What happened to country singer Bobbie Gentry?

sunherald.com ^ | June 3, 2016 | BILLY WATKINS

[PROCON]

Music fans know the importance of Friday.

"It was the 3rd of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day."

That is the opening line of one of music's most discussed, examined and appreciated songs — "Ode to Billie Joe," written and performed by Bobbie Gentry, who was born in Mississippi's Chickasaw County. When her parents divorced and her mother left for California, Gentry moved in with her grandparents in Leflore County, near Greenwood.

"Ode to Billie Joe" was selected by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top 500 songs of all time. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and cracked the Top 10 on the Easy Listening and R&B charts. Billboard also rated it the No. 3 song of 1967.

She was only 22 when she recorded it. The tune earned Gentry three Grammy Awards — Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female; Best New Artist.

And here is one of those strange-but-true facts: "Ode to Billie Joe" was the B-side of Gentry's first single. The A-side, which Gentry's team at Capitol Records believed had the best chance of becoming a hit, was "Mississippi Delta," a gritty, hard-driving song that was a complete opposite of "Ode to Billie Joe."

[PROCON]

I enjoyed her music.

Seems she's in seclusion nowadays.

[nickcarraway]

I saw her at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge.
Maybe she jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge?

[PROCON]

No, no, she threw Billy Joe McGallister off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Dang! Beat me to it! ;)

[eyeamok]

Last time I talked to her she was still living on Bellagio in Bel-Air, but that was probably 15 years ago.

[ifinnegan]

Thing is, that song is not that great.

[Doogle]

...yeah but she looked good without the sound

[PROCON]

Many did like it and it won awards.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

.. thing is, that song is not that great ..

(:^D)

Your juvenile provocation schtick so predictable, Mick.

[humblegunner]

I saw her working the counter at Buccee’s in Beaumont.

[trisham]

It’s pure poetry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaRacIzZSPo

[Lizavetta]

Have to disagree. The haunting music fit right in with the disturbing lyrics.

[alloysteel]

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.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Started off as a Country and Western singer. Got the big head, married some rich old codger, rejected her C&W roots claiming to be a “Blues” singer, never heard from again.

[bigbob]

Here’s a great live version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaRacIzZSPo

She could knock a song out of the park, and sure filled a pair of jeans nicely, too.

[Talisker]

[bigbob]

Named one of the 500 Greatest Songs Ever. And here is the answer to your actual question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghGjS5kPM_E

Happy Third of June, all!

[Talisker]

Ode to Billie Joe
Bobbie Gentry

It 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 we walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered at the back door “y’all remember to wipe your feet”
And then she said she got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
“Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please”
“There’s five more acres in the lower forty I’ve got to plow”
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 jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

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 of apple pie, you know it just 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”

Mama said to me “Child, what’s happened to your appetite?”
“I’ve been cookin’ all morning 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 throwing somethin’ off the Tallahatchie Bridge”

A year has come ‘n’ gone since we heard the news ‘bout Billie Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going ‘round, papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now mama doesn’t seem to wanna 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

[PROCON]

Thanks, a haunting version of the song.

[MamaB]

She is from my hometown county. I do not know if she still has relatives in Chickasaw County, MS. She has been out of the public eye since the 1980’s. She was just a country girl who made it through her music.