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Saturday, July 20, 2024
Ode to Billie Joe
For more of my random posts on random topics (PSAs, Ads, music, miscellany), click HERE: Ode to Billie Joe performed (originally) by Bobbie Gentry written by Bobbie Gentry released July 1967 [Verse 1]Was the third of June, another sl…
For more of my random posts on random topics (PSAs, Ads, music, miscellany), click HERE:
Ode to Billie Joe
performed (originally) by Bobbie Gentry written by Bobbie Gentry released July 1967
[Verse 1] Was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day I was out choppin' cotton, and my brother was balin' hay And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat And Mama hollered out the back door, "Y'all, remember to wipe your feet!" And then she said, "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge Today, Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
[Verse 2] And Papa said to Mama, as he passed around the black-eyed peas "Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, please There's five more acres in the lower forty I got to plow" And Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge And now Billie Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
[Verse 3] And brother said he recollected when he, and Tom, and Billie Joe Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night? "I'll have another piece-a apple pie; you know, it don't seem right I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
[Verse 4] Mama said to me, "Child, what's happened to your appetite? I've been cookin' all mornin', and you haven't touched a single bite That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge And she and Billie Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
[Verse 5] A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billie Joe And brother married Becky Thompson; they bought a store in Tupelo There was a virus goin' 'round; Papa caught it, and he died last spring And now Mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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Generally speaking, when it comes to music, I'm more of a vibes guy than a lyrics and message guy. I'm easily fooled by people who disguise unpleasant messaging behind an upbeat bop. When the lyrics and message are interesting though, as is the case with this song, I really like to drill down on the song and what it's about.
Ode to Billie Joe is a commentary on society, the fragility of life, and our general indifference toward, and lack of empathy for, our fellow man. You don't really notice it right away on a first listen, but almost the entire song happens around a dinner table conversation, with most of the family discussing Billie Joe's death casually, and with everyone failing to notice how hard the blow was to the song's narrator. The genius of the lyrics is that almost everyone has been present for that type of conversation, wherein a big important bit of news is discussed lightly. We're all as guilty as the narrator's family and in some cases, we've all been the narrator, with those around us not realizing that we are hurting.
The nature of the song and its lyrics has stirred up intrigue over the years.
"Ode to Billie Joe" takes the form of a first-person narrative by the young daughter of a Mississippi Delta family. It offers fragments of dinnertime conversation on the day that a local boy, an acquaintance of the narrator, jumped to his death from a nearby bridge. The account is interspersed with everyday, polite, mealtime conversation. The song's last verse conveys the passage of events over the following year.
The song begins on June 3 with the narrator, her brother and her father returning from farming chores to the family house for dinner. After reminding them to wipe their feet, the mother announces she received news from Choctaw Ridge: "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge." The verse is repeated through the song as the story develops to "heighten the mystery." Unmoved, the father comments that "Billie Joe never had a lick of sense" before asking for the biscuits and adding "there's five more acres in the lower forty, I've got to plow." The brother then expresses his surprise, but continues eating his meal.
The mother notices her daughter is distraught and not eating. She mentions the "young preacher" Brother Taylor visited the house earlier and that they would have dinner with him on Sunday. As an afterthought, the mother adds the preacher saw Billie Joe with a girl that "looked a lot" like the daughter and that "she and Billie Joe was throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge." A year later, the brother marries and moves to Tupelo, Mississippi, while the father dies of an unnamed virus. Even though she expresses no sadness over her father's death, the daughter notices her mother is still distraught by it. Rather than consoling her, she routinely picks flowers and throws them off the bridge.
The song became a success because it created listener curiosity, given that Gentry did not mention what was thrown off of the bridge or why Billie Joe committed suicide. It features perfect rhymes from the first to the sixth line of every verse. Meanwhile, the fifth and sixth lines of the song repeat the rhyme of "ridge" and "bridge" in every stanza. The composition does not have a chorus. The musical phrases begin with pickup notes, while melismas and downbeats are used for the rhymes.
Gentry's comments on the lyrics
In this photograph from the November 10, 1967 issue of Life magazine, Gentry crosses the Tallahatchie Bridge in Sidon, Mississippi
In August 1967, Gentry told the Los Angeles Times she wanted to show "people's lack of ability" to empathize with others' "tragedy." She pointed out the mother, who noticed but did not understand her daughter's lack of appetite, while later the daughter is unaware of the similarity of her mother's behavior after the father dies. Gentry explained that both characters had "isolated themselves in their own personal tragedies" and remained unconcerned for the others. The songwriter compared the end product to a play. On the object thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge, she commented that the audience had found more meanings than she had intended. Gentry mentioned that theories of the time included a baby, a wedding ring and flowers. While she indicated that what happened at the bridge was the motivation behind Billie Joe's suicide, she also left it open to the listener's interpretation. Gentry said she had no answer and her sole motivation was to show "people's apathy".
In an interview with the Associated Press in November 1967, Gentry called the song "a study in unconscious cruelty." She also said that audiences were still asking her what was thrown off the bridge rather than noticing "the thoughtlessness of people expressed in the song," adding that what had been thrown was unimportant. She said people suggested to her it was a draft card, or a bottle of LSD pills. The songwriter clarified that she knew what it was, but said she considered it irrelevant to the story and deliberately left that interpretation open. Gentry remarked that the song's message revolved around the "nonchalant way" the family discussed the suicide. She also said that what was thrown off of the bridge was included because it established a relationship between Billie Joe and the daughter, providing "a possible motivation for his suicide the next day". The interview ended with Gentry's suggestion that it could have been a wedding ring. Gentry told The New York Times in 1969: "I had my own idea what it was while I was writing it, but it's not that important. Actually it was something symbolic. But I've never told anyone what it was, not even my own dear mother."
As for of the song's message having a resonating power, we can see that the song charted very well, around the globe, when it was released.
The song was such a cultural phenomenon that movie studios began hounding Gentry about adapting the song for the big screen. They continued pressing her until finally she got an offer she lied and agreed. This happened a decade later. Try to imagine your favorite "story" song from ten years ago being made into a film today (there's sitll time, "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars.)
Legacy
Following the success of the single, Capitol Records received 500,000 pre-orders for Ode to Billie Joe, surpassing the label's record held by the Beatles' Meet the Beatles! Gentry began receiving offers to make a motion picture based on the song in 1967, but she rejected them, preferring to wait for an offer from a movie maker who would "portray Billie Joe and his girlfriend in a serious, sensitive manner." In 1975, Gentry and Shayne accepted an offer from Max Baer Jr., who decided to direct the film. Baer said his interest was to have two unknown young people "because the audience has to believe they are Bobbie and Billie Joe." The film would be shot on location in Mississippi with a budget of $1.5 million (equivalent to $8.49 million in 2023). Warner Bros. commissioned Herman Raucher to write an adaptation of the song for the upcoming film; Raucher's adaptation and novel were both titled Ode to Billy Joe. Gentry was present during the shooting and contributed a musical score. At the time of the production, she told United Press International that the film would "answer many questions left unanswered by the song." The film starred Robby Benson as Billy Joe and Glynnis O'Connor as Bobbie Lee. It was released in 1976. In the adaptation, the pair throw a rag doll off of the bridge, while a homosexual experience with the owner of the sawmill is established as the reason for Billy Joe's suicide.
I wonder how that explanation went over with audiences at the time? Given Gentry's participation, we might assume that the film interpretation is what she had in mind.
In case you're curious, this is what the Tallahatchie Bridge looks like:
Here is a video of the groovy, thought-provoking, and aforementioned country music song:
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