that!😢 Excellent video I just found your channel looking forward to more interesting breakdowns😊
Bobbie Joe threw the engagement ring to, Billie Joe didn’t have the engagement ring! Bobbie Joe threw the rag doll when, she was walking over the bridge beforehand (as in before Billie Joe jumped) if you watch the movie you will see that! Later you see Bobbie Joe was walking over the bridge after Billy Joe had done jumped off the Bridge! She was out walking and thinking and that’s when, she threw the ring! She felt the ring no longer meant anything, even though it wasn’t a engagement ring, if you remember Billie Joe gave her just a promise ring!
Two things..... 1) Billy Joe McCallister is the guy. We never actually learn the singer's name. 2) The complete disconnect of everyone in the singer's family, each immersed in their own little world allowed the teenage singer to reach term in an unwanted pregnancy with even her mother not noticing. She, accompanied by Billie Joe, gave birth to a live born infant on Choctaw Ridge ("no good ever happens up on Choctaw Ridge"). An out-of-wedlock baby would be absolutely ruinous for the young couple. They would be excommunicated from the church, banned from all social events and ostracized by the townsfolk. Billie Joe would lose his job and they both would be thrown out of their parents' homes in disgrace. So, being dumb, scared teenagers, they did what they felt needed to be done..... .......they smothered the newborn. They then wrapped it up, and "gave it back to God" by dropping it off of the bridge. Billy Joe was so wracked with guilt in the subsequent weeks, that he was finally driven to suicide. The singer is a survivor who, despite feeling sadness for the two losses, is strong enough to cope.
Hooooly crap! I love that song and didn't ponder too much on what was dropped into that water. Hearing that it was a wedding ring gave the song a whole new meaning, and I'm not lying, I'm crying right now! I have never cried over that song until now. I get the chills when I hear it, sure. But tears? Not until I heard that it was a wedding ring. Dang!
Such amazing work! Your first two uploads promise a lot for the future of this channel, and I'm super excited to see your next video. You could have kept my attention for 20-25 min, easily. Also, lmao at the comments 😂 keep it up!
Wow, many thanks! It's funny you should say that about 20-25 minutes...I was trying so hard to keep this one shorter than 15 minutes, but I couldn't do it! Good to know that at least one viewer is cool with that!
My Brother and I were quite young but inive with the song. It was so Soulful and a haunting tale we couldn't understand. In those days music was a very shared experience.
Excelent very well done, I love the explination and since I have never studied music, I disagree with the sound of the floweres falling. I loved how in the middle of the discusion, she would say passs the biscuits please with no sighn of emotion!! I haved always loved this song ever since I heard it and somehow connect it with my experience with a woman I knew at Jonesboro Arkansaw
I remember watching Bobbie Gentry perform this song on The Johnny Cash Show. That's another great one. IDK if she was on Hee Haw or not, Grand Old Opry. If so, I prob. first saw and heard her there on those tv shows. The Cash show performance is the one I recall the most. She wore a red pant suit. Slightly sways on stage while signing. I loved the song then and now. So much I obtained almost all of The Johnny Cash Shows bootleg form on dvd. I have his very first performance around somewhere too. A bootleg of course. Thanks for the deep dive on this song.
This is a great story told in song. Back then there was more ability to take a chance on something experimental. Folk music came into a high in the sixties. Not all story songs were great but some were exquisite. Someone mentioned Harper Valley P.T.A. One of my favourites is The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. I'm not sure where you are taking this channel, but if you continue like this I will stay subscribed.
Thank you for this ep. I was born after the song, but I tripped over it when one of my favorite commentators brought it up and dissected it. I appreciated hearing from someone more musically inclined than he is. ;)
Bobbie's parents were thoroughly typical members of the "Greatest Generation." Heroes in war, but people didn't do sensitivity in those days. I never thought Bobbie & Billie Joe were particularly close friends. Her tragedy came a year later, after Papa died, her brother lit out for Tupelo, and Mama fell into a deep depression. Bobbie went to the bridge to get away from Mama and reflect that the day before Billie Joe died had been the last day of her childhood. The song seems a close cousin of Bob Dylan's Ballad of Hollis Brown.
I heard so many freakin story of what was thrown off the bridge. The mystery and mystique has been open for speculation for over 50 years. I really couldn't give a hoot what was tossed from the bridge. Y'all let the mystery go on. I just know this is a ass kickin great song. On my top 50 songs of all time list.
Such an emotional mysterious song talking about human suffering and incommunication ! Has been adapted in french by Joe Dassin under the title "Marie-Jeanne"
Bobbie Gentry is one of the great female singer song writers her tales of woe are echoed even in 70s subversive girls of punk like Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux women who were able to fight head on the male chauvinism of the rock industry. Bobbie is a trail blazer!
The song, "Ode To Billie Joe" has a surreal meaning to me. My Dad was born on the "3rd of June." The song was released on July 10, 1967 and years later, my Mom passed away on July 10. When graduating high school in 1967, my fellow classmates said that in 10 years, I'd be playing in Las Vegas. In 1977, I was playing drums in Las Vegas for Bobbie Gentry in her production shows at the Frontier Hotel.
My best guess: An aborted, dead "baby" (at whatever stage of development it was in). Did it die, as the result of the abortion? Or, was it killed/murdered, after the attempt, by any one of the people mentioned in the song?
ode to billie joe took over a m radio in the summer of '67. it was so unlike other songs it should not have been heard. i was sick of the song after hearing it every day for weeks! now, i can listen to it without getting queasy. i wonder what happened to glynnis o'connor. she was so cute! i never saw her in any other movie.
