Heard it on the radio in the car on the way to Alabama, I was 14 years old. The lyrics were very haunting, others in the car were laughing at it, they were stupid, but it touched me then, and I still love it. Did she ever tell the story behind the song? Maybe it was a baby they threw off the bridge, nothing else fits the sadness of the song.
Yes, from an age when a singer did not have to be working out at the gym all day to get airplay. I was there in '67, we ALL knew this song. And, were trying to figure out what it meant. Now, we know. It was Billy Joe's career jumping off the Tallahachee Bridge, her 15 seconds of fame. And, yes, they played the long version, 7 minutes, back in '67, those were they days, my friend, I thought they'd never end..... oh, that's another song!
HELLO—NOCARO...**laughin** i should have known you had the best sound for this song! yep, i was searching for the best sound.......and again found YOU! doesnt hurt that you also have good pix too. thanks again!
Excellent - almost the only Country song I ever liked. Unfortunately, spoiled a bit for me by an alternate lyric I came up with when young and foolish which stayed with me:
"..mother said to me 'Child, what's happened to your apartheid
you've been f***ing all morning and you haven't touched a single white.."
i have herd this song as fare as i can think back it is a song that will always catch my ear love this song and i dont know why :):)??? but i love it kathy ann fox the good old days:)
From what I understand, Bobbie Gentry has been asked on several occasions if there is truth to this song. She has neither denied or confirmed it. This of course, has only added to the mystery of the song, even after all these years.
@spiritwyze - I'm not sure if Bobbie meant the song to be interpreted this way but - in Sinead O' Connor's version - after the lyric: "she and Billie Joe was throwing something off the Tallahachee bridge" - you can hear a baby cry. It's really disturbing - is it implying that the shame of a teenage pregnancy resulted in the killing of a baby and then a guilt ridden suicide? Sinead's version is interesting - check it out.
Summer '67, age 18, living with my grandparents in the Ozarks, way the hell up a country road with the very sweet little Judy H., the preacher's daughter (no joke); the night hot and still, our bodies hot and active; her fragrance mixing with the honeysuckle, as "Ode" haunted the airwaves. Lord, what memories, and I just wonder where she is today?
I was a sophomore in Hollister CA in 67. I really liked the style, voice and guitar pickin of Bobbie Gentry. I remember the new English teacher introduced for discussion in class.
A friend from Mississippi said the Choctaw bridge didn't exist but we all agree it was poetic license by Bobbie Gentry.
@RoundRockMinistry Feature Name: Choctaw Ridge Feature Type: ridge State: Mississippi County: Webster County Population: 10294 County Housing Units: 4344 County Size: 422.49 Square Miles Latitude: 33.65417 Longitude: -89.09583 Elevation: 530 listen to the song again
@JohnnyBlade68 Alright, Johnny. Thanks for the facts. I'm not sure how it changes what my friend told us except that I misspoke myself when I said "Chowtaw" instead of "Tallahatchee" bridge as he said.
Not the original. The original was over 7 minutes long, with more verses - this is the airplay version created by the record co. Trying to find a copy of the original...
@EphemerataCA The word "original" as it applies in this context means that it is NOT a re-recorded version of the song by that artist. Yes, it is the ORIGINAL although a longer version of this and other ORIGINALS may exist.
@Nocaro Good clear, crisp quality recording just as you would hear on the radio. Thnx for the upload, I would definately classify as Original. Listened to it alot in the 70's. A dark, haunting masterpiece, it resonates with a "southern lifestyle" for me, takes me back to my Georgia childhood, at the old farmhouse. 1 of my all time fav.'s.
@silverpopps Nocaro-san is right saying this is the 'original' viz. sound recording. what we hear is the original sound recording edited from its original length. different edit, but original recording. 'original' is an adjectival form. used as a noun, it's ambiguous. eph-CA refers to the original 'what?' LP, 45, telepathic transmission? it's common sense to use 'original' here to refer to the sound recording, that which we are hearing. weak and shallow minds write unoriginal one-line insults.
@Nealy1717 and what does that have to do with whether the recording to which we hear with this video is the original recording or not? I don't recall speaking a word about the meaning of the lyrics, and i remember listening to it on the radio 45 years ago as well. i was very small but it was a huge hit and remains one of the best songs of the mid 20th century
@billyjoedopesmoker haha, i know it was a dumb sarcastic one liner, that was kind of the point of the comment. im sorry im not on youtube writing long paragraphs to prove my "genius" so my ego can sleep at night. Unfortunately you didnt understand the joke because your ego( being very far up your ass) will take anything to argue against without taking time to process the context or true meaning. congratulations your a narrow minded pinhead whos ego and dignity got the best of his narrow mind :)
@silverpopps american humor is beyond my grasp. the context was whether the recording is the original recording or not. whatever true meaning underlies the pearl of wisdom you left with Nocaro-san escapes me. as for the length of the comment, it is not quite a paragraph. yt space constraints cuts them short. it takes very little time to process the literal meaning of a sentence, even if the rhetoric, grammar and spelling are substandard. My wife helps me sleep at night. i will pray for you.
@EphemerataCA -- Yeah i'd looove to hear that 7 minute version. One of my favourite songs of all time. I was unsure if any recordings existed of the 7 minute version. I heard that the record co. insisted on the cut as 7 minutes was around 3 times the norm in thses days.
