Posted on 08/26/2022 4:15:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It’s a truth universally unacknowledged that Bobbie Gentry is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. There’s a literary nod in that opening line fit for her too. After all, she is the singing Carson McCullers—an outpost of classic Southern mysticism woven with the weathered air of a crooked history and a backbone as tough as old boots holding everything upstanding. And sadly, all too often overlooked in favour of gaudier lights and the names displayed in them.
With wit and wisdom, Gentry conjured the sort of songs that you can sink into. The atmosphere embalms them with pillow-propped dreaminess, and the alluring tales add quilted depth, both coming together to cast a shadow from worldly distractions. They ensure you leaf through the tome of the tunes with the piqued ear of a Doberman on nightshift.
In this regard, the classic ‘Ode to Billy Joe’ is her definitive anthem. It’s the sort of track that, in a bygone era, you would’ve heard crackle its way onto the radio, pull the Chevy Corvair over to the side of a Tupelo-lined roadside, listened to intently, and then drove off sharpish with a chill down your spine. It’s a creepy old track. The sort of earworm that nestles in tightly, like a ghost story you heard in the light of day and dismissed with a smile, but you can’t shake when the lights go off.
With the dusty old tune, she crafted a mystery for the ages that alluringly begs a million more questions than it answers, but unlike some Netflix series ending that is holding out for a sequel, it leaves you the opposite of frustrated. You are beguiled by her rhythmic prose that serves as an engine of atmosphere, and her narrative is one with a swirling depth of subtext akin to the pages of Flannery O’Connor.
And that’s where this old folk ditty truly triumphs: it’s evident that there is more to the tale than meets the eye and that translucent mystery extents a come-hither finger through the haze that few have dared to follow. It’s a song about death; however, death is dealt with in the same jejune everyday way as table salt, only adding to the mystery itself. Fortunately, Gentry offered a clue while stating: “The message of the song revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. The song is a study in unconscious cruelty”.
The folks at the forefront of our tale are blasé about a human atrocity, and that only perpetuates the problem. That’s a message we have only recently come to terms with—it’s good to talk. As Gentry adds: “It’s entirely a matter of interpretation as from each individual’s viewpoint. But I’ve hoped to get across the basic indifference, the casualness, of people in moments of tragedy. Something terrible has happened, but it’s ‘pass the black-eyed peas’, or ‘y’all remember to wipe your feet’”.
In this way, the twist is almost left lingering in the ear of the beholder, and it’s joyously spooky. What really happened at the Tallahatchie Bridge? That’s the mystery, but as Gentry answers, “Everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of people expressed in the song”. We all know what happened at the bridge was a tragedy, and that should be the focus, not the gossip of the whys and wherefores.
I couldn’t stand that actor in that movie, Robby Benson.
Well, I thought that she was precious...
“There was a virus going ‘round;
papa caught it, and he died last spring”
Instead, how about: “There was a vaccine going ‘round, Papa took it and he died last Spring.”
He dove in after an engagement ring she threw away.
Yeah, it was a good song but the article is pretentious twaddle.
Listen to Lucinda Williams’ version. It is definitely a masterpiece
Rose Law Firm records? The long form birth certificate?
I always thought he should have been brought in for questioning.
This is interesting:
“The bridge that Billie Joe McAlister jumped off of was elsewhere, and it collapsed in 1972. In 2016 Greenwood erected this marker to hometown singer/songwriter Bobbie Gentry, and stuck it next to a bridge. Since the song’s bridge is gone, and since this one has the Gentry historical marker, it’s enough for most folks.”
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/56386
And this, too:
“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.”
https://performingsongwriter.com/bobbie-gentry-ode-billie-joe/
Well, good for her! Go out on a high note. Escape the downside of fame afterward. Protect your privacy. Smart lady!
“Everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of people expressed in the song”
It isn’t thoughtlessness. People who have lived with death and dying accept it happens, that we don’t always know why and that, at least in human eyes, there often IS no reason why.
That is also true with suicide. People who commit suicide often do it for reasons known only to them. Where other may see success, they see failure. I feel bad if I hear someone kills themself, but I feel worse when someone who has a lot to live for and wants to live, dies!
But either way, “Pass the biscuits, please!” Our lives go on. And sometimes, not for much longer: “Papa caught it, and he died last spring.”
I feel more for “Mama” than for Billy Joe.
Brother married Becky Thompson. He was a pig(movie).
“ Fortunately, Gentry offered a clue …”
Offered a clue? She said what is about.
I like Lucinda but the brief blurb of her rendition off Mercury Rev. I heard seemed echoey to me. I didn’t like it. That and Bobbie’s voice was so distinctive and ingrained for that song, I can’t help but compare.
I listen to the whole song from Lucinda when I can.
Agreed. Article was pap.
Good song, remember when it came out. I still have trouble not calling it, “Ode to Billy Joel.”
The song came out when I was a senior in HS. I wasn’t really aware of such things as induced abortions at that age, but it just always seemed like the only thing that made sense to my 17 y/o brain.
I agree there was a pregnancy. That’s what they were talking about up on Choctaw Ridge. Billy Joe wanted to keep the baby and she didn’t. They had a backwoods abortion, probably some herbal concoction they got from the “old lady that lived up on the ridge”. They threw the baby off the bridge. Billy Joe couldn’t deal with what they did and jumped off the same bridge. That’s why she lost her appetite when she heard the news about Billy Joe and why she spends her time picking flowers on the Ridge and dropping them off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
A premature, born dead fetus.
Still alive at age 80 .......
IMDb lists at least two movie stuntmen named Billy Joe. He got sick of that lousy town and went to Hollywood. Bobbie and Billy got back together out there but she met someone else and . . . My ending is just as good and everyone lives ( except Papa)
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