I can't dissassociate the song from the movie plot - which frankly seems completely believable, espeically given the time and place. I'm sure I heard the song first, as I would not have seen the movie in 76 (too young), but somewhere along the line I did, and the meaning is forever linked.
I saw the movie, too! I felt so sorry for Billy Joe, and identified with him somehow, but wasn't as religious or suicidal as him. As a bisexual transwoman, I discovered why in therapy!
Thank you. I grew up with this song. And as I did the meaning changed for me as I grew older. As a side note, thank you for the music theory breakdown. I learned to play this by ear and had no idea about such. Tell you what, when it comes to campfire songs this one always starts off the ghost stories segments. BTW, not buying the wedding ring story. It's flowers.
THAT'S MOVIE REMAINS ME WHEN I WOULD GO TO THE COUNTRY ASK A CHILD IN THE BACK WOODS OF KENTUCKY IN THE SUMMER TIMES COMING FROM CINCINNATI TOO SEE MY GRANDPARENTS❤😅
What did our narrator and Billie Joe throw off the bridge? A McGuffin. They threw a McGuffin off the bridge. And yeah, coming from a student of both musical theory and philosophy, this is completely understandable. Coming at "The Message" one wants to get across sideways like this is a time-honored tactic of philosophers/teachers going back probably since before written history. As to her choices in the guitar composition - it has been my experience that talented song writers will let their instincts lead them down a musical path initially, and _then_ think about and refine what they "just tossed out there" until it makes sense in theory and theme. So I think the answer is "both" done by feel and by deliberate calculation. Incidentally, I was alive when this tune was first released and soared to the top of the local radio rotation lists - albeit very young, not quite in first grade yet. But I still remember the first time I heard the song as my mother dragged me off on some errand or another that summer between kindergarten and "real school", and even then it sent chills up my spine... and it has been a favorite ever since. Thanks for the excellent dive into this one!! 👍
I’ve ALWAYS wondered what this song meant & whom this song was about. I’ve watched the movie & loved the movie. I’ve asked ppl if they knew the song & what it meant??🧐🧐 nobody knew……I’m 49yo & still fascinated/still curious w this song still. I’ll go to the comments & see if anyone can shine some light on this song. Hopefully I won’t get anymore confused. Either way I’m a fan of it.
There's a lot about Bobbie Gentry I reluctantly omitted for the sake of time: the egregious sexism she faced in the music business; the lawsuits over who wrote and produced "Ode to Billie Joe"; the speculation about why she retired. If I want to say anything at all about a song, I have to say less about its artist, unfortunately. For a deeper look, start with Tara Murtha's book Ode to Billie Joe.
Although I used still images from the movie Ode to Billy Joe, I chose not to discuss it in any detail. The movie (which was made with Bobbie Gentry's participation) offers an explanation for Billie/Billy Joe's suicide and specifies what was thrown from the bridge. But in these videos, I want to hew as closely as possible to the original texts.
There indeed was a lawsuit brought against Capitol Records and Bobbie Gentry by producer Bobby Paris over his dismissal by Bobbie Gentry as producer. Jimmie Haskell stated in print before he died that Paris had cashed a Capitol Records check which was suppose to be split between him and Gentry and kept all the money. Bobbie Gentry ,in retaliation, booted him off any producer credits for the million selling debut album. Paris waited until 1973 to sue and was awarded 1% of the songs profits which amounted to 32,000 dollars. He essentially won the battle but lost the war. Bobbie Gentry made millions . There was NEVER a legal dispute as to who wrote the song. Singer-songwriter ,Jim Ford, claimed for decades that he wrote O.T.B.J without a shred of proof. He never took his claim to court. Bear Family Records had the audacity to print his libelous claim in the liner notes of one of Fords re-issued albums. Jim Ford was known as an habitual liar and had claimed to have co-authored or authored other songs without his name on them as well. Ironically in the same line notes where Gentry was libeled, Nick Lowe stated Jim was "known to tell tall tales and stretch the truth a bit". Gentry kept her rough drafts of O.T.B.J and donated some to The Un. Of Mississippi which prove she authored the song and show her creative process in doing so. To date, she never bothered to sue Bear Family Records for their libelous claims..
Thank you for your interesting video ❤
How do we know that Billie Joe was a male? The song leaves it ambiguous. I am pretty sure Billie Joe was a she
Tara Murtha's book on Bobbie Gentry falls painfully short on any actual information that wasn't already available all over the web. There were researchers into Bobbie's career and particularly this song who shared information with her not widely known or publicized and for whatever reason Ms. Murtha chose to not include it in her book. At least one person I know shared details with her which she glossed over without any specifics, and she failed to acknowledge that person in her credits. She spoke with me for over an hour and for all the help I tried to offer her she failed to follow up on leads to family, friends and musicians still living at the time who could have shared a wealth of information about her career and details regarding 'Ode'. They don't grow investigative music journalists like they used to and the colleges like the one she went to don't prepare them to go the distance. At best, I give her a 'C' for her Cliff's Notes version easily found on Google and Wikipedia long before she ever typed a word on the subject.
@@arilevaux
Billie Joe is male. "Brother" says, "And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?" and then, "I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge."
This song still sends chills down my spine.