Her voice isn't so great, but it was the soulful sound of the slightly-echoed, vibrato-less strings that evoke the feeling of a hot, dusty day. Not coincidentally, in the summer of 1967 I was at Firestone Scout Camp in the Brea Hills of Southern California, listening to this on an AM transistor radio. Talk about sleepy, dusty days.
@ChikadeeInATree My impression of this song is, The girl was having a secretive romance with Billie Joe and for whatever reason, they couldn't be together. He ended up getting her pregnant and she had an abortion. He couldn't handle the guilt or the feeling of loss and killed himself. The ending is her putting flowers in the water in remembrance of her unborn child and Billie Joe.
i have never seen the movie but if you listen and pay attention to the song, it sounds like it is implied that thing that Billie Joe throw off the bridge was a baby. The song does not even support the thought of him being gay, so if anything @50centfan111 's imterpertation is closest.
This song isn't about being gay or straight. It's about death and how it affects you. Who cares about the movie? This was first and this is great music. Simple.
@TenteixSaigo The movie was only the writters interpation of the song. Just like all of us IMAGE what she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge. The song dosent say so we dont know there for are minds can go anywhere, and it dose. Just like the movie writters minds went a certain way.
@Nocaro I'm glad I live where I live. 107.9 KWLS, the local classic country station, plays this one, on average, about once every couple of weeks. I've heard it several times, and I never get tired of it. I really hope that when the station crew have to retire that they hire someone who has the same sense of what constitutes classic country.
@LeFinX3 Now get with it. This is one of my favorites way back when I was a boy. I am glad that you discovered this gem sung by a gem of a woman. My mother was from Mississippi, as well.
There was a tv movie About this song. It starred Robbie Benson as Billy Joe. It was released in 1976.it was directed by Max Baer,of the Beverly Hill Billies. Not very good.
I really like this song, just found out about it like 3 yrs ago. Very well written I might add it's like she's taking you on the journey with her, I can actually see it all going down right before my eyes. Great song!! In a crazy kinda way it's almost haunting and leaves the listener to figure out for themselves what the heck happened to Bille Joe!
Bobbie Gentry's career was active until the early 1980's. Her last performances at The Desert Inn' in Vegas were in 1980. She turned down a multi- million dollar extention on her contract .. Her last television performance was in May of 1981 on an N.B.C Mothers Day special. She sang the Broadway song, Mama A Rainbow, to her mother ,Ruby, in the audience. As late as 1976 she was still selling a substantial amount of records with 350,000 sold from the movie soundtrack and re-recorded single.
dusygibbons, you really caught the poignancy of this song. I grew up in the same era, though far north of you, but I can tell you, this song was as important for the unsaid, the undercurrents, as the lyrics. It was an important song, if rather an outlier for the times. Really enjoyed your comments. I remember how often we all discussed the song. It got under the skin.Many forget that great ballads came out of the Sixties, and this song by Bobbie Gentry was certainly memorable.
what makes this song great is not what it says, but what is left out. what were they throwing off the tallahatchie bridge? it's the spooky implications that give this song it's haunting power. i grew up in greenwood, mississippi and crossed the tallahatchie bridge countless times as a child. the mystery of the song mirrors the mystery of the land itself. with "ode to billy joe" bobbie gentry achieved what very few artists accomplish: she transformed the mundane into myth.
@dusygibbons My grandmother explained to me that they were throwing a baby off the bridge because they had it out of wedlock and were ashamed so they hid it and when i was born they threw it over, thats why she didnt have an appetite, and he couldnt take the guilt of it so he jumped..........thats just what my grandmother said but i trust her cause she is a super smart woman and loved this song when she was younger, still does.
@dusygibbons HI, if you ever get to see the film you will see that her rag doll fell from the bridge into the water as she and Billie Joe were sitting talking and arguing. Billie Joe jumped because he was Gay and couldn't handle the guilt of having been with a man. It was a very different time and attitudes were so different back then, the film was quite controversial but non the less, phenomenal as was the song. :-)
@dusygibbons Wow. So perfectly put. I love it when an intelligent, sensitive person puts what I'm thinking into words so well. I feel vindicated, somehow. Thanks.
Roberta Lee Streeter will be 66 on July 27, 2011. Lives privately in LA with third husband.
My mom used to sing this to me and all around the house when I was little.... the voice of an Angel. It stops me DEAD in my tracks, trance-like, where ever and whenever I hear it.
This song was released while I was a senior in high school. What a wonderful song and quite a contrast to all of the British groups that were popular in the late sixties. This song and all of her writing is haunting and just brings to life the rural life down in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi!!! Her use of native american tribes like Choctaw and Chicasaw just grabbed my attention back then because she is a genuine talent and person!!! You don't hear this kind of talent any more!
Gripped me then and still does. Partly, I guess, because I was just coming of age and starting to see the dark side of love and life… I don't know that anyone's ever written a song better suited to his/her own vocal instrument, either. Pretty amazing—"phenomenon" in the blurb was a well-chosen term.
