Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry (BBC Live 1968)

[@princebosch2555]

I'm from a fishing town in Ireland & have zero connection to the Mississippi Delta region, but that song makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I've never heard anyone paint a picture of a time & place so accurately. Her delivery is out of this world, it's so achingly beautiful & the casual indifference the fathers comments at the dinner table are just perfect, I can imagine the sun burnt Dad scratching a living off back breaking toil, he lives & breathes the hardship of his life. This is a masterclass in songwriting & performance. Its utterly faultless.

[@kirkleach6743]

Probably because you recognize the themes: rural living, ancient traditions, connection to nature, particularly water, etc. It is an amazing song.

[@trishgrant2715]

Perfect summary

[@frankwinn2320]

Irish Americans aren’t much different than our brothers and sisters back home. Our style here in America hasn’t really changed from our first generation immigrant ancestors who came straight from the Emerald Isle. That’s why you connect with the song and sound so well.

[@veronicalake2751]

This song is truth. Billy Joe was given a gun to kill Wolf coming around the wood shop. This is shown on Tv.! He shot a Haired Forest Child he thought was a Wolf. Also, called the Wild People of the woods BigFoot, Sasquach. Billy Joe & his girlfriend put the dead child in girlfriend's dads car. Both dumped the BigFoot child off the bridge... These people have a Smell to them. Billy & his girlfriend smelled from touching the child. She took the car home took a bath. Billy Joe didn't. Forest Childs parents found The murderer of their child by the their child's smell on him. Billy was hung from the Trees by the bridge. Everyone got to see Billy Joe's dead body so high in the trees. So, someone was called to get the Billy's body out of the trees. When guy came to get the dead body it was gone. Billy Joes body was Never Found. Billy Joe Disrespected these people by dumping their child Off the Bridge. Billy Joe tried to hide his wrong doing. By hiding in the woods. He should have called the police & not touched the Child. Police would have given the child back to the Forest parents & said it was a mistake for shooting the child. Billy Joe would have lived if he did it the right way... 🙏

[@trishgrant2715]

@@veronicalake2751 lols

[@tinabirdshafer]

This is how you sing, this is how you write...this song still haunts me after 40 years!!

[@Godwinpounds4333]

Hello how are you doing?

[@wheepingwillow24u17]

MORE THAN THAT FOR ME, BUT YES FOR CERTAIN, I STILL LOVE IT

[@reginabolden7491]

Have you watched the movie? Robbie Benson!!!

[@inthelandofmorethansmall7582]

That's how I felt when I first heard Reba McIntyres "Fancy". I was somewhere between 4 and 7 years old because it was when I was living in a trailer with my Mom and StepDad (who became my Dad - Dad ❤)... Mama was in the shower. Dad was at work. She said I came running into the bathroom crying. She thought something was wrong. Like, BAD wrong. But she said when I started telling her why I was upset it was all she could do to keep from laughing. 😂 I said, "Oh Mama it was awful! The woman lied and the baby cried and the Mama died and it all went WRONG!!!" 😭😭😭 But I'm actually FROM the US SOUTH so it wasn't exactly an issue of needing much imagination to be able to picture it all. In fact, I'm only an hour or so from where Billy Joe threw himself off the bridge. ❤ And I grew up with friends who lived in shacks just like Reba described in her song, too. Anyway, if you haven't heard it, go listen to Reba's "Fancy". And her song, "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia". (Reba) And "The Greatest Man I Never Knew". (Reba) Also, "The Thunder Rolls", but that's by Garth Brooks. Those are the songs from when I was just a little girl that really stuck with me.

[@ongie9736]

​@@inthelandofmorethansmall7582' .. Your missed your calling in life you should of written songs or just written anything.. such a lovely way you have in your writing, with the few paragraphs that i've just read now its funny how simple words can come together & have power like those big long hard to spell & pronounce words.. and not forgetting having the slighted knowledge of the words meaning too😅.. But yeah.. loved it 😅😊

[@rogerl7533]

She sang this, live! No lip-syncing, no auto-tune, nothing of the sort. Absolute perfection.