Gentry was quoted as saying "Ode" was an exercise in unintentional cruelty. The vocal phrasing and arrangement can lead the listener to question if Momma knew more than she was letting on or we can wonder if she was simply reciting the local gossip for the family. It's an exquisite piece of songwriting.
Thanks for this . . .
Thanks, always wondered about the origins for this song and movie which back them was ahead of its time.
Y E S !!!!!
That song has brought a tear to my eye for over 50 yrs and still does. It's so good. Thank you for the reminder, and the music lesson.
Same feelings exactly same but if I'm correct over 60 years for me..
@@theodoresweger4948 getting close, I think she released it in 1967
Same here…..
I'm constantly blown away finding people who reacted similar to me. You guys have more understanding about what the song actually said, but soon I'm gonna catch up! And yeah btw, I think the song came out in 1967, so as of today, it's about 56 years now.
Yes
I'm 75 now, but way back in 1977, when I was 27, I heard word that Bobbie Gentry was auditioning drummers, to perform in her new upcomming Las Vegas production shows at the Frontier Hotel. Living in Southern Ca., I drove into Hollywood to make the audition. I was told many drummers showed up and that some could play well, but couldn't read music. Some could read, but didn't play well. The music for the show was of a "Broadway" style with fully-orchestrated arrangements. After running partially through one of the tunes ( a "5-6-7-8" count-off type of tune) we stopped and I was told I had the gig ! I was elated ! I was given the book of drum charts, packed up my drums, and was told when to return for rehearsals prior to the Vegas shows. At the Frontier, we played two, hour-and-a-half shows per night, 7-nights per week. Al Alvarez was the orchestra conductor and Norm Crosby was the comedian with the show. The next year, 1978, we played at the Aladdin Hotel in Vegas with a whole new show. Al Gambino was the orchestra conductor there. Jim Stafford performed with Bobbie at the Aladdin. This was when Jim and Bobbie were dating each other.
Bobbie Gentry was a marvelous and wonderful person to know. She was the consummate artist/performer. Always friendly and eager to make working for her a very pleasant experience. I am always proud to say that I worked for the great Bobbie Gentry.
I think the string arrangement is genius. It really sets the mood of the lyrics and acoustic guitar.
Yes! I was just about to say that. Not only the arrangement but the sound of the strings too
I agree. Especially the "falling flowers" at the end. Very clever.
I agree!
I also agree. The strings add a depth to the song that just an acoustic guitar arrangement could never have done. They are also restrained enough - not always there - and not overwhelming the way a whole orchestra would have been. They also add a Southern feeling to the piece.
So true!String arrangement killed! I loved the last string part, no apologies!
For this song, if she revealed it, the song would lose its mysterious vibe. One of the greatest songs ever written.
I confess, when I saw the photo of Robby Benson at first, I felt my heart sink. But you got this just right. The narrator’s entire world collapses right there at the table, and no one notices - or more likely, they just skate right by. It’s all in what isn’t said. Bobbie Gentry was a stellar songwriter.
It’s kind of self-centered to assume that the narrator’s world falls apart. We have no evidence of this. Experiencing grief and having your world fall apart or not the same thing.
Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to BillyJoe is a sad story … I love her sultry voice that takes this song to another level. In my option, no one else could perform this number and get the meaning over to the audience better that Bobbie. In the movie, the “something“ they through off the bridge was BobbieLee’s rag doll ‘Benjamin’. Because BillyJoe was jealous of that imaginary friend that BobbyLee always told her secrets to. I use this song on my phone as a ringtone… and weirdly enough, I think of this song every June 3rd.
Being that both my parents worked at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, I got to go backstage to meet Ms Bobbie Gentry! She was delightful and signed my little acoustic guitar. I went home and made the signature permanent with a wood burning pen. That was September 1968.
Bobbies voice was absolutely perfect for the story she wrote. And the music arrangement was absolutely brilliant. A sound that is still as chilling and moving today.
Bobbi did all that shyt herself, first woman to write, sing and produce their album "Ode to Billy Joe"
The strings make that song perfection. I wonder why she left the music business. She was a genuis and there is no one like her. And she wrote Fancy that Reba McEntire made world famous. Bobbie thank you for your work. The story of this song is haunting all these years later.
Someone else sang Fancy years before Reba McIntrye sang it. I was a child when it came out and I bought the 45 of it but I can’t remember who sang it. I don’t think Reba made it famous, she made it famous AGAIN.
Years. Bobby gentry sang fancy
I mean, she was a one hit wonder, the music industry probably left her. And I’ve never heard of that song that you referenced.
A mysterious song by a mysterious lady. What more could you ask for.
I remember being absolutely fascinated by this song back in the day, and always wondered exactly what the song was about....as I got older, I was able to read into it that it was about a suicide that no one wanted to talk about (as things like that rarely were back then), but the main character's viewpoint in the song seemed to be overcome with grief and loss, yet couldn't talk about it with her family, who more or less pooh-poohed it like "well, he got what he deserved, after all, he was trouble(d)." Very dark tune for that time of history...but then, the Vietnam war was raging, and all sorts of things were "going down" in the world, so perhaps it actually fit the times well.
In the book he was raped by a Carne at a circus.That was the reason
Great commentary kelli.
@@nonyabiz550 What book? Ode to Billie Joe?
@@henrybrowne7248 Yes
I didn't read the book, but was deeply moved by the film. At the time, I believed it was implied that Billie Joe was sexually assaulted by an older man. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be the assault itself, or Billie Joe's realization that he was homosexual that caused him to take his life. So sad.