I saw the Robbie Benson Movie, (spoiler to the ending is, he was gay, so he jumped, I think he'd been doin it w/ the ...no, find the movie and see!!!! as an aside I know that Laura Nyro loved this recording, as well, in case anyone else sees a slight physical resemblance, I love Laura , and Bobbie sure delivers the goods here! Thanks for the great video to go w/ the unforgettable song! I really enjoyed it!!!!!
Bobbie Gentrie - my love -the song is a first-person narrative that reveals a quasi-Southern Gothic tale in its verses by including the dialog of the narrator's family at dinnertime on the day that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the chores, to the family house for dinner. After cautioning them about tracking in dirt, "Mama" says that she "got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge" that "Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge, apparently to his death.
hehehe, original Stereo...Gotta love it! Holey Smokes...67, I might have been 11???OMG-oodness eleven, and I can still sing it??? ^_^ Wonder if I can find "the name game ?
This song and movie mean more to me than I can explain. Not the movie itself or the story. But I kissed the love of my life the day this movie came out when I was just nine years old. She was also the first girl I ever kissed. That was over 30 years ago and we are still together.The nostalgia I feel every time I hear this song is unexplainable. Lori I love you more than life!!
I'm a 19 year old black guy that really only to rb and pop off todays time but when i heard this song while at work i was like Damn tha lady is singing and not only that but shes giving this story! I had to get on here and find this women and here this again I luv It!
@MrCaliify -- I love to see this from the younger generations! I was just a young kid when this was released, and I vividly recall how it grabbed me right away, too. It was DEFINITELY the song of that summer.
@MrCaliify Your instinct our right on the money. Bobbie charted #8 r&b with this #1 pop classic and King Curtis andThe Kingpins took their instrumental to #6 r&b and #26 pop.
Funny how so many people don't get the story. Very sad.....Unfortunately some people still feel pressured. What a sad world we STILL live in. Prejudice of any kind...Ode To Billie Joe was also a movie....Very emotional....
first time i heard this song i was parked in a car ,,making out with one of my boyfriends and i got cold chill bumps ,,its haunting in its melody and words,,and of course it makes you wonder and try and figure out why he jumped off the bridge,,i am still wondering ,,lol
@TheAussie181 The movie put the gay thing in there to give it a dramatic/controversial edge. But, in reality the song had not a damn thing with anyone being gay and it came out 10 years before that God awful movie
While its true that Bobbie never matched her massive debut of 5 million records sold in 1967, she still had other important recordings. Her duets album with Glen Campbell was a milion selling global smash in the 1960's and her single 'Fancy' sold a global million in North America. Her #1 U.K single, 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', sold over 500,000 through Europe in 1970. In Canada alone, she five #1 country hits all of which went top forty pop.
Who cares about being straight, gay, or evangelical? I live here in the Mississippi Delta, and it's all the same: be human to one another and enjoy fine music.
I wonder if this song could be about billie joe and the girl being in love and the girl was pregnant and that's what they were throwing off the bridge and that's why billie joe killed himself. Because he couldn't live with what they did.
@Prophecy1978 Max Baer's 1976 movie spells it out: Billie had a homosexual affair with a local man and was unable to consummate when the girl said yes. That's why he jumped off the bridge. As Greil Marcus noted years later the song is as much about her family not noticing her grief--since they chatter about his suicide over dinner AS THOUGH SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE. That's the really sad part.
Amazing after all these years things still have not changed in this great country of the USA. Hmmmmmmmm?????? Do you think that maybe people in power need to change their view points???? We do not need any more young men & women killing them selves over this.
Cool song dude I remember growing up listening to this while fishing on the river with DAD.
stoney402009 1 day ago
Why did billy joe commit suicide? I watched this movie when i was very young never figured out why he jumped.
celestehtkj27 4 days ago
she looks like cheap husky gentry...and this song is not good
TheMultiNs 1 week ago
@TheMultiNs God save us all from braindead idiots like you. Are you a britney/Milli Vanilli fan too?
pythoncase 1 day ago
She has a great voice and not a lyier and down to earth as they come..............Honesty
speeeddyee 2 weeks ago in playlist Favorite videos
she wrote this while she was getting her masters in psychology...she always said she regretted that nobody got the point
Quigggy 2 weeks ago
the movie to this song is good also.
curvy71 3 weeks ago
Heard it on the radio in the car on the way to Alabama, I was 14 years old. The lyrics were very haunting, others in the car were laughing at it, they were stupid, but it touched me then, and I still love it. Did she ever tell the story behind the song? Maybe it was a baby they threw off the bridge, nothing else fits the sadness of the song.
madmax6144 1 month ago
Thanx for uploading :-)))
JukeBoxHero991 1 month ago
Yes, from an age when a singer did not have to be working out at the gym all day to get airplay. I was there in '67, we ALL knew this song. And, were trying to figure out what it meant. Now, we know. It was Billy Joe's career jumping off the Tallahachee Bridge, her 15 seconds of fame. And, yes, they played the long version, 7 minutes, back in '67, those were they days, my friend, I thought they'd never end..... oh, that's another song!
Quintessentguy 1 month ago
Ohhh so that's where the Black Eyed Peas got their name from.
ram0000100 1 month ago
HELLO—NOCARO...**laughin** i should have known you had the best sound for this song! yep, i was searching for the best sound.......and again found YOU! doesnt hurt that you also have good pix too. thanks again!