[@Zzus321]

She wrote it produced it and sang it retired took the money and ran.

[@elhior23]

That has never happened in our modern time. No one has ever sang live without an autotuner in our modern time. NEVER EVER. Wow grow up you child. Even old grouchy morons can be children and whine.

[@toddgittins5692]

Talent

[@lorigay1220]

True Talent!!

[@Gaish]

@@Zzus321 good for her.

[@johnmettler995]

I don't recall anybody covering this song. Bobby owns this song. Nobody can sing it like her. Thank you Bobby.

[@brendapatrick5107]

Lucinda Williams covered it and she killed it

[@68blues]

Brenda shut you up John.

[@TheRealTragicallyInept]

A female Canadian country music band, "Farmers Daughter" did an excellent cover of this song as well.

[@bernardmauge8613]

was translated in French and sung by joe Dassin. A big hit in France. The cover was nearly identical.

[@axiomaddict]

I play and sing it from time to time, and I’m a musician, but never publicly, because I agree with you; it’s perfect as it is.

[@stormsbrewingnc5898]

Today is June 3 2024. Still one of my favorite songs. Haunting and beautiful. ❤

[@garypi5585]

I always play this song every 3rd of June. Miss Bobby

[@gabifilter2257]

Today, the 3rd of June 2024, I am listening to this incredible song. 10 weeks ago we buried my husband, I believe we are both now sharing the memory of this song. Beyond compare.

[@stormsbrewingnc5898]

@@gabifilter2257 I’m so sorry for your loss. Music transcends around the world and to the heavens, in my opinion.

[@momusicfan]

I'm here today too. Great song!

[@geekay1349]

I play every year round this time. so haunting

[@johnsullivan5260]

This is as hauntingly beautiful today as it was from the day she wrote it. A masterpiece

[@brucefournier2391]

In August of 1967, a nine year old northern boy was on a station wagon vacation in the South with his folks. In a diner, at breakfast, he had a dime to play a song on the juke box. He chose this song.

[@nbanolfkid]

The older I get the more I realize this is a brilliant piece of song writing/singing.

[@johndalton3180]

It's one of those beautiful pieces of art that reveals more of itself to us the older we get, and the more of life we experience.

[@iadorenewyork1]

Don and John - you are so right. It IS a brilliant song, and it’s more apparent as time goes by.

[@johndalton3180]

@@iadorenewyork1 I'm reminded of the lines in Our Town. "Emily: Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?- Stage manager: No. The saints and poets, maybe. They do some." Ms. Gentry is a poet.

[@joylannetter2451]

Agreed

[@lareina9071]

Absolutely brilliant

[@angellacanfora]

I was a kid in the 1970s when one day I was rummaging through my parents record collection and came across this. I put it on and listened to it over and over. I remember crying, just overcome by the impact of her smoky, soulful voice, the way she recounts the sad story just above a whisper, so intimately. And those strings tastefully, hauntingly accenting her voice. It's quite perfect.

[@timmiller3523]

being a kid in the 70s was like a little bit of heaven on earth.

[@brendamyers6320]

@@timmiller3523 I was a 70's kid--more of a pre teen and teen.. whole other place and time compared to these days.. boy has things changed..

[@timmiller3523]

@@brendamyers6320 boy i miss the good ole days

[@IrishAnnie]

This live performance is so special. It’s storytelling. I love it.

[@phoenixfox3379]

We had the album when I was a kid in the 70's. I got a crush from looking at her photo on the album.

[@jeffnordahl2755]

I first heard this song on a transistor radio while sitting on a hilltop in Vietnam. The fog was rolling into the valley below us one night and hearing this song added to the eeriness of the night. The 70 men of our infantry company was awaiting orders to go into the valley to confront the NVA enemy. It was a scary time indeed!

[@shawngilliland243]

Wow - that's a great memory of the first time you heard the song, Jeff. Thank you for your service.

[@johndalton3180]

Comments like this are why there are comments sections. Thank you, Jeff.

[@gijsschubert7901]

Wonderful to hear this Jeff. What a feeling that must have been

[@petemavus2948]

Siren songs for sure, thank you and GOD bless Jeff

[@mikerunyan2938]

Any chance the song was about the average person’s indifference to what was going on with Vietnam at the time?