At one point after the song came out , Bobby was married to Bill Harrah, of Harrah's Hotel and Casino in Lake Tahoe NV. He was much older than she. Fun fact: The movie OTBJ was produced by Max Baer (Jethro on the Beverly Hillbillies)
I am old enough to have heard when it was on the charts and coming out of our AM car radio and I'll be honest, (I was 8) it scared me the first time I heard it; it was classic first TV performance. I've been a performing/recording songwriter for 50 years and am still a tenderfoot at the kind of regional nuance that REVEALS THE DARK UNDERBELLY or simply states a harsh, real sin without the make-up that Shame puts on things. Merle Haggard was blessed with this skill set, too. The creepy verse at the kitchen table IS like a movie... the listener is forced to fill-in what no one has the Southern Baptist balls to say out loud. Because it is about a bad thing caused by spiritual parochialism (still and ever the greatest threat to my town, county, country and democracy), it's still relevant.
So is 'Harper Valley PTA'.
Both are two very very good songs. JR Cash is another who could make you think and feel things. Most ppl thought he'd been in prison lol. He spent a few hours in a county jail once for picking flowers in someones yard. Busted at the border with tons of pills, uppers in his guitar case. Nothing came of it except he wasn't allowed back into Mexico. I just mean, I rank him up there with Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard etc....
Southern Baptists? ….all of them in a “fictional” song..… oh please
I'm a Southern Baptist. Yes.
@@webstercat religion is so divisive. There is more hate and self loathing generated by those that call themselves religious …..SMH.
bhhNC . Also The Night the lights went out in Georgia
I remember listening to an interview of Bobby Gentry and she said that the focus of the song wasn't about why but it was about how people acted. Unfeeling about a young teen who just killed himself. They were talking about it in-between passing dinner about. Like it was just a story and not about a real person. How gossip and being down right cruel to each other can destroy people.
The religiously sanctioned and societally condoned systematic dehumanization of homosexuality creates a dehumanization of homosexuality that leads to the permissive atmosphere for contempt and hatred to flourish through subjective comparison. Due to said conditioning of the collective societal psyche, Billy Joe was not seen as human, therefore making his death inconsequential.
I agree completely; this was more a tragedy to be mourned than a juicy bit of news to stimulate our minds in the absence of a more positive stimulus. It reminds me of the common cultural thinking of the time "As long as it's not me, or my family, it's not real to me" paraphrasing of course, but you get the drift.
@@DavePuckett But, unfortunately, it is, to a degree, human nature to only be concerned about that which directly relates to one's immediate or future reality.
@lynnbaker2336 I don't think it's human nature. It's more conditioning over the years of culture and so-called professionals. For decades, culture has focused on telling people to take care of yourself only. When one has been on this earth for 60 years, one has lots of time lines to compare this to.
it's about how people think "I'll show them" while commiting suicide only for "them" to blow over it like it's nothing
This song is wonderfully haunting. I love it.
One month ago on a trip from NW Arkansas to the Florida - Alabama gulf coast (Orange Beach) we drove by this river and the bridge. We played this song about 8 times. I think your analysis is the most intelligent breakdowns of this beautiful song.
I had the LP and played it to death. Loved the song, Ode to Billy Joe, and loved the movie based on it. I have maintained through the years, that if the public and press hadn't tortured her the way they had, and she had continued to record, she would have easily become 'the Female Elvis." Her style and voice were unique and fantastic.
Wherever she is. I hope she’s not estranged from any she needs most. Her talent is so immense. You couldn’t even think about her being the most beautiful female performer of her era. And, she carried herself intelligent and educated woman. As a teenager, she could make me blush from the T.V. screen. Long live the Queen of Choctaw Ridge!
Charles, what a great repertoire of information.
Fondest memories as a child included, my father being of Native American blood. My mom had told me, they where choc taw and Chickasaw. My whole life I hade no clue the details of the landscapes of the south. Oklahoma being so close I thought was where the bridge was. Now corrected, I have some tips for my genealogy.
Clever how hints of History of this nature and stories of this amazing singer.
She had always been a favorite. The strums of the violins .
Took me to the late sixties.
I’m in awe…. Daddy died 1970’
God knows I miss him.
JH
This truly is one of the best written songs ever. It has ALWAYS been one of my favorites throughout the late 60s until this very day. Wherever you are Bobbi, I love you. ❤❤
Have not thought about this song in decades.
Back in the early 1970s as a child, I heard it often enough.
I think my mother owned the 45, though radio play was likely too.
Then it faded away.
I am partly here for the nostalgia, because it has been so long ago.
Such a powerful song, lyrics, tune and storytelling. Love it.
I always listened to this as a teenager back in the '70's I'm 59 now in 2023 and still love and listen to this song I also watched the movie too
I saw Bobby Gentry in Vegas sing Lucy in the sky! She was swinging on a swing with diamonds dress!
She sure was beautiful....
Without plastic surgery.
I like that swirling sound it makes the song more beautiful.
Your break down of song. Straight beloved and reverent. TIMELESS
Ironically it was Lee Hazelwood who first hit the pop hot with his cover of Ode to Billie Joe. His label had somehow lifted the Jimmie Haskell string arrangements. While Hazelwood's version was gaining momentum on the bottom of pop hot 100, Capitol made the marketing decision to go with O.T.B.J as her label debut .It quickly drowned out the Hazelwood cover on its quick assent to #1. In 1967 alone, Ode to Billie Joe would be covered 9 times .The most successful of these covers was the instrumental by King Curtis and the Kingpins which soared to #6 r&b and #27 pop. I was informed by executives at U.M.G( which currently manage Bobbie Gentry's Capitol Records vault and publishing) that her sales of O.T.B.J alone stand between 8-10 million over the last half century. The classic song now boasts over 200 covers with most being by r&b and jazz artists.