APACHEFIRE1 1 month ago
used to hear this song on the radio growing up in the early 80s
gooffbball 2 months ago
Excellent - almost the only Country song I ever liked. Unfortunately, spoiled a bit for me by an alternate lyric I came up with when young and foolish which stayed with me:
"..mother said to me 'Child, what's happened to your apartheid
you've been f***ing all morning and you haven't touched a single white.."
allanfmarsden 2 months ago
Born in 67. This song is as much a part of me as are my fingers and toes.
TheHippyMike 2 months ago in playlist ladies2
i have herd this song as fare as i can think back it is a song that will always catch my ear love this song and i dont know why :):)??? but i love it kathy ann fox the good old days:)
MrKathyfox 2 months ago
From what I understand, Bobbie Gentry has been asked on several occasions if there is truth to this song. She has neither denied or confirmed it. This of course, has only added to the mystery of the song, even after all these years.
kmason685 2 months ago
So what were they throwing off the bridge???
spiritwyze 2 months ago
@spiritwyze - I'm not sure if Bobbie meant the song to be interpreted this way but - in Sinead O' Connor's version - after the lyric: "she and Billie Joe was throwing something off the Tallahachee bridge" - you can hear a baby cry. It's really disturbing - is it implying that the shame of a teenage pregnancy resulted in the killing of a baby and then a guilt ridden suicide? Sinead's version is interesting - check it out.
aerialkate 2 months ago
@aerialkate Ahhhh,,,,that what I thought, but wasn't sure. What a gr8 song, though.
spiritwyze 1 month ago
Summer '67, age 18, living with my grandparents in the Ozarks, way the hell up a country road with the very sweet little Judy H., the preacher's daughter (no joke); the night hot and still, our bodies hot and active; her fragrance mixing with the honeysuckle, as "Ode" haunted the airwaves. Lord, what memories, and I just wonder where she is today?
dhcheresh 3 months ago
@dhcheresh where is the ozarks?
wabblum99 3 months ago
@wabblum99 On the border of Missouri and Arkansas.
dhcheresh 2 months ago
I love how people love to argue.This is the ORIGINAL studio recorded version edited for am radio, widely released. The album cut was longer.
chilitoday 3 months ago
Love this song, Within my top 5 of all time. <3
slyguyou812 4 months ago
I was a sophomore in Hollister CA in 67. I really liked the style, voice and guitar pickin of Bobbie Gentry. I remember the new English teacher introduced for discussion in class.
A friend from Mississippi said the Choctaw bridge didn't exist but we all agree it was poetic license by Bobbie Gentry.
RoundRockMinistry 4 months ago
JohnnyBlade68 3 months ago
@JohnnyBlade68 Alright, Johnny. Thanks for the facts. I'm not sure how it changes what my friend told us except that I misspoke myself when I said "Chowtaw" instead of "Tallahatchee" bridge as he said.
RoundRockMinistry 3 months ago
@RoundRockMinistry its Choctaw RIDGE and yes it does exist.
JohnnyBlade68 3 months ago
Not the original. The original was over 7 minutes long, with more verses - this is the airplay version created by the record co. Trying to find a copy of the original...
EphemerataCA 4 months ago
@EphemerataCA The word "original" as it applies in this context means that it is NOT a re-recorded version of the song by that artist. Yes, it is the ORIGINAL although a longer version of this and other ORIGINALS may exist.
Nocaro 4 months ago 6
@Nocaro Good clear, crisp quality recording just as you would hear on the radio. Thnx for the upload, I would definately classify as Original. Listened to it alot in the 70's. A dark, haunting masterpiece, it resonates with a "southern lifestyle" for me, takes me back to my Georgia childhood, at the old farmhouse. 1 of my all time fav.'s.
musclecarluvr1 4 months ago
@Nocaro We all become idiotic deffensive assholes when we are wrong, dont sweat it champ!
silverpopps 1 month ago 5
@silverpopps What are you talking about and to whom are you addressing this?
Nocaro 1 month ago
@silverpopps Nocaro-san is right saying this is the 'original' viz. sound recording. what we hear is the original sound recording edited from its original length. different edit, but original recording. 'original' is an adjectival form. used as a noun, it's ambiguous. eph-CA refers to the original 'what?' LP, 45, telepathic transmission? it's common sense to use 'original' here to refer to the sound recording, that which we are hearing. weak and shallow minds write unoriginal one-line insults.
billyjoedopesmoker 1 month ago
@billyjoedopesmoker My mum , who loved this song back in the day confirms that it is, indeed written about a baby being thrown off a bridge.
