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Another sleepy, dusty, delta day...
The Third of June | The Tallahatchie Tribune

Posted on 06/03/2014 1:47:46 PM PDT by re_nortex

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty, delta day...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: billiejoe; bobbiegentry
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...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"
Then she said, "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge".
Papa said to Mama as he passed around the black-eyed peas
"Well, Billie Joe never had a lick o' sense, pass the biscuits, please
There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was a shame about Billie Joe anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe McAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
Mama said to me, "Child what's happened to your appetite?
I been cookin' all mornin' and you haven't touched 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.
A year has come and gone since I heard the news 'bout Billie Joe
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 picking flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

1 posted on 06/03/2014 1:47:46 PM PDT by re_nortex
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To: re_nortex

A haunting classic.

Thanks.


2 posted on 06/03/2014 1:51:08 PM PDT by Salamander (It's a cult and they worship blue oysters!)
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To: re_nortex

I loved that song, and still do.

Bobbie Gentry was 23 when she wrote it.


3 posted on 06/03/2014 1:54:40 PM PDT by Steely Tom (How do you feel about robbing Peter's robot?)
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To: re_nortex

haven’t thought of that song in years! One of my favorites. Thanks for the memories. =)


4 posted on 06/03/2014 1:55:03 PM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: Salamander
And here's a video of Bobbie Gentry's live performance of Ode to Billie Joe.
5 posted on 06/03/2014 1:55:50 PM PDT by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: RIghtwardHo
Thanks for the memories.

Glad to oblige. Seems like every year on the third of June, I think about that song.

6 posted on 06/03/2014 1:57:13 PM PDT by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: re_nortex

Then they had to make the stupid movie about the song, where it reveals Billy Joe killed himself because he was a fag.....The first beginnings of Hollywood’s manipulation to legitimize sodomy.


7 posted on 06/03/2014 1:57:15 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: re_nortex

It will be interesting if she ever explains the song.


8 posted on 06/03/2014 1:59:01 PM PDT by fso301
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To: re_nortex

Man, that song was everywhere for almost a year. Great tune!


9 posted on 06/03/2014 2:01:00 PM PDT by Huskrrrr
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To: fso301

Easy explaination... just a post-birth abortion.

Nothing to see here. Move on.


10 posted on 06/03/2014 2:02:21 PM PDT by SpinnerWebb (IN-SAPORIBVS-SICVT-PVLLVM)
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To: re_nortex

They left out the verse about what the brother says!


11 posted on 06/03/2014 2:02:46 PM PDT by Nea Wood (When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.-Sowell)
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To: dfwgator

Really? I thought it was a doll they threw into the river, signifying the loss of innocence/virginity. It is a haunting song.


12 posted on 06/03/2014 2:03:10 PM PDT by originalbuckeye (Moderation in temper is always a virtue; moderation in principle is always a vice. Paine)
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To: originalbuckeye

At the time, speculation, that it was either a wedding ring, or a draft card.


13 posted on 06/03/2014 2:05:29 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: re_nortex
Bobbie Gentry
14 posted on 06/03/2014 2:08:17 PM PDT by kingattax (a real American would rather die on his feet than live on his knees.)
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To: fso301
It will be interesting if she ever explains the song.

This provides some insight but still remains a riddle as does Bobbie Gentry herself: “Ode To Billie Joe”.

“The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty. But everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of the people expressed in the song. What was thrown off the bridge really isn’t that important."

“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.”

The enigma of her best-known song is nothing compared to that of Bobbie Gentry herself. In the early ’70s, she was riding high—headlining in Vegas, duetting with Glen Campbell on several hits, hosting her own TV series. Then around 1975, after contributing music to a movie based on “Ode,” she simply checked out. She has not been heard from in over 35 years. All requests for interviews, recordings and performances have been denied. She is said to be living in the Los Angeles area.

15 posted on 06/03/2014 2:09:01 PM PDT by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: originalbuckeye

Was it Miss American Pie they threw into the river, and did Billie Joe drive his Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry?


16 posted on 06/03/2014 2:10:56 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("In the modern world, Muslims are living fossils.")
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To: re_nortex

I have that on a flash drive in the media player in my car. Listen to it a couple of times a week. That and “Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.”


17 posted on 06/03/2014 2:13:02 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: re_nortex

“It was the third of September...”


18 posted on 06/03/2014 2:14:37 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Salamander

The answer is simple it was Obama Birth Certificate that they threw off the bridge.


19 posted on 06/03/2014 2:16:02 PM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: re_nortex

I have driven over a bridge over the Tallahatchie River several times. I saw her on some program many years ago and she said there was nothing special about what they were throwing off the bridge. She wasn’t thinking serious.

The name is interesting as there was an Indian village named
Tallahatchie in South Georgia and that is where the name Tallahassee originated. Of course Mississippi is a good distance away from either.


20 posted on 06/03/2014 2:17:31 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
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