Great info. Thanks.
I loved this song when it first came out. The thing that made it stand out to me was that the music itself that underlined the depression of the poor rural area, where attention was on survival - making enough to live, attempting to make a home and failing. The narrator and Billy Jo's tragic relationship. Its also about the cruelty of failure. There is no happiness for anyone.
Hearing this song for the first time in my car made me late to work. I had to hear it all the way through. I've been a dedicated fan ever since.
In 1967 myself and others got to see Bobbie and Glen Campbell in concert at The University of Southern Mississippi. She did Ode to Billie Joe and Campbell did Whicita Lineman. I remember the movie that came along a few years later. Today I live in Meridian, the home of Jimmie Rodgers. Elvis is from Tupelo and Marty Stuart is from right up the road in Philadelphia.
To experience that was incredible. What a memorable event
Is that the Meridian of Red Dirt Girl?
Must have nearly driven my folks crazy by playing that 45 record over, & over, & over in 9th grade!
I think the song has to be separated from the movie that came later.
The song hearkens toward the Southern gothic aesthetic created and utilized by Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, along with the ironic horror of Flannery O'Connor: a South of the mundane and the genteel that resists highly emotional reactions to pain and tragedy. It's the corn-pone version of the British stiff upper lip. Suffering secretly without complaint should be the lot of people whose fabled heritage and way of life was destroyed by conquering interlopers. In that literary tradition there's always an unspoken darkness that hides behind the hard labor, faith, and values. The song's epilogue tells of the dissolution of the family by the different ways the characters depart: father by death, brother by marriage and relocation, mother by depression, and the teller of the tale through grief unresolved.
It's one really great song.
I remember hearing that in certain parts of the country, it was customary to destroy tokens of affection lovers had given one another when the couple broke up. One way of doing that was to throw the items off a bridge. It may have been Bobbie herself who said it in an interview, or a DJ who had experienced it for himself. In any event, I never knew there was a REAL Billie Joe who died on June 3, 1966. As a young teen, that record was one of my favorites.
I absolutely love this song, it's as if I'm there.
Damn, I had absolutely no intention of subscribing to this channel, however after that truly first rate and extremely fascinating glimpse into not only the song, but the mind and soul behind it, you left me no real choice.
Jody Reynolds was a very close friend of mine for about 40 years. I played music with him some and we wrote some songs together. I was at his rustic cabin home in Poppet Flats where he was a next door neighbor to Buffalo Springfield drummer Dewey Martin up in the San Jacinto Mountains up above Banning near Silent Valley and later on when he moved to Bermuda Dunes after a fire nearly destroyed his cabin in Poppet Flats in 1999 or 2000. Jody was present when Bobbie Gentry wrote 'Ode To Billie Joe' which happened in the summer of 1966 when he was on tour with his band playing clubs across the southwest. Jody found Bobbie playing vibes and guitar in a Jazz club in Palm Springs where both Jody resided, and Bobbie was still living part time with her mother when she wasn't in L.A. while attending college. Jody hired her on the spot as a rhythm guitarist and backup singer, which led to their vocal duet A&B sides single on the Titan label that same year. Jody was impressed with her superb musicianship and her excellent vocal abilities and soon after her songwriting talents after embarking on a tour that began with a 10 night stand at the Majestic Club in Blythe, CA which had a large dancehall and bar as well as a first-class restaurant. Adjacent to the Majestic was the St Charles Hotel where Jody and the band were staying. When I first met him Jody related the story of Bobbie writing Ode To Billie Joe.
Jody told me, "One night after the first gig at the Majestic we all gathered out on the veranda of the St Charles Hotel overlooking the nearby Colorado River, which we could see very well at night. It had cooled down some, but it was still real hot, about 100 degrees that night and it was very humid. Bobbie said that the sight of the river with the late night heat and humidity reminded her of her home back in Chickasaw County in Mississippi, where she was born and spent her early childhood down on the Tallahatchie River."
"She grabbed her Martin parlor guitar and started playing that funky D7th chord that omits the root in the bass on the 5th string with an A on the bottom on the big E string, which gives the chord a swampy sound. She started singing "It was the 3rd of June..."and that was the actual date that Friday night in 1966! She just sat there with her guitar and wrote the song which started out with about a dozen verses she originally came up with on the spot in about 20 minutes right there in front of me and my small band which consisted of pianist Bobby Craig, bass man Frank Seeley and drummer Ron Coppola who were all longtime well-known local Palm Springs musicians. I told her, "Bobbie Lee, you'd better write that down!" She agreed and handwrote it on a yellow legal pad she had in her suitcase."
"She vowed to take it to Capitol Records when the tour ended. She told me, "I'm going to get a hit out of this song!" After our little tour ended, she went to Capitol and walked right in with her guitar in hand and asked to speak with a producer. She explained that she had written a song she wanted them to hear. She was escorted into a room and she sang and played the song for them. They recorded a demo of her playing her guitar and singing her edited version of the song which is the short version everyone knows. She played it in real time just sitting on a stool with her little Martin parlor guitar, playing those fat chords like that uncommon D7th grip she used in that song. She only frets 4 strings on that chord but man what a sound she got out of it. That's a Big-Band chord that Swing era guitarists used to back horn sections back in the 30's and 40's. I heard her play that chord when I first heard her at that Jazz club in Palm Springs. I asked her where she learned chords like that, and she told me she had been around Jazz musicians all of her life and learned a lot just by watching and listening. She also a trained musician and can sight read a lead sheet and knows about arranging."