Nealy1717 3 weeks ago
@Nealy1717 and what does that have to do with whether the recording to which we hear with this video is the original recording or not? I don't recall speaking a word about the meaning of the lyrics, and i remember listening to it on the radio 45 years ago as well. i was very small but it was a huge hit and remains one of the best songs of the mid 20th century
salgoudsamoht 3 weeks ago
@Nealy1717 you know thats what i have always heard too.
curvy71 3 weeks ago
@Nealy1717 The song is about suicide, and the way the characters in the song talk about it in a cavalier way.
jraehol 1 week ago
@billyjoedopesmoker haha, i know it was a dumb sarcastic one liner, that was kind of the point of the comment. im sorry im not on youtube writing long paragraphs to prove my "genius" so my ego can sleep at night. Unfortunately you didnt understand the joke because your ego( being very far up your ass) will take anything to argue against without taking time to process the context or true meaning. congratulations your a narrow minded pinhead whos ego and dignity got the best of his narrow mind :)
silverpopps 1 week ago
@silverpopps american humor is beyond my grasp. the context was whether the recording is the original recording or not. whatever true meaning underlies the pearl of wisdom you left with Nocaro-san escapes me. as for the length of the comment, it is not quite a paragraph. yt space constraints cuts them short. it takes very little time to process the literal meaning of a sentence, even if the rhetoric, grammar and spelling are substandard. My wife helps me sleep at night. i will pray for you.
billyjoedopesmoker 3 days ago
@EphemerataCA -- Yeah i'd looove to hear that 7 minute version. One of my favourite songs of all time. I was unsure if any recordings existed of the 7 minute version. I heard that the record co. insisted on the cut as 7 minutes was around 3 times the norm in thses days.
Whiter00m 4 months ago in playlist BOBBIE GENTRY
@RoundRockMinstry- Listen to the lyrics! Its Tallahatchie Bridge up on Choctaw RIDGE
TheMrQMAN 4 months ago
@EphemerataCA You are 100% right. The original is real hard to find and this is the airplay version!!
capitolemiproducer 2 months ago
really really makes me think of winehouse. excellent song
conanthegnarbarian 4 months ago
i love this song:)
SarahMeyers1000 4 months ago
I love this song.
christina2566 4 months ago
Her voice isn't so great, but it was the soulful sound of the slightly-echoed, vibrato-less strings that evoke the feeling of a hot, dusty day. Not coincidentally, in the summer of 1967 I was at Firestone Scout Camp in the Brea Hills of Southern California, listening to this on an AM transistor radio. Talk about sleepy, dusty days.
marcusrmcd 4 months ago in playlist marcusrmcd's Favorited Videos
America's #3 on record sales in 1967 and US TopHits
videokeking2009 5 months ago
take me back when I was a just a little child and this was playin on the radio mmmmmm yes!!!!
tx898 5 months ago
Does anyone else struggle with what was thrown off of the bridge? My family and I have a huge debate every time this comes on and can never agree!
ChikadeeInATree 5 months ago
@ChikadeeInATree My impression of this song is, The girl was having a secretive romance with Billie Joe and for whatever reason, they couldn't be together. He ended up getting her pregnant and she had an abortion. He couldn't handle the guilt or the feeling of loss and killed himself. The ending is her putting flowers in the water in remembrance of her unborn child and Billie Joe.
50centfan111 5 months ago 2
i have never seen the movie but if you listen and pay attention to the song, it sounds like it is implied that thing that Billie Joe throw off the bridge was a baby. The song does not even support the thought of him being gay, so if anything @50centfan111 's imterpertation is closest.
What movie said he was gay?
jelloisfalling 5 months ago
Great great song. Beautiful and haunting.
avdreader1 5 months ago
This song reminds me of when I did newspapers late at night and this came on the oldies station....Always a good time
SuperVideoWatcher09 5 months ago
Awesome job with Ode To Billie Joe Nocaro. Ricky!
rjc3208 5 months ago
She was a very attractive lady....and with a sensual voice!
lemmon57 5 months ago
:)
Amberlovin1 6 months ago
"...it isn't even that good!" - Gus Hughes.
I like it though
jennyhaytch 6 months ago
Bobbie Gentry did not need a chorus when she had verses so colorful
and so full of visual images. She put me at the breakfast table, on the
farm and on that bridge. She made me a witness to all the action.
Thanks for the post and the mem'ries.
johnmorris008 6 months ago
Comment removed
TenteixSaigo 6 months ago
This song isn't about being gay or straight. It's about death and how it affects you. Who cares about the movie? This was first and this is great music. Simple.
TenteixSaigo 6 months ago
@TenteixSaigo The movie was only the writters interpation of the song. Just like all of us IMAGE what she and Billy Joe threw off the bridge. The song dosent say so we dont know there for are minds can go anywhere, and it dose. Just like the movie writters minds went a certain way.
rockinrobintweets 4 months ago
@rockinrobintweets Right...soooooo....?????
TenteixSaigo 4 months ago
I have loved this song since it came out. I was about 12 yrs old. Bobbie Gentry's voice really makes this song.
rmworthem 6 months ago
haunting song
IanFlannery 6 months ago
reminds me of amy winehouse
IanFlannery 6 months ago
I had never heard this song until very early this morning. I can't believed I lived this long without ever knowing this song existed.
LeFinX3 6 months ago 13
@LeFinX3 Given the state of radio progamming today, unfortunately I CAN BELIEVE IT, and that's part of the reason I created this channel on YouTube.
