Ode to Billy Joe - Bobbie Gentry (Reaction)
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2021
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“Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge-flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family.” - Bobbie Gentry
Thanks, I never knew this. Changes the meaning of the song.
@@patrickv391 another thought was that she pushed Billy Joe off after he threw the baby off
another thought was that she pushed Billy Joe off after he threw the baby off
Ja, I can much agree from Bobbie Gentry's interview. Also, Ja my mum told
me that when this song first came out most people thought das kids had thrown
a self-aborted baby off of das bridge und Billy Joe couldn't live with what they
had done. Of course that ist as incorrect as das film das Americans later made
writing das story as a gay sexual abuse thing.
It was a descent film, but quite wrong from what Bobbie Gentry's song was truly
about.
Why das Americans would turn her song into a story about teenage male sex
abuse I haven't a clue...Still appeasing their past 2 decades of Professed
Entitlements?
Gay sex during that era of history would have been extremely more taboo than
even unwed sex...Not common, almost unheard of or never happened.
People felt und exhibited much different moral values und integrity then now.
Now das Americans are apparently debating who gets to frequent which public
restrooms. :-)
If ya gonna stand-up und pee? Then go to das men's room...not mine.
We don't want urinals in das ladies room, und I certainly don't want to be
tending my face in das mirror while a girl/guy ist shaking their little willie
at das urinal. :-)
Have a fun day. Auf Wiedersehen aus Wiesbaden :-)
@@Stlmgnolia But, would her parent have known she had experienced a pregnancy? However, I suppose their cavalier attitude about life could very well have caused them to not even notice -- more concerned about those peas and apple pie.
Having grown up in a poor farming family on a rural farm in Mississippi
I can appreciate the complete truth and accuracy in her amazing lyrics. This is exactly how it was. I remember walking in and being yelled at, “Wipe your feet!” That’s another reason the floor was always clean enough to eat off and always felt so clean and cool under your bare feet. Then we’d wash up in the sink on the back porch with water from a deep water well pumped into the house. When you turned the water on it smelled like fresh rain! And when Daddy said he had more plowing to do in the lower forty, he meant not with a tractor but with a mule drawn plow. The meal you would sit down to wouldn’t be just lunch but a sit down dinner with everything from fried chicken, fresh farm grown vegetables, homemade biscuits and gravy, everything made from scratch and then your supper would be what was left over that had been covered with clean towels (often clean saved cloth flour sacks.) So when Mama says “I’ve been cookin’ all morning” she meant exactly that. I think the hard work and just the reality of their existence made this family pragmatic and completely focused on survival more so than simply not caring about Billy Joe. That is the way we often are though as you said, desensitized. A truly vivid portrait of life in the south back then painted with the paintbrush of Bobbie’s beautiful lyrics and voice!
And you do such a great and thoughtful job with your reviews. Keep up the good work! ♥️♥️
LOVE your comment & how you describe your Mama.🥰
I was raised in the South too & this song describes a "southern farming family's day" perfectly!
@@LayDeeTee1 ♥️♥️♥️
also the comment about the preacher coming to dinner was about trying to marry the daughter off to him
@@lilynumber9510 Yes! So true. Mama always loved the young preacher when she had a daughter around marrying age.
I think I've hit every video because I can't get enough of Bobbie. I grew up in lake Tahoe, and I knew her when she was married to Bill Harrah. My grandparents were friends with the family, and she was very nice to me. My family all came from the south, and her voice was very soothing to me. I was just a kid
1967 is when this came out, and I was 11 yrs. old. It was a huge hit, and they played it on the radio at least 20 times a day for a while. It's a great song, that makes you feel like you're in the southern United States yourself. What a storyteller Bobbie Gentry was. Pretty too.
She was eerily beautiful sort of mystical and Gothic like, a Southern thang.
Oh heck yes, my favorite song! They made a whole movie about it. Her storytelling! Other great songs she has is "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Fancy"
Love her version of Fancy but I prefer Dusty Springfield's original version of Son of a Preacher Man. I think Bobbie's version was a year after Dusty's but I could be wrong.
Joan Osborne did a FANTASTIC version of "Son of a Preacher Man"! I highly recommend it. 😊💜💚💛✌️
I love her voice, but really prefer Reba's version of Fancy
No fancy Reba son of a preacher man dusty Springfield
@@marielaveau5321Joan Osborne, ew.