"When she finished singing that song when she wrote it there that night in Blythe, I asked her, "Bobbie, what did they throw off the bridge?" She told me, "I don't know. Let me know when you figure out." Then I asked her why Billie Joe jumped off the bridge and killed himself and she told me, "I don't rightly know for sure. It's a mystery, just like what was thrown off the bridge."
"Over the years folks have read all kinds of things into that song and not one but two big mysteries have kept that song alive all these years, what with a book and a film, and none of that is really about what really happened, it's all speculation and nothing more than fodder for conspiracy theories. Bobbie has always said the song is really about apathy and the cruel nature of people in the South, where she was born and lived as a pre-teen, around everyday people who can look at the plight of other folks, even their neighbors and their family and others around them without the least hint of concern or slightest care. They see it but they just look a hole through it and look right thru the people who are suffering around them, and they are unfazed by it. It's not about drugs or teen pregnancy or abortion or racism or some cinematic drama scene like the Max Baer film about a young boy being in love with a girl who gets drunk and commits suicide after being sodomized. That stuff was all in the minds of magazine writers and newspaper journalists and movie script writers. None of that is even hinted at in the song."
"Years later I saw Bobbie here in Palm Springs where she has always kept a home even though she has lived in Hollywood and Vegas, Memphis and Nashville and other places including back home in Chickasaw County. I asked her if she knew that was thrown off that bridge or why Billie Joe killed himself and she told me she had an idea of what it might be, but she had never revealed it to anyone not even her mother. I said I thought it might have been a diary and she said, "That's good, but that still not it. It's a secret I plan to take to my grave." As long as people continue hearing that song, they are going to speculate about what happened, what was thrown off the bridge and why Billie Joe killed himself."
It’s for comments like this I always prowl the comment section. Thank you for trying that in and sharing it. But dang, I wish she had shared what she thought the answers were to the two mysteries!
I have always thought it was a fetus, or stillborn.
@@MiJaHa That was the point of writing a mystery into a song - it generates a lot of interest, and the theories just keep coming. That's the brilliance of great writers like Bobbie and Tom T Hall - don't ever tell all you know and leave folks hanging on the details.
@@CiscoDuck That's always been my feeling ever since the song first came out. "Good" girls didn't get pregnant out of wedlock,especially at that time in the south.
@@MiJaHa Well, that was the general accepted perception in the Bible belt and the south, but good ol' boys will be boys and good ol' girls get preggers and those who do keep it out of sight one way or the other. I remember stories of family members who got in the family way way back when were sent away to live with relatives in another state or they were shunned. Of course, nothing done to the boy who contributed needed biological sample to get those girls in that condition. "Eve's to blame for all sin," and all that. Bobbie certainly addressed a lot of levels of southern hypocrisy in 'Ode...' and others she dealt with between the lines and the unsaid. That song is actually deep. And the general story line lends to the novelization and cinematic portrayal of the various characters in some interesting light - which Bobbie knew about - she had creative control over her intellectual property. Very talented and very smart gal. She quit while she was ahead and went away to live her life in peace and silence - adding yet more mystery to the equation.
That string swirl was not stupid, Stupid. It was greatness.
Added to the Haunting, and yes Sadness. I also sensed that something unjust had happened. Attagirl Bobbie💜👍!!!
At the beginning the way the strings play you can almost imagine the heat waves coming up off the ground
Of course I heard it growing up, and felt the mood of it at the time, but I didn't know really know anything about this strange but fascinating song. Thanks for the education. Well done again and appreciate all the varied cultural touchpoints along the way.
Thank you much!
An excellent analysis/tribute. We hope more videos will be forthcoming!
Bobbie, one of my top favorite artists, brought me to your channel. Your assessment of Jimmie Haskell's perfect-for-the-mood arrangement as 'stupid' turned me around. I won't let the doorknob hit me.
I think the year was 1967, maybe 1968 or 66. I kept hearing this song in the newly opened recreational center near the junior high school, probably in hopes of keeping kids out of trouble, where we all went to play pocket pool, table soccer, and the like. I never knew exactly what the song was about but Gentry's subtle blend of tragedy and funky blues sank deep into my soul and quietly burned . . . Without my realizing it. In my head those words "Chocktau Ridge", sassy strings, and the feeling that something either naughty, tragic, or mysterious had happened, repeated over and over. I was a weird kid to begin with, and always obsessed with one thing or another but never realized until much much later that certain kinds of masterpieces were constantly entering me and thriving . . . in other words I'm a music guy. I never heard the song again until this masterful analysis of yours, which brings it all together for me. Thanks so much for posting! And You're right, Bobbie Gentry is a forgotten genius. Man, I'm gonna study this song as soon as I can get around to it . . .
