Posted on 04/21/2021 4:59:12 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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 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, "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today, Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
And papa said to mama, as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billy 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"
And mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's 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-a apple pie; you know, it don't seem right
I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
And 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 Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And 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 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
Southern Gothic (also known as Gothic Americana, or Dark Country)
is a genre of acoustic-based alternative rock and Americana music
that combines elements of traditional country, folk, blues, and gospel,
often with dark lyrical subject matter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Gothic
Heard an interesting tidbit on the song the other day. Gentry wrote the song, but wasn’t intending to record it. But she couldn’t find anyone interested in it so she went to the studio and cut the record. Worked out pretty well.
It’s one of those songs that sounds like what it’s singing about. When you listen to it you can feel the hot, humid delta of the 60’s.
50 years have passed and we’re still talking about how Jimmy Page got a certain guitar tone on Black Dog or how John Bonham got his echo effect on “When the Levee Breaks”. I’m still playing Little Wing from 1966 poorly and we’re still dissecting the chord played at the beginning of A Hard Days Night from 1964.
That’s how we spent our lunches in High School, arguing over who the better guitarist/drummer/bassist was.
A bold assumption in these woke times we live. :)
Warren Beattie
And he jumped off the bridge. I am not going to spell it.
;>)
I like Zappa’s approach, but even he said he was pretty one-dimensional, and pretty much just played totally improvisational. But probably one of the greatest improvisers ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6-sU7pVJ3k
1
Southern Nights · Glen Campbell
Lyrics
Southern nights
Have you ever felt a southern night
Free as a breeze
Not to mention the trees
Whistling tunes that you know and love so
Southern nights
Just as good even when closed your eyes
I apologize
To any one who can truly say
That he’s found a better way
Southern skies
Have you ever noticed
Southern skies
It’s precious beauty
Lies just beyond the eye
It goes running through the soul
Like the stories told of old
Old man
He and his dog that walk the old land
Every flower touched his cold hand
As he slowly walked by
Weeping willows would cry for joy
Joy
Feels so good
Feels so good it’s frightening
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
La-da-da-da-da, da-la-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da
Mystery
Like this and many others
In the trees
Blow in the night
In the southern skies
Southern nights
They feel so good it’s frightening
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
Da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da, la-da-da, da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da...
I remember that this song was all we girls in high school talked about when it came out. Most of us thought it was a ring that was tossed over the bridge, not a baby. Billie Joe found himself jilted by his girlfriend and, sensitive soul that he was, took the plunge.
Same here. I was a kid then, and not a fan of Carly’s songs.
But, I loved the songs that told stories with a twist. Another one was, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
It used to be that FReepers waited until the 3rd of June to post this song. Young kids today....
They were true artists. We’re still marveling at their music today.
5he movie sucked. Even Robbie Benson couldn’t make it work.
Probably the bigger mystery is why she up and quit at the height of her popularity. She pretty much vanished and no one even knows for sure where she lives or what she's been up to since the late '70s.
An interesting tidbit is that the song inspired a lot of people to come to the Tallahatchie Bridge to commit suicide, but then found the bridge deck was only 20 feet above the water and were disappointed...
stupid gay thing
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