Nocaro 6 months ago 15
@Nocaro Glad you did!..Thanks!
shadow1967000 6 months ago
@Nocaro I'm glad I live where I live. 107.9 KWLS, the local classic country station, plays this one, on average, about once every couple of weeks. I've heard it several times, and I never get tired of it. I really hope that when the station crew have to retire that they hire someone who has the same sense of what constitutes classic country.
millenniumf1138 6 months ago
@Nocaro _____Nocaro, I couldn't agree with you more...and I couldn't be more disappointed in the state of radio programming
MrTweeel 2 months ago
@LeFinX3 Now get with it. This is one of my favorites way back when I was a boy. I am glad that you discovered this gem sung by a gem of a woman. My mother was from Mississippi, as well.
CarlLJ62 4 months ago
There was a tv movie About this song. It starred Robbie Benson as Billy Joe. It was released in 1976.it was directed by Max Baer,of the Beverly Hill Billies. Not very good.
joe122450 6 months ago
I think Ode to Billy Joe is one of the most haunting and mysterious songs ever recorded.
traystyles1 6 months ago 3
I really like this song, just found out about it like 3 yrs ago. Very well written I might add it's like she's taking you on the journey with her, I can actually see it all going down right before my eyes. Great song!! In a crazy kinda way it's almost haunting and leaves the listener to figure out for themselves what the heck happened to Bille Joe!
LuvsNeoSoul302 6 months ago
Ode to billie joe i think made for tv
patriotjeff80 6 months ago
awesome...
tarbwsdoom 7 months ago
this is a CLASSIC SONG, love it !
azbaldy5 7 months ago
What a unique and hypnotic song. Bobbie Gentry had a great body.
194jms 7 months ago 2
Bobbie Gentry's career was active until the early 1980's. Her last performances at The Desert Inn' in Vegas were in 1980. She turned down a multi- million dollar extention on her contract .. Her last television performance was in May of 1981 on an N.B.C Mothers Day special. She sang the Broadway song, Mama A Rainbow, to her mother ,Ruby, in the audience. As late as 1976 she was still selling a substantial amount of records with 350,000 sold from the movie soundtrack and re-recorded single.
danielrdrown 7 months ago
@danielrdrown WHAT MOVIE IS YOU REFERRING TO HERE?
bootsie530 7 months ago
dusygibbons, you really caught the poignancy of this song. I grew up in the same era, though far north of you, but I can tell you, this song was as important for the unsaid, the undercurrents, as the lyrics. It was an important song, if rather an outlier for the times. Really enjoyed your comments. I remember how often we all discussed the song. It got under the skin.Many forget that great ballads came out of the Sixties, and this song by Bobbie Gentry was certainly memorable.
sharing1949 7 months ago 2
MrCaliify. It just goes to show that a love of music and real talent is universal. It's Ms. Gentry wonderful?
judyatbc 7 months ago
Great Tune From The Summer cf 1967,I was about 15 and I remember this song very well. it seemed to go with that summer.
TheWerewolf64 7 months ago
I'm gonna sing this tonight at karaoke (New Moon Pub Lordship Lane N22) :))
MsMimilala 8 months ago
what makes this song great is not what it says, but what is left out. what were they throwing off the tallahatchie bridge? it's the spooky implications that give this song it's haunting power. i grew up in greenwood, mississippi and crossed the tallahatchie bridge countless times as a child. the mystery of the song mirrors the mystery of the land itself. with "ode to billy joe" bobbie gentry achieved what very few artists accomplish: she transformed the mundane into myth.
dusygibbons 8 months ago 5
@dusygibbons My grandmother explained to me that they were throwing a baby off the bridge because they had it out of wedlock and were ashamed so they hid it and when i was born they threw it over, thats why she didnt have an appetite, and he couldnt take the guilt of it so he jumped..........thats just what my grandmother said but i trust her cause she is a super smart woman and loved this song when she was younger, still does.
TheSylviaMae 7 months ago
@TheSylviaMae Are you sure it wasn't a diamonmd ring? She rejected his proposal. Now she feels guilty?
bigbigmjfan 7 months ago
@dusygibbons HI, if you ever get to see the film you will see that her rag doll fell from the bridge into the water as she and Billie Joe were sitting talking and arguing. Billie Joe jumped because he was Gay and couldn't handle the guilt of having been with a man. It was a very different time and attitudes were so different back then, the film was quite controversial but non the less, phenomenal as was the song. :-)
bill1952 7 months ago
@bill1952 I think you are right on that one. I grew up in the deep south and baby it hasn't changed much at all since those days.
Strikesis 7 months ago
@bill1952 Thanks you for telling it as it was Some were trying to sugar coat what happen...
by saying he was raped ..NOT AT ALL he gave the blowjob to an older man and they swaped giving head ....and that was all he wrote lol.
MRJACKSON19581 5 months ago
@dusygibbons one of the best analyses of a song I've ever read. Helps if one lives there--you KNOW----
windstorm1000 3 months ago
@dusygibbons Wow. So perfectly put. I love it when an intelligent, sensitive person puts what I'm thinking into words so well. I feel vindicated, somehow. Thanks.
nauort23 2 months ago
She's livin' this song
lilSnubby 8 months ago
a fine classic by Bobbie....thanks for posting it with some great photos
MsJune54 8 months ago
Thanks for the wonderful video. Every 3rd of June for the last 44 years I remember this song.
garybrownfie 8 months ago
Roberta Lee Streeter will be 66 on July 27, 2011. Lives privately in LA with third husband.
