The movie made from the song title told a dark story not much known about the Gothic secrets of distant rural areas. Seems Billy Joe McAllister was homosexually raped by the local mill operator, which was the reason for his suicidal jump. The girlfriend was persuaded to go away for a year, supposedly to have a baby secretly out of wedlock (which, as part of the story line, would be “adopted out”, the “explanation” for not returning with the child) as the cover story of why Billie Joe jumped.
You mean, the baby wasn’t somethin’ what they was throwin’ off the Tallahatchie bridge?
Yeah. The movie bombed.
Whatever the back story of the song was supposed to be, it wasn’t that.
I read “Ode to Billy Joe” as a teenager. It was a very disturbing story.