Yes, it was a wedding ring! But she also threw over her ragdoll to represent the loss of innocence, because Billy Joe was violated, and he didn’t think he was worthy of marriage after that!😢 Excellent video I just found your channel looking forward to more interesting breakdowns😊
Bobbie Joe threw the engagement ring to, Billie Joe didn’t have the engagement ring! Bobbie Joe threw the rag doll when, she was walking over the bridge beforehand (as in before Billie Joe jumped) if you watch the movie you will see that! Later you see Bobbie Joe was walking over the bridge after Billy Joe had done jumped off the Bridge! She was out walking and thinking and that’s when, she threw the ring! She felt the ring no longer meant anything, even though it wasn’t a engagement ring, if you remember Billie Joe gave her just a promise ring!
Two things.....
1) Billy Joe McCallister is the guy. We never actually learn the singer's name.
2) The complete disconnect of everyone in the singer's family, each immersed in their own little world allowed the teenage singer to reach term in an unwanted pregnancy with even her mother not noticing.
She, accompanied by Billie Joe, gave birth to a live born infant on Choctaw Ridge ("no good ever happens up on Choctaw Ridge").
An out-of-wedlock baby would be absolutely ruinous for the young couple. They would be excommunicated from the church, banned from all social events and ostracized by the townsfolk. Billie Joe would lose his job and they both would be thrown out of their parents' homes in disgrace.
So, being dumb, scared teenagers, they did what they felt needed to be done.....
.......they smothered the newborn.
They then wrapped it up, and "gave it back to God" by dropping it off of the bridge.
Billy Joe was so wracked with guilt in the subsequent weeks, that he was finally driven to suicide.
The singer is a survivor who, despite feeling sadness for the two losses, is strong enough to cope.
In the book he was raped by a carney at a traveling carnival
@@sophistichistory4645
@@sophistichistory4645 That's always been my take on the song, too.
Rumor is Bobbie is in Nashville ... it makes me happy to thinks she is ...Id love to bump into her on the side walk and thank her for her music.
Hooooly crap! I love that song and didn't ponder too much on what was dropped into that water. Hearing that it was a wedding ring gave the song a whole new meaning, and I'm not lying, I'm crying right now! I have never cried over that song until now. I get the chills when I hear it, sure. But tears? Not until I heard that it was a wedding ring. Dang!
It wasn't. Maybe in the movie, but not in the song - it's absolutely vague and open to interprteation.
Such amazing work! Your first two uploads promise a lot for the future of this channel, and I'm super excited to see your next video. You could have kept my attention for 20-25 min, easily. Also, lmao at the comments 😂 keep it up!
Wow, many thanks! It's funny you should say that about 20-25 minutes...I was trying so hard to keep this one shorter than 15 minutes, but I couldn't do it! Good to know that at least one viewer is cool with that!
@@InsideTheSong More than one!
@@InsideTheSong make that “at least two viewers” - I really enjoyed your approach
One of my favorite songs. Timeless Classic. Bobbie Gentry 🎙️💥🙏❤
My Brother and I were quite young but inive with the song. It was so Soulful and a haunting tale we couldn't understand. In those days music was a very shared experience.
It is told in such a Hemingway stlyle, it is truly a great and unique song. It haunts me still.
Excelent very well done, I love the explination and since I have never studied music, I disagree with the sound of the floweres falling. I loved how in the middle of the discusion, she would say passs the biscuits please with no sighn of emotion!! I haved always loved this song ever since I heard it and somehow connect it with my experience with a woman I knew at Jonesboro Arkansaw
What an amazing insight into an equally amazing song. It tends to remind me with Cemetery youtubes I watch, truly haunting.
I was raised on good music, so you know that I had ‘Ode To Billy Joe ‘on 45 🎶
I remember watching Bobbie Gentry perform this song on The Johnny Cash Show. That's another great one. IDK if she was on Hee Haw or not, Grand Old Opry. If so, I prob. first saw and heard her there on those tv shows. The Cash show performance is the one I recall the most. She wore a red pant suit. Slightly sways on stage while signing. I loved the song then and now. So much I obtained almost all of The Johnny Cash Shows bootleg form on dvd. I have his very first performance around somewhere too. A bootleg of course.
Thanks for the deep dive on this song.
This is a great story told in song. Back then there was more ability to take a chance on something experimental. Folk music came into a high in the sixties. Not all story songs were great but some were exquisite. Someone mentioned Harper Valley P.T.A. One of my favourites is The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot. I'm not sure where you are taking this channel, but if you continue like this I will stay subscribed.
Thank you for this ep. I was born after the song, but I tripped over it when one of my favorite commentators brought it up and dissected it. I appreciated hearing from someone more musically inclined than he is. ;)
Oh, it's been so very long since this song came to mind. Thanks for the reminder!
I love songs that make great poetry out of common, everyday words.
I like your insight into making everyday words poetry. Our ordinary lives are poetry. Thanks!
I enjoyed your second posting a lot. Remember Harper Valley PTA?
The question I've always had with this song is the bridge is about 10 feet off the water?
My big sister took me to see the movie. I cried so hard ......
Ah, part of my era. Listening to the top hits on the radio while doing housework.
Superb analysis of a song that if you hear it once, you will never forget it.
"Ode to Billie Joe" was #1 the week I was born.
Bobbie's parents were thoroughly typical members of the "Greatest Generation." Heroes in war, but people didn't do sensitivity in those days. I never thought Bobbie & Billie Joe were particularly close friends. Her tragedy came a year later, after Papa died, her brother lit out for Tupelo, and Mama fell into a deep depression. Bobbie went to the bridge to get away from Mama and reflect that the day before Billie Joe died had been the last day of her childhood. The song seems a close cousin of Bob Dylan's Ballad of Hollis Brown.