My mom used to sing this to me and all around the house when I was little.... the voice of an Angel. It stops me DEAD in my tracks, trance-like, where ever and whenever I hear it.
thatguyfromImpanema 8 months ago 2
What ever happened to Bobby Gentrie? Anyone know?
thears2u 8 months ago
Bobbie Gentry had her moment. PERIOD. Many of us don't even get that, folks.
zipper179 8 months ago
I'm wondering: Are those "strings" in the background actually a Mellotron? They have a haunting Mike Pinder/Moody Blues quality.
bogiemooki 8 months ago
And now Billie Joe has jumped off the Tallahatchie River bridge----Nothing ever seems ever comes to no good on Choctaw Ridge ---Mississppi boy here
Goldclaw837 8 months ago 2
This song was released while I was a senior in high school. What a wonderful song and quite a contrast to all of the British groups that were popular in the late sixties. This song and all of her writing is haunting and just brings to life the rural life down in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi!!! Her use of native american tribes like Choctaw and Chicasaw just grabbed my attention back then because she is a genuine talent and person!!! You don't hear this kind of talent any more!
community1949 8 months ago 2
Remembering Bobbie... Her momma and my grama was 1st cousins :)
gypsyheart59baby 8 months ago 2
Gripped me then and still does. Partly, I guess, because I was just coming of age and starting to see the dark side of love and life… I don't know that anyone's ever written a song better suited to his/her own vocal instrument, either. Pretty amazing—"phenomenon" in the blurb was a well-chosen term.
scorpivision 8 months ago
I remember this song,every year,on this day.Classic.
crowleysridgegirl 8 months ago
Today is the third of June, I remember this EVERY year. We all should RIP Billie Joe!!
ziegfeldman 8 months ago 4
Still a great song.
oooTACooo 8 months ago
I saw the Robbie Benson Movie, (spoiler to the ending is, he was gay, so he jumped, I think he'd been doin it w/ the ...no, find the movie and see!!!! as an aside I know that Laura Nyro loved this recording, as well, in case anyone else sees a slight physical resemblance, I love Laura , and Bobbie sure delivers the goods here! Thanks for the great video to go w/ the unforgettable song! I really enjoyed it!!!!!
JigsawCaptain 9 months ago
Bobbie Gentrie - my love -the song is a first-person narrative that reveals a quasi-Southern Gothic tale in its verses by including the dialog of the narrator's family at dinnertime on the day that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the chores, to the family house for dinner. After cautioning them about tracking in dirt, "Mama" says that she "got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge" that "Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge, apparently to his death.
Bye - folks - love you all !
bobu46 9 months ago
Goodness Gracious Bobblie, try to keep your clothes on whether your sexy or not...Dan O'Niallain
oldiesbutgoodies67 9 months ago
This song is as flavorable as a pot of gumbo, so dang good. :)
onewomanandsomesongs 9 months ago
I often sing this song at karaoke nights at the local bars-get lots of compliments when I do, too!!
mom23wASD 9 months ago
hehehe, original Stereo...Gotta love it! Holey Smokes...67, I might have been 11???OMG-oodness eleven, and I can still sing it??? ^_^ Wonder if I can find "the name game ?
LindasHere55 9 months ago
HOW ODE WAS BILLY JOE WHEN HE JUMPED OFF THE TALLAHATCHIE BRIDGE? DOES ANYBODY KNOW? DOES ANYBODY REALLY CARE BESIDES ME?
HEARTHEANGELSVOICES 9 months ago
me and my father debate this song constantly including right NOW
711god 9 months ago
Wow what a voice (and pic at 1:50).
shack8110 9 months ago
what an amazing song; thanks Bobbie for giving it to the world.
38380finster 10 months ago
Great song, great movie.
thescarycarrie 10 months ago
on tarbuks show on radio 2 today. such a gift of a song.
CarbonBlonde 10 months ago
What soul. Thank you,Bobbie.
melmo75 10 months ago
I remember well the phenomenon; this gives me chills!
gypsyatl 10 months ago
wow, i guess she had a thing with BillyJoe, and she couldn't eat when she heard the news- this song is amazing
robi2000 10 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@robi2000 You haven't seen the movie, have you?
thescarycarrie 10 months ago
This song and movie mean more to me than I can explain. Not the movie itself or the story. But I kissed the love of my life the day this movie came out when I was just nine years old. She was also the first girl I ever kissed. That was over 30 years ago and we are still together.The nostalgia I feel every time I hear this song is unexplainable. Lori I love you more than life!!
south9407100 10 months ago 13
@south9407100 That is amazing!!!
JupiterJimLanders 7 months ago
@south9407100 Whats the movie called.
wildwomenneverdie 4 months ago
@ therealraybaby.. Amen simple pure music
wdeatonjr 10 months ago
wow, whata voice
Nitsitapi 10 months ago
I'm a 19 year old black guy that really only to rb and pop off todays time but when i heard this song while at work i was like Damn tha lady is singing and not only that but shes giving this story! I had to get on here and find this women and here this again I luv It!