Sweet heart u got it right. Jeanie even said it's about people desensitizing other people's death. They didn't even realize that the family was sitting there eating with Billy Joe's lady, which makes it even more sad. This was fiction, but it's just about people being cold. 🤔🤗😎
I always had such a crush on Bobbie Gentry... lovely country girl.
I never really cared what really happened. Her delivery of this song is just plain bad ass. Great reaction. You nailed it.
Truthfully, not caring about the specifics about what happened is the point. People want to speculate about what was thrown or why he jumped and not about the "unconscious cruelty" of how death/suicide/pain/ grieving is put on a back burner for only caring about our own lives or what is right in front of us.
My opinion, shoulda started with that
Without seeing that it is cruelty, that is. Like when a car crash happens and the first thing people do is (without info) speculate whether the person was drinking or if it was some ones fault. Like it's more important that you have the gossip than the importance of what happened
The story so captivated everyone, especially in the deep South that an urban legend sprung up that Bobby Gentry was questioned by Mississippi Bureau of Investigations Detectives in a effort to determine if it was true and if she was somehow involved.
Thank you for understanding the message of the song. You're obviously a bright young lady. And thank you for not pausing every few seconds like other reactors do.
Immediate goosebumps!! One of best songs ever!! Thanks Tasha....And Steve!! 😊🌹
This story telling song just evokes such a strong image of rural Mississippi life in the late 1950s. I can just imagine that farmhouse and its setting and them gathered around the table for "dinner" (lunch). My great-grandparents were from Mississippi and I'm definitely going to stop there this fall on a road trip to Florida from California. I really want to see where my ancestors came from, talk with the people and get a look at the countryside.
Everyone has thier own take on words...I love that song but for longest time I did not understand it...I'm glad that you put the singers history on the table. I never knew that she ran to Cali to become famous.
U are the only Reactor that will view the movies of these great songs .
This was a haunting, mysterious song when it came out, it was a huge hit.. I appreciate your sensitive, thoughtful comments about what passes for "entertainment" today. Please react to "Long Black Veil" and "I Still Miss Someone" with Joni Mitchell and Johnny Cash. thank you.
Was her only #1
She also wrote a song called Fancy. About a poor woman at the end of her line with her daughter. And in a last ditch effort to make a better life for the child, the mother turns the daughter out. A line "be nice to the gentleman Fancy, and they will be nice to you. The daughter does what she has to, and ends up with rich and powerful men, and rich and powerful herself. One of the last lines is, I may be plain white trash, but fancy was my name.
Great song and performance by Bobby. Thoughtful reaction. Very unusual number-one hit record.
What was thrown of the bridge is one of the mysteries of the song, She has sung duets with Glen Campbell but Ode to Billy Joe was her only Number one song She wrote recorded FANCY That's right Reba McEntire's version is a Cover I believe she also believe she wrote Son of a Preacher Man
I am not a crier, but this damn song tears me up every time. Did Robbie Benson play Billy Joe?
You're hitting some treasures now! This song and this live performance by Bobbie is classic! Totally mesmerizing and captivating story telling!
What I found captivating is that before seeing the video myself for the first time, I had never seen Bobbie Gentry perform this live and the sound engineer made this a pristine track. Though it is so obviously performed live, the quality of the recording, especially for 1968, is as good as or better than the studio track. This may be something to do with it being the BBC, because two other BBC performances, Neil young singing "Old Man" and The Beatles performing "Hey Jude, struck me the same way.
When she pitched this song to her producer she walked into his office with only her ukulele and began to sing it.
Bobbie played a parlour sized Martin acoustic guitar which is what she is playing here. I doubt she ever played a ukulele, they are certainly not much use for song composition.
"Walk The Line" is not a documentary, but a drama based on Johnny's life. Some others based on actual artist's lives: "Sweet Dreams" is Patsy Cline. "Coal Miner's Daughter" is Loretta Lynn. "Your Cheatin' Heart" (1964) & "I Saw The Light" (2015) is Hank Williams (Sr.).
Not exactly a good rendition of Johnny Cash either. Was disappointed I even watched it at all. Was less than impressed with t be actor choice. Then again couldn't imagine who could play that part of such a beautfuly flawed man.
I love Bobbie Gentry!
Her voice is so bluesy. She wrote tons of songs for other artists.
She is from the Delta in Mississippi...some of them Blues rubbed off on her
I'm hearing the lyrics for the first time...
I feel it's a baby that they shared...
This was taped in 1968, when the song was popular
you know what happens when you play a country song backwards? you get yer house back, yer dog, back yer job back, yer gurl back...
