Wednesday Evening Sanity Break: Bobby Gentry - Ode to Billy Joe.

[RandySF]

Bobby Gentry's genius was leaving listeners to wonder about the circumstances around Billy Joe's death and the narrator's connection.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv33eaygVDQ

[nolabear]

1. Where I grew up this song put Bobby Gentry in line for sainthood.

And you know, it IS a pretty darn good song.

[whathehell]

3. It IS a good song...but they put her up for "sainthood'?...Not just "celebrity", or something?

[nolabear]

4. Well, Mississippi was used to getting almost exclusively negative attention.

She was beautiful, the song was smart and evocative, people were paying attention without excoriating or ridiculing. Yeah, it was a major deal.

[whathehell]

7. Yeah, right, I can see the context now...I'm glad it made people in the state feel good!

It IS a smart and evocative song, and yes, Bobbie Gentry was certainly beautiful.

[whathehell]

2. I'm game....So what do people think the singer and Billy Joe were

"throwin' off the Tallahatchie bridge"?:hippie:

When someone asked ME this question at the tender

age of eighteen, I said "flowers" and people thought

I was naive....Whatcha all think it was?

[CTyankee]

6. The only thing I heard was "a fetus" so I assumed that some kind of

botched abortion took place and Billy Joe committed suicide as a result.

I don't know. Just speculating...

[whathehell]

8. I think a lot of people thought too, though it is kind of grim...Can anyone think of another

interpretation?...Something between "naive" and "grim"?

I'm not saying the "grim" wouldn't be what she had in mind, just hoping

for something a little less expected.

[CTyankee]

9. It's kind of weird when you think about it, disposing of a fetus off a bridge.

But that was the trope at the time, as I recall. Strange, that...

[whathehell]

14. Do you think so?

It doesn't seem so weird to me...Creepy, yes,weird, no.

[whathehell]

5. One of the youtube comments was that a movie was made of the song story in 1976.

Maybe that gave it up?:shrug:

[RebelOne]

10. Nope. I saw it. Doesn't shed any light on the mystery. n/t

[whathehell]

13. Crap..but thanks for telling us...I was going to hunt it down and watch it.

[Loge23]

11. "Where is Bobbie Gentry"

While on Youtube, check out the wonderful Jill Sobule's "Where is Bobbie Gentry".
Lyrics here:
http://www.songlyrics.com/jill-sobule/where-is-bobbie-gentry-lyrics/

[InkAddict]

12. Did I flash forward - It's not the 3rd of June, is it? n/t