MrCaliify 11 months ago 39
@MrCaliify -- I love to see this from the younger generations! I was just a young kid when this was released, and I vividly recall how it grabbed me right away, too. It was DEFINITELY the song of that summer.
covenstead 8 months ago 2
@MrCaliify Your instinct our right on the money. Bobbie charted #8 r&b with this #1 pop classic and King Curtis andThe Kingpins took their instrumental to #6 r&b and #26 pop.
danielrdrown 7 months ago
Brings back childhood memories
broncofanincali 11 months ago
Country Music at its finest
wdeatonjr 11 months ago 4
@wdeatonjr COUNTRY SOUL!
therealraybaby 11 months ago 4
An amazing talent -- and not just in the country aisle either.
You can find a great clip here from her teevee show of her and Donovan doing a live (for real, not sync'd) duet of his "First There is a Mountain."
Shame such a brilliant talent couldn't find lasting success in the field.
smartalek1 11 months ago
Some things change; some things, never. Only we decide.
TheTybeeTimes 11 months ago
Lucky Tree Branch...
EarlRausch 11 months ago
bobbie gentry was so hot.....I'd like to butter her biscuit
flipfloplogic 1 year ago 2
wow, some songs just never get old....
paulypoo66 1 year ago 2
she was hot !!
broodbary 1 year ago 5
they were throwing kittens off the bridge; I seen it!
MyMomHitsMe111 1 year ago
Anyone know the name of the song she put out to explain this one?
duckwhal 1 year ago
@jeffeffro99518 Its seems to me it was a baby( probably premature) they threw over the bridge. Poor old Billy Joe could not handle it.
ipantis 1 year ago
@ipantis Watch the movie again and try to save the druges till the movie is over.
arnodrayslone 1 year ago
god what a beautiful VOICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PresleyFichtner1956 1 year ago 2
any guesses what they threw off the bridge? spoiler----- she never wrote or thought about it, according to an interview she did........
jeffro99518 1 year ago
@jeffro99518 watch the movie, it explains alot.
nwojunkie 1 year ago
Thank you for posting this song, it's Bobbie Gentry's best ever.
davidlangzelli 1 year ago
My route to this song: The ballad of Sarah Palin by Lady Bunny > Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie C. Riley > Here.
renewd 1 year ago
My route to this song: The ballad of Sarah Palin by Lady Bunny > Harper Valley PTA by Jeanne Riley > Here.
renewd 1 year ago
Billboard's 229th #1 hit of the rock era. God bless!
DaveWollenberg 1 year ago
Funny how so many people don't get the story. Very sad.....Unfortunately some people still feel pressured. What a sad world we STILL live in. Prejudice of any kind...Ode To Billie Joe was also a movie....Very emotional....
championcole 1 year ago
first time i heard this song i was parked in a car ,,making out with one of my boyfriends and i got cold chill bumps ,,its haunting in its melody and words,,and of course it makes you wonder and try and figure out why he jumped off the bridge,,i am still wondering ,,lol
bonnieblu313 1 year ago
@bonnieblu313 he was gay
TheAussie181 1 year ago
@TheAussie181 The movie put the gay thing in there to give it a dramatic/controversial edge. But, in reality the song had not a damn thing with anyone being gay and it came out 10 years before that God awful movie
kevinocooldaddy 10 months ago
@kevinocooldaddy im sorry but what movie are we talkin about?
MrCrb333 9 months ago
@MrCrb333 A movie that came out in 1976 called "Ode to Billy Joe" with Robbie Benson.
southwriter 9 months ago
@MrCrb333 o ok thanks
MrCrb333 9 months ago
Ma Bday is June 3rddddddd!!!!!
vdubaful 1 year ago
Everything about this number is fantastic. The backing strings arrangement is insane!
PolarSkua 1 year ago 2
damn shes fine
EMCEMITCH 1 year ago 4
great arse at 1;45 ....not just agreat voice
TrueBritishStyle 1 year ago
While its true that Bobbie never matched her massive debut of 5 million records sold in 1967, she still had other important recordings. Her duets album with Glen Campbell was a milion selling global smash in the 1960's and her single 'Fancy' sold a global million in North America. Her #1 U.K single, 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', sold over 500,000 through Europe in 1970. In Canada alone, she five #1 country hits all of which went top forty pop.
danielrdrown 1 year ago
Who cares about being straight, gay, or evangelical? I live here in the Mississippi Delta, and it's all the same: be human to one another and enjoy fine music.
mongoose636 1 year ago 37
@mongoose636 You are confusing the song with the movie.
Bigbluemeanie44 8 months ago
I wonder if this song could be about billie joe and the girl being in love and the girl was pregnant and that's what they were throwing off the bridge and that's why billie joe killed himself. Because he couldn't live with what they did.
Prophecy1978 1 year ago 5
@Prophecy1978 Max Baer's 1976 movie spells it out: Billie had a homosexual affair with a local man and was unable to consummate when the girl said yes. That's why he jumped off the bridge. As Greil Marcus noted years later the song is as much about her family not noticing her grief--since they chatter about his suicide over dinner AS THOUGH SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE. That's the really sad part.
phud1975 1 year ago
Amazing after all these years things still have not changed in this great country of the USA. Hmmmmmmmm?????? Do you think that maybe people in power need to change their view points???? We do not need any more young men & women killing them selves over this.
twojimswv 1 year ago
classic huh
dennisphillips69 1 year ago