They made a movie based on this song, in the 70s. I would tell you the gist of the movie, but it has a twist at the end, check it out if you can find it on line? It’s called “ Ode to billy joe” think you’ll be shocked at the ending😏
There is also a movie about this. We have to stop dividing ourselves. We are all Americans!!!
This is an ACTUAL live TV performance, which is unusual for the time period.
The BBC did a lot of this in the early 70's. Check out Niel Young singing Old Man live on the BBC.
She is the first woman to record and produce her own music a first
Another good movie. Bobbi Gentry wrote the song. When they found this song she left a paragraph out. Good pick Tasha. Have a great night.
She once lived in my hometown of Savannah GA for a time
Bobbie Gentry said that this song was inspired by the murder of Emmitt Till in 1954. Such a beautiful song.
In the early 70s there was a movie made from the song Ode to Billy Joe with the same title. It stars a very young Robby Benson.
Tallahatchie IS a town here in Mississippi. The bridge IS a real place!
My uncle played Tom in this movie. His real name was Eddie Taylor, not Tair. Tair being his stage name.
Well from what I read, Bobbie Gentry admitted she had no idea why he did it but the movie portrayed him as gay and felt guilty about having sex with a guy. Max Baer made that movie,(Jethro Bodine.) They made the gay thing up.
This is a haunting song with lots of arguments over the meaning. I do think you hit on one of the main themes of the song. Thanks for your reaction.
They're trying to get to the bottom of what's really going on.
one of the greatest songs of all time!
Brilliant brilliant song
Thank you so much for doing this song. I would have loved to see T and T both do it, as I would love to have seen his reaction, as well. Don't worry about the movie, as it's not a representation of the song. However, without knowing, you HAVE reacted to her music before. She was the writer, and original performer, of the song "Fancy" which was beautifully covered by Reba McEntire.
You always impress me with your thoughtfulness and compassion. Thank you for being you and, sharing YOU with US !!!
Incredible song
Actually, by today’s standards, this is a country music song. But when it came out, it was pop. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 knocking the Beatles out of the #1 spot. By contrast, the highest is made on the country charts was #17
Back then times were hard and you had to be tough and desensitize yourself to other peoples "foolishness" or you wouldn't survive. That man had 5 more acres to plow and he didn't have have the room in his head or his life to lament over something so sad because he had his family to feed. It's not that He had a cold heart that's just the way it was back then.
Everything depended on getting that five acres in the lower forty plowed up, rowed out and planted.
Another good story telling song that was made into a movie: The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.
I was raised in the South too & this song describes a "southern farming family's day" perfectly!
What was thrown off the bridge really isn't important to know. The point to the song is that Bobby Joe's suicide is discussed so casually in between "pass the biscuits please" "I'll have another piece of pie" & "the preacher stopped by". And no one realizes that the daughter's heart is broken.🥺💔
Bobby Gentry's talents for song writing & telling a story were way underappreciated. But I can't imagine anyone else's voice singing this song. Her's is perfection.💯
P.S. part of the appeal of this song is the mystery. The movie is good, but it inserts its own imagination of what's behind the song. I think it's better left as a mystery.
Bobby Gentry herself said in an interview that you don't write a folk song. A song BECOMES a folk song when it ingrains itself in the culture. I think this song did that. I can listen to it a million times.🙌
You are the first person that got the message of the song.
PLEASE Please Please do Dwight Yoakam's "South of Cincinnati", and "Readin', Rightin', Route 23"
On the fathers part it was part unconscious cruelty, and part reality. The line about passing the biscuits, was the cruelity, but the part about having 5 more acres to plaw, was the reality, that was more a priority than the young man dying. The day Elvis did, I was 12, e had a hurricane hit u, and it rained for two days. My father and I worked all night and into the next morning, sandbagging the house from a flood. We went into the house to eat, my mother had cooked us breakfast, and we ate, watched the Today show, and learned that Elvis died, we stopped, thought about it, then went back to work, not because we were cruel per se, but the water was ridin. Just another perspective.
I think they threw flowers off the bridge and she remembered him by doing the same.
THE definition of Southern Gothic!
check out the movie based on this song: ode to billy joe (1976)
Her voice is so smooth and soulful. A sad song.
Great song Great reaction, she also had a hit with Fancy which Reba McEntire did years later
Story-songs are amazing at capturing your imagination. This is one of the best ever. My other favorite story-songs are Don McLean's "American Pie," Paul Simon's "Duncan" and Lightfoot's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald was a true event.
Omg girl.
I love this and the Movie.
It was on every year and aired near the holidays.