I always thought it was a new born baby. Why she couldn't eat and spent her time on Choctaw Ridge. The message,be kind.
I thought it was a stillborn baby.
I always thought that too!
I was in high school when this song hit the pop charts.
Love your work, and your sense of humour. Thanks for posting.
I heard so many freakin story of what was thrown off the bridge. The mystery and mystique has been open for speculation for over 50 years. I really couldn't give a hoot what was tossed from the bridge. Y'all let the mystery go on. I just know this is a ass kickin great song. On my top 50 songs of all time list.
Such an emotional mysterious song talking about human suffering and incommunication !
Has been adapted in french by Joe Dassin under the title "Marie-Jeanne"
Bobbie Gentry is one of the great female singer song writers her tales of woe are echoed even in 70s subversive girls of punk like Patti Smith and Siouxsie Sioux women who were able to fight head on the male chauvinism of the rock industry. Bobbie is a trail blazer!
I could have gone the rest of my life without hearing that vocal assassination of my national anthem 😢
The song, "Ode To Billie Joe" has a surreal meaning to me. My Dad was born on the "3rd of June." The song was released on July 10, 1967 and years later, my Mom passed away on July 10. When graduating high school in 1967, my fellow classmates said that in 10 years, I'd be playing in Las Vegas. In 1977, I was playing drums in Las Vegas for Bobbie Gentry in her production shows at the Frontier Hotel.
MY PARENTS BROGHT THAT'S SONGS WHEN I WAS A KID GROWING UPS I LOVE ITS STORES😅
I like the swirly strings!
“By the way, it was a wedding ring” tells it all! Thank you! 😘
I was young when this song was a hit. I’ve always thought they threw a newborn off the bridge, then Billie Joe couldn’t handle it
I'm same age range as you, and that's how I always took it.
My mind went there too, it’s the only thing that would evoke the emotions that this song brings out. In my mind it was a still born baby 💔
My best guess: An aborted, dead "baby" (at whatever stage of development it was in). Did it die, as the result of the abortion? Or, was it killed/murdered, after the attempt, by any one of the people mentioned in the song?
ode to billie joe took over a m radio in the summer of '67. it was so unlike other songs it should not have been heard. i was sick of the song after hearing it every day
for weeks! now, i can listen to it without getting queasy. i wonder what happened to glynnis o'connor. she was so cute! i never saw her in any other movie.
She played in "The Boy in The Plastic Bubble" with John Travolta (1970's).
I love learning about music trivia. More please! 😁
Love this! Great video in so many ways!
That was my fav song when I was a kid.
That and tanya tucker
Delta Dawn!!
I can't dissassociate the song from the movie plot - which frankly seems completely believable, espeically given the time and place. I'm sure I heard the song first, as I would not have seen the movie in 76 (too young), but somewhere along the line I did, and the meaning is forever linked.
I saw the movie, too! I felt so sorry for Billy Joe, and identified with him somehow, but wasn't as religious or suicidal as him. As a bisexual transwoman, I discovered why in therapy!
Thank you. I grew up with this song. And as I did the meaning changed for me as I grew older. As a side note, thank you for the music theory breakdown. I learned to play this by ear and had no idea about such. Tell you what, when it comes to campfire songs this one always starts off the ghost stories segments. BTW, not buying the wedding ring story. It's flowers.
I love this song. It’s so sad
Well this is really GOOD!! Boy did you do your research! Thank you! Haunted by this song since I was a boy.
THAT'S MOVIE REMAINS ME WHEN I WOULD GO TO THE COUNTRY ASK A CHILD IN THE BACK WOODS OF KENTUCKY IN THE SUMMER TIMES COMING FROM CINCINNATI TOO SEE MY GRANDPARENTS❤😅
My granddaddy was the chef for the movie crew
Thank you for this. It was excellent.
Have always loved this song given the era knew there had to be more to it❤
Thanks for this info. A wedding ring?!?! wow
What did our narrator and Billie Joe throw off the bridge? A McGuffin. They threw a McGuffin off the bridge. And yeah, coming from a student of both musical theory and philosophy, this is completely understandable. Coming at "The Message" one wants to get across sideways like this is a time-honored tactic of philosophers/teachers going back probably since before written history.
As to her choices in the guitar composition - it has been my experience that talented song writers will let their instincts lead them down a musical path initially, and _then_ think about and refine what they "just tossed out there" until it makes sense in theory and theme. So I think the answer is "both" done by feel and by deliberate calculation.
Incidentally, I was alive when this tune was first released and soared to the top of the local radio rotation lists - albeit very young, not quite in first grade yet. But I still remember the first time I heard the song as my mother dragged me off on some errand or another that summer between kindergarten and "real school", and even then it sent chills up my spine... and it has been a favorite ever since. Thanks for the excellent dive into this one!! 👍
How fascinating! Will sub right now! 💖
I’ve ALWAYS wondered what this song meant & whom this song was about. I’ve watched the movie & loved the movie. I’ve asked ppl if they knew the song & what it meant??🧐🧐 nobody knew……I’m 49yo & still fascinated/still curious w this song still. I’ll go to the comments & see if anyone can shine some light on this song. Hopefully I won’t get anymore confused. Either way I’m a fan of it.
I pray no one tries to do a remake of this movie, and someone else sings the song. I bet after I say this, that somebody will! 😢
It's indeed haunting as the previous poster said. I like songs that tell stories
BRILIANT , Would to see more vids like this
This was great, thank you!!
That bridge has always looked to be about 8 feet off the water.