[@ChristChickAutistic]

I'm here on June 3rd again. 2024. I've loved this song as long as I can remember. Daddy knew Ms. Bobbie, and this song reminds me of Daddy. I know the place she sings about. We went through there when I was little, I guess I should go again. Peace of Christ y'all, V.❤

[@FrJohnBrownSJ]

Christ's peace to you!

[@ChristChickAutistic]

@@FrJohnBrownSJ thank you Father, and also with you! Catholic gal here, lol! I love my Jesus! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@lizgarner2320]

Me to sweetie

[@lizgarner2320]

I’m glad

[@CatmanBill]

Hey ya..l loved it when t came out and reads me of what I was doing in 1967 which was nothing just being a kid hitchhiking and hanging out on the street.

[@dwaynemore7080]

I remember when this song came out. I just stopped and listened the first time I heard it. Hauntingly beautiful. Master storytelling of American Gothic!

[@fredjohnson513]

Hi...

[@TheShink]

It was a child, they threw off the bridge?

[@salfaccidomo9462]

@@TheShink she's So BEAUTIFUL ANYTHING. SHE SINGS. IS. GREAT

[@genghiskhanii6646]

@@TheShink The story implies a young man's suicide.

[@michaelhoffman5486]

yuppers

[@berndheiden7630]

I‘v lived to be 71 and this is one of a handful of songs that have touched my soul every time I hear it! They don‘t make songs like that any more. The soft voice and the mellow guitar get to me every time. And again I have just wiped my eyes and blown my nose. Thanks Bobbie!

[@marknewton6984]

Me too. Stopped me in my tracks in late 60's in Florida Gulf Coast. Loved it, and her, ever since.

[@marknewton6984]

Me too. She is great!

[@John_Mcgrane]

Delta Dawn. As well. And the one about the boy playing the stringed box top

[@anuhazi9537]

Who is listening in 2024?

[@spookynightthelegendofclar4049]

Meeee!

[@Corywick]

I am.....my relatives are from there in the 1800sss

[@Corywick]

STARKVILLE MS❤

[@sherrifox3719]

❤

[@gg19myg12]

Im Back again bobby, on a Saturday.

[@freedax4328]

Very few songs in this world are perfect, but this is one of them. Eloquent, mysterious, situational, storytelling lyrics. Understated, but emotional delivery. Gorgeous, almost haunting, voice. Raw, staccato, acoustic guitar. Unrevealed allegory that sends the mind searching for answers. Gorgeous, sincere woman. Perfect

[@johnhulsker1453]

Philosophy major, U C L A

[@Hardes02938]

​@@johnhulsker1453FACTS

[@cherylmburton5577]

​@@Hardes02938It was a true story of a young girl not a boy, with a low IQ who was murdered by throwing her off the bridge.

[@patrickmaillard5860]

All is said ... Thanks

[@babsie47]

Still gives me haunting goosebumps after all these years. She captured something in this that only a southerner could know.

[@donnatellamymum6735]

The irresistible appeal of your cousin

[@yikes.9736]

@@donnatellamymum6735 NOOOOOOOO

[@kirstencorby8465]

That combination of cruelty and tenderness has always freaked me out. I was born a Yankee but spent all my adult life in the Deep South. The legacy of slavery, I think.

[@SageWhite-Rose]

I grew up on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, it's quite a different culture than the Northern parts of mississippi. But, there are bits and pieces in this song that just hit home for me.

[@Tony_Cardoza]

@@kirstencorby8465 No i don't think so.

[@mrequi1]

What a beautiful time capsule. Can't we all just feel the grittiness, the hot afternoon sun & sultriness(sp) of a delta late summer afternoon. What a voice, what a talent.