My growing up household have to watch. Thanks so much. Sad story. Oooh those feels too! 🙌🏻😍
They made a pretty good movie of this song, Bobby also wrote the song "fancy"
Here's one of the most interesting stories (theory's???) I've ever heard about Billy Joe. Bigfoot Threw Billy Joe Off The Tallahatchie Bridge? - RUclips Dixie Cryptid
People need to keep in mind, the movie was just Hollywood's own script they wrote. Bobbie never has actually indicated what events led to Billy Joe to commit suicide in the song. I see so many people thinking, "oh the movie told this story so that must have been what the song was about." No! There has never been an exact explanation, which to me makes the song that much more interesting and intriguing. Also, many people don't know but Bobbie originally had included something like 11 verses in this song, The producers edited it down for the record release. Nobody has ever heard what the other verses were. (I read somewhere that the original tapes and full lyrics are locked away in a historical archive in Mississippi somewhere. But I've never researched more to confirm that.) Also, the record is actually from the original demo that she recorded in the studio with just her guitar. The Record producers liked what she did and decided to just put strings behind it and release it. And viola, Instant hit! I love her guitar playing style. It catches the mood perfectly with a lazy, swampy sounding feel to it. Finally, a note about the bridge. the Tallahatchie Bridge was real and what you see in the video is the actual bridge at that time. I think it was originally built in 1954. "Soon after the song's chart success, the Tallahatchie Bridge was visited by more individuals who wanted to jump off it. Since the bridge height was only 20 feet (6 m), death or serious injury was unlikely. To curb the trend, the Leflore County Board enacted a law fining jumpers $100"..."The wooden bridge collapsed in 1972 after being set alight by vandals. It crossed the Tallahatchie River at Money, about ten miles north of Greenwood, Mississippi. The bridge has since been replaced."
They made a movie about the story of this song.
Great reaction...yeah I'm with ya. Nothing seems to surprise me anymore about how cruel and selfish some people can be.
Watch "Til the last shots fired" by Trace Adkins
Her family did not know of her true Feelings for Bobby joe.
I can totally associate with your sentiment about the lack of sensitivity to the demise of other human beings. Very dark, is the side of all that crave this kind of entertainment.
Haunting song Very Bone Chilling and Sad 😥😢😞😔
There is a movie about this great storytelling song "Ode to Billy Joe" starring Robbie Benson.Since covid19 I have heard this song a lot. An ode is a lyrical poem,and a very good read.
Forget the lyrics, what a voice!
I fished the Tallahatchie River many many times in my life. My father in law had one of the decorative cast iron spheres from the top of the old Tallahatchie River Bridge. That whole area is almost otherworldly. Modern music was born in the Mississippi Delta. ✌️💜
Bobby wrote and sang "Fancy" 22 years before Reba put out her version. Much more bluesy.
Too real... if this was a guilty conscious set to music, I don't know what to call it.
Yes; GREAT storytelling music!!!!! Always such a haunting song. Family talking about "guess what I heard" while passing food around kind of talk, meanwhile having no idea of the heartbreak happening for someone at the table. Profound.
The film made around this song nearly a decade after it came out makes up its own "explanation" for Billie Joe's suicide that has nothing to do with anything the song itself put forward, and the film's claim to be "based on a true story" is sheer puffery.
Yes! As they say they took “dramatic license.” No, they proposed a plot twist more suited to The Twilight Zone. Thought it was a good movie though other than that. Loved Robbie Benson in it. ♥️
OK...this was written at a time that only one body actually was in the Talahatchee bridge area....Emmett Till...It is the belief of many that this incident was the actual inspiration for the song. Emmett Till was dead, and everybody in that area was talking about that murder around the dinner table in a non chalant manner. This was in the middle of the beginning of the civil rights era, and Bobbie Gentry could not make the song specifically about Emmett Till without repercussions. She wanted to express the fact that people could talk about a young life cut short without compassion, and that was the real point of the song. She just made up a story to convey that lack of compassion over a lost life, but the real lost life that was casually talked about over the dinner table was Emmett Till, and most in that area know it. Emmett Till was murdered and dumped in the Tallahatchee river in 1955 and was born in 1941 and Bobbie Gentry was born 1942, nearly the same age as her. She would have been hearing the discussion of Emmett Till's murder over the table. Someone suggested that as the inspiration for the song to her later, and she did not confirm it, nor deny it. If it was, then it was her family talking over that table in an uncompassionant manner, so it would be difficult for her to say that was the inspiration. There was no Billie Joe McCallister in the area though...he was fictional. I do believe that Emmett Till's murder was the inspiration for this song, but people are too fixated on what these fictional charachters tossed off that bridge to see that.
She did confirm it. At least she said in an interview that Emmett Till's death was the inspiration for this song.
Interesting that you do this one so soon after "Harper Valley PTA." My brother's band used to mash up the two: It was the third of June, another sleepy dusky delta day. Her daughter came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play. Round dinner time we stopped and went back to the house to eat. And said Mama, got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA. And so on and so on. Another two they did that with were Charlie Daniel's "Uneasy Rider" and Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue," both of which you might want to check out.
smitisan that's so cool !
Around our campfires in the 70s we sang the words of Amazing Grace to the tune of The House of the Rising Sun.
Haven't recalled those memories for years til reading your post 😊.
You get it! Thumbs up!
Bobbie Gentry was the lady that sang the ORIGINAL"Fancy",the song you reacted to by Ms Reba. The original was in 1968,Reba covered it in 1990 and took it to a whole other level of popularity.
You definitely got it, the meaning of the song
Awesome
Thank you for sharing this with me
I don't think this was based on reality. The movie was done as speculation on what might have happened to cause him to committ suicide. Love your reaction, and your take on the unconscious creulty. You're SO right.
This movie us going to put through a lot of emotion. Saw it and could only watch it once a long time ago. Made me cry....You should listen to The night the lights went out in Ga. A movie as well.
Which version do you like? I grew up hearng the Vickie Lawrence version on the radio as a kid - that’s the version I really like. Funny thing is, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned who sang that, and that, yes, this is the same Vickie Lawrence who was/is a famous comedic actress who starred in sitcoms and on the Carol Burnett show.
One of my favorite songs, Tasha. I recommend Dolly Parton’s Down From Dover or Kenny Rogers’ Don’t Take Your Love to Town.
seconding Ruby don't take your love to town! One of my favorites!
@@Courdorygirl My cat's name is Ruby. A handsome orange tabby wandered up on my property a few weeks back. I've been calling him Kenny (Rogers). Im pretty sure I just heard him say...Oh Ruby....don't take your love to town.
🐱🐈🐱🐈.
No 🔫🔫🔫 for Kenny lol.
😄😄
I was a young girl when Ruby was popular. Unfortunately, my daddy travelled a lot and my mama was out on the town. Even at that young age, I understood what was happening and the song always hit so close.
My mommy use to sing this song when I was little. I always thought she made it up until I saw the movie. I just luv it!!!!
Watch the movie Ode to Billy Joe, made in 1976. It will answer any questions one might have.
This was one of the most insightful reactions to this song thanks u rock
Your face is absolutely perfect.
A fascinating song. Great guitar playing too. Great reaction.
Still reaching way back but I'm still with you on your country music journey great reaction and selection
As to what they threw off the bridge, Bobbie Gentry herself said it was a red herring. IE nobody knows and it doesn't really matter, but it certainly added intrigue to the song!
Another film based on a song to watch is Coward Of The County with Kenny Rogers.
Great reaction. I think I could listen to you talk all day lol! You have such emotional depth, yet at the same time you are so positive and unaffected. There are many people in this world who’d like for us to think of them as artistes or oracles… but much of the time I find those sullen serious types to be more pretentious than profound. They often try too hard to impress us with their words. You just seem so natural and real in your reactions and words, nothing fake. Yet your honest words and expressions reveal to us that you are… well, just a very kind, wise, good soul. Sorry to lay it on so thick lol! It’s just that every time I poke my head over to this channel and check out one of videos, you say something or react in some small way to something that just, well, really impresses me. Keep it up!
Great movie made from this song. I believe in the late 70's starring Robby Benson (who is GORGEOUS btw) he plays Billy Joe. If you can find it, you gotta watch it!
Just not into most "country," which is why I haven't seen you much in awhile (but missed you!)...
But this Ode is one of those few 60s country songs that actually crossed over to mainstream radio, and had a major impact on my young life!
Thanks much for this reaction!!!
I really like how you think.
Thanks for this reaction definitely gets the big thumbs up.
I love you song choices. Very original.
Another great story song. "Amos Moses" by Jerry Reed. A bit more 'lively' than this one.
I always took it as she and Bobby were in love but her father did not like Bobby. She got pregnant but they kept it a secret but when the baby was born they were afraid and threw it off of the bridge. Bobby could not live with this and killed himself. The end of the song is her more and more planning to join them. This song is so haunting.