[@lanakane7325]

I love the haunting nature of this song. The writing is a masterclass in storytelling. The understated music, delivery, and character portrayal doesn't just tell the story, it IS the story. It is an allegory about euphemism - avoiding the truth by underspeaking it. The chorus repeats that Billy Joe jumped off the bridge but no one says aloud that he killed himself. That he is dead. Why did he kill himself? Why does anybody kill themselves? It's not the point. The point is that nobody seems to care that he did - save one...the narrator. His death shocked her into silence and took her appetite, but nobody at that table - HER family members - did the math to realize that Billy Joe was someone to her. She never spoke it but she immortalized him in an Ode. It's chilling and a bit depressing that humans pass through life taking such little notice of other humans, even those that they love.

[@mysticalmargaret6105]

+Lana Kane And there is also the possibility that Billie Joe didn't kill himself - he may have been PUSHED off of the bridge...

[@tomhits]

+Lana Kane It is the haunting mistery of this story-song that gave so many of us the chills and keeps speculations alive. I remember back in the 60s they played "Mississippi Delta" in every jukebox, before I learned about the Ode to B.J.-song. Must have been the flipside.

[@foldstimtim]

+Margaret Tudor Not sure what they threw off the bridge but according to the movie Billy Joe jumped after becoming ashamed about being with the Sheriff of the county.

[@MinotaurMan1]

Only the gentle, sensitive kittens of the world get this song the way you have described. Peace and Love to you, Lana Kane...

[@juliesanchez7634]

Lana Kane I have read a lot of responses to this song and just giggle. You my lady, without vitriol or rage captured it brilliantly.

[@kirbygene]

This song still gives me chills. I never realized what a brilliant performer Bobbie Gentry was. I knew she was different than other country/pop singers, but I didn't realize back then how different.

[@conorkennedy3304]

she was cut from a unique cloth

[@TheRoyalBavarian]

A song that stands on it's own from a time when there was a new masterpiece every week

[@janmargaret7972]

Yes great comment.

[@99baggett]

1968, the year of my high school graduation. And a treasure trove of some of the best music ever produced.

[@tompinion4138]

This song has always chilled me to the bone. I could never quite describe why, but "a study in unconscious cruelty" hits the nail on the head.

[@TangleF50]

I suppose it's "unconscious cruelty" as a consequence of young folks that experience unwanted tragedy. So much pain and not even knowing why.

[@shawngilliland243]

Superb description, Tom Pinion.

[@ongie9736]

..go back and start again ..i missed the start mate

[@christienelson1437]

@@TangleF50 Or when you carelessly hurt someone too deep for words. Like in a dare or joke, not realizing how really ugly child play can be. I don’t believe she didn’t know what really happened. It was just something She just couldn’t share.

[@phoenixbird6016]

Had a gf once. I was,19yrs old just had a baby. She was 27yrs old, type 2 diabetes, she drank too much. Couldn't afford insulin, she kept drinking, she died, her ol man a soldier, come out the field and found her, somebody say she was found head down on the floor, and nude. So dam 😥. I could never understand why

[@catherinecatlover]

BOBBIE GENTRY IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED WOMAN. THIS SONG IS SO UNIQUE .NOONE ELSE COULD EVER WRITE ANYTHING LIKE THIS EVER !

[@waynelynch3862]

TRIVIA: It sounded like nothing else on the radio. In its first week of release, “Ode” sold 750,000 copies, knocking “All You Need Is Love” out of the top spot on the Billboard chart. It stayed there for four weeks. The song won Gentry three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist (she was the first Country artist to ever win in this category). Not long after the song’s debut, the water cooler talk started. “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 or Memphis. Swamp rock singer Tony Joe White (Rainy Night in Georgia, Polk Salad Annie) never had any doubts about Bobbie Gentry’s talent - he credits her with turning him into a songwriter: “I hadn’t started writing yet. I was listening to the radio one day and I heard Ode to Billie Joe. Man, this girl with a great voice, playing a cool guitar, and I thought: ‘How real can you get?’ I thought, I am Billie Joe - I’ve picked cotton, and been in the river and been in the swamps. I thought if I ever write something it’s got to be as real as Ode to Billie Joe. It wasn’t too long after that I started on Polk Salad Annie. I remember the radio, listening to it, the whole thing - it was like a turn-around, you know?” She is now blonde and looks great for 80. Search for.... ''Bobbie Gentry Seen In Public For First Time In 30+ Years'' to see recent pix from 2-3 years ago.

[@waynelynch3862]

@@rsmith8434 She wanted a private life. She looked good for 72.

[@youraccountingprofessor5013]

And the reason why it was so popular? Because it struck a resonant chord in every southerner's breast. Haunting melodies, lilting lyrics, both reminiscent of the Celtic herigatge of the region...all that is missing is a fiddle.

[@waynelynch3862]

@@youraccountingprofessor5013 And it was sexy, with a hint of naughty.

[@susieferenzi3805]

The song came out just a few months after I was born, but yet I still remember hearing it repeatedly growing up, and how after all these years I still remember the lyrics to this amazing song.

[@jennyrichardson4070]

I thought a baby at first but then I heard Billy Joe came out as gay to to the girl in this song. Maybe some person found out and Billy Joe killed them in a fit of rage and he and the girl threw the body over the bridge and Billy Joe couldn’t live with himself so he committed suicide. I’ve always wanted to know what it was that they threw off

[@jeddyhi]

Her voice is amazing. Something soothing about it. She isn't trying to show off, she is just singing it as easy as you or I talk.

[@dovestone_]

jeddyhi So effortlessly cool.

[@petemavus2948]

Witness the banality of indifference to art to do to act...

[@michaeloflynn5767]

I am from a family farm in Roscommon & when I heard it the similarities of the story resonated with me & I was moved deeply by Bobbies plain delivery and subtle guitar playing, a truly gifted understated performer .I am 70 years old and am still moved to the point of tears .

[@michgrl29]

Bobbie is now 79 and still beautiful!

[@brianmilkowski3353]

First time I heard this song on the radio, the DJ said this song is going to be HUGE. He was correct.

[@arthurkyriazis]

100% the most underrated artist of the 1960s. Utterly brilliant.

[@jeddyhi]

Songwriting is a lost art. They do not make them like this anymore.

[@sheeil8391]

Bobby Gentry has a good song and is good on writing songs. Have you ever listened to country music singers? If you haven't you will find out, that K. T. Oslin has the ability to write and sing songs better than any female in any genre.

[@starlenesarabia8739]

Ohh yes her music is passed down to her son Tyler Stafford check him out

[@Joshua-jj4xn]

Yes they do.

[@Dragonfly6160]

I haven't heard music like this since the early 1970s.

[@SageWhite-Rose]

You are so right. Bobbie Gentry, Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Chapin & Dan Folgerberg.... are all masterclass sorry tellers. I miss this kind of music.

[@wickedpissa25]

There are only a handful of truly perfect songs in this world, and this is definitely high on that list.

[@rrhoads]

closest thing to perfection, such talent will never ever be found again in today's generation

[@SwindellSteamWorks]

I'm 16, I love this song. And wow was Bobbie a looker. Beautiful lady she was.

[@bell-crank4949]

And a little-known fact is that she could also smell.

[@petemavus2948]

@@bell-crank4949 roflmao

[@deltarebelgirl]

@@BonRain8734 maybe that statement was made because she sounds a Little nasally

[@EMACK2K10]

16 year olds still say 'looker'...Well I'll be damned.

[@melfreemans]

I was 16 when it came out. And I loved the movie. I had a huge crush on Robby Benson. I should watch the movie again.

[@williambaylis1875]

Immediately as soon as I hear the opening chords of this song I'm transported back to 1967

[@gg19myg12]

Im 25 and listen 2 this everyday.

[@ftsjr]

Bobbie Gentry was incredibly beautiful, and she had an exquisite voice. It had a "smoky" quality, and always reminded me a bit of Dusty Springfield's.

[@francoiswilliams]

gorgeous

[@grahamcurl5026]

That she does. She is bewitching

[@forestdenizen6497]

You're admiring a man... Sorry you can't see it. Reminds you of Springfield because that is also a Male-to-Female androgyne. Most celebrity women are biological men.

[@nickslomka5502]

You're whacked !!!

[@bearpawz_]

@@nickslomka5502 You are right Nick. Whoever Forest Denizen is, he is a wackadoodle! 🤪

[@oakleysierney1918]

This song is hauntingly beautiful and sticks with me since I was a kid.

[@claimguy]

I had forgotten how superb this song was. This is pure Americana and one the greatest songs ever written. It belongs in the Smithsonian or wherever they exalt and preserve cultural treasures.

[@savvasperisanidis]

One of the most haunting songs, sung by one of the most beautiful women that ever graced Earth 🌎

[@southernbellekari]

My Husband was heading to Vietnam & said in the barracks before they left everywhere he went everyone was playing this song. Every time he hears it he says he remembers it like yesterday. He walking down the sidewalk & heard the song over & over while walking by everyone's rooms. This is classic country, storytelling at it's FINEST ❤🙌👏

[@robingales5734]

My hubby introduced me to this song and I fell in love ❤with it.

[@Freedom_Half_Off]

" Pass the biscuits please" Let's you know what Papa thought about.Billy Joe Mcallister 😅

[@SuperMiley1994]

This is none of those things ive ever listened to in my life, now i understand why modern pop music isnt that good anymore. Im speechless, it is beautiful and shes beautiful.

[@richardmarsh1368]

Hauntingly beautiful and desperately sad. This is exquisite, painful, perfection.

[@LeeBee-hs6mj]

One of the best story-songs I've ever heard.

[@johnmichael7425]

Hello how are you doing...?

[@Deathinappalachia]

I heard this song on some AM radio station late at night once in Mississippi, while crossing the Tallahatchie river. Ms. Gentry's haunting voice will still break your heart as you envision the quiet desperation of the impoverished rural folk in the Delta.

[@mixplix100]

This song is hypnotic, can't hear it enough.

[@JudeJaded15]

+Jude O'Connor it's a 'wake-up to humpty-dumpty' song in a way.

[@marvinmartinmartin2246]

Diddo!!!!!!!

[@sjlee1951]

My Sis and I used to sing this song back in the Sixties. I can STILL remember all the words..... can't remember my name.... but can remember this... LOL

[@marygooch5055]

this song makes you soul search beautiful piece

[@pictishgaming3812]

Hey, I love your comics man!

[@billmatthews327]

I grew up poor in a small rural town in Tennessee. This is such an incredible song that never fails to take me back to the time and place of my youth. So simple yet so we’ll crafted and delivered. Wow!!

[@Daystepper]

This song was so different in it's time almost 50 years ago ... the haunting melodies and lyrics continues to endear it to me 50 years later.

[@jamesmonahanmusic]

Holy-smoke, what a beautiful performance. ❤

[@davidtullos2067]

We live a life exactly like the song says growing up in Mississippi. It made me the man I am today and thank God I'm a Southern Man loving God, and saying yes sir and yes mam. Bobbie was my mother's name. Born in Waynesboro Mississippi so poor but the love she had for others who needed help, made me realize what was important.

[@elizabethgaspodnetich9676]

The first time I heard this song it made me cry, I was 10 years old, I heard it on the radio while driving a tractor on our farm. I still love this song and it still makes me cry.

[@suerichardson2067]

+Elizabeth Gaspodnetich I got laughed at in school for crying over the dying bird in an opera song. My music teacher was angry with class and said that "Music is an emotion, you have to feel it, and Susan feels this emotion. She has a musically trained ear." So Elizabeth be proud that you feel the emotion of the music.

[@elizabethgaspodnetich9676]

Sue Richardson Music has always been an emotion starter for me. So many songs make me cry, laugh, sing and dance. I almost can't even clean the house without music! It takes me away from everything. Your music teacher was right.

[@oldbaldy3389]

+Elizabeth Gaspodnetich Music has to be felt before it can be played. Thanks mom for "making me" take piano, organ, trombone, and drum lessons. Appreciate the message

[@elizabethgaspodnetich9676]

old baldy I play banjo and one no one knows about, the "bass clarinet!" I hated that thing, it was as big as I was! You are right though, I couldn't survive without music.

[@elizabethneely8575]

I played Flute piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, piano, keyboards (synthesizer) Thank you God for this gift.

[@JoseCruz-kp7ru]

At eighteen years of age driving my first car to fast lost control down the embankment, when the car came to rest on it's roof, dust, dirt and Ode to Billie Joe playing on the AM radio. I will never forget this song.

[@garymccreath2773]

Now that is something, sad , soulful melancholic and leaves you to think what happened, all time class act

[@kipling1957]

Genius songwriting, genius phasing, and perfect voice for delivery.

[@GraveCareMaintenanceServices]

i was a 6 year old child when this was first released, loved it then, still love it 55 years later

[@mozdickson]

Bobbie, you are incomparable. What a talent. That said - the strings. The strings! Whoever orchestrated the strings - genius.

[@michaelyoung7885]

This beautiful lady is from my home county of Chickasaw Mississippi, when I was a kid my sisters would listen to her, Janice Joplin, Dusty Springfield, Cat Stevens, and Simon and Garfunkel. Man, what a wonderful childhood I was awarded. Thank you Anna and Sandra, the best sisters a young man could wish for.

[@MrBossman5678]

Yes very awesome song.

[@jimmybaker2845]

Micheal Young- I'm from Mississippi also. (Rankin County) We use to say there must be something in the water in that part of Mississippi. Elvis was born up the road a ways from Chickasaw county in Tupelo.

[@sbrawsm]

I was a kid at the time those artists were popular.

[@nanambaye9054]

You just took me on a happy memory ride. Thanks!

[@ongie9736]

.. is that any where near Turkey?

[@GeorgeVreelandHill]

Songs years ago told stories. I miss that. Give me real music like this any day.

[@enlightenedandloved6051]

I remember being 8 years old sleeping in my father's arm while he drove his old truck. This song is so vividly stained in my memory 20 years later I know it word for word. 💜💜💜💜

[@angoswinke9459]

You can feel the deliciousness of this music. Like lazily cruising down a river of whipping cream on a barge. The occasional throb and gut wrenching twist and turn by the cellos and strings is so memorable and so whippoorwillian evocative that I can teer on almost any subject. Beautiful. For me, I wish the Eulogy on my having passed to be underscored by this song. Thank you Miss Bobbie Gentry.

[@doradedham9162]

Absolutely classic. Love and good vibes to Bobbie. 55 years since this song took the country by storm!

[@jimnielsen6667]

51 years later, and this is still rocking.

[@logografia]

Southern Gothic at its best. Well done Bobbie!

[@markcarey8426]

I like your idea of Southern Gothic. Never heard that B4.

[@ianchapple4642]

Brill song

[@lauralewis5726]

Being a Goth myself - I remember my Mother playing this song back in the late 70's as a kid and being fascinated by it - definitely Country Goth! She even looks a bit like a vamp with her dark hair and soulful voice... Not sure what movie they are talking about though. Gotta see that!

[@sherylvillemarette3198]

@@lauralewis5726 q11pp .

[@lauralewis5726]

@@sherylvillemarette3198 what does that mean?

[@jimstewart1584]

I live about 30 miles north of the Tallahatchie bridge. This song makes me feel so Southern. The Delta. And so tearful.

[@bryanpalmer9660]

Remember this 💎 from my childhood in NZ during the late,60s-a beautiful,haunting,mystical song!

[@soaringvulture]

What a piece of work. Both the singer and the song. Ms. Gentry wrote and sang a masterpiece, then left the business. Whole lotta class.

[@michaelprendeville5949]

Ireland here remember this from my young days such a brilliant song and singer so hauntingly beautiful and sad all in one

[@danieldevereaux]

I love this song. What else can I say? Nothing in this world is more haunting than a beautiful girl with a secret.

[@loydkline2644]

Super great 1970s song

[@orderofmelchizedek1]

A look back to a time when music could still stir ones heart, when actual talent was still required. Thanks for the look back in time.

[@melissawright1979]

What a stunningly beautiful woman x

[@jameswalker899]

Hello how are you doing?

[@karenkinsman5643]

Wow, I was 7 years old when this was released!!

[@lisarodriguez5963]

I was a year old when this came out. But as I grew up, I remember this song very well. Great song.. ❤❤❤

[@6355517]

My mom was from this exact location in MS and a huge fan of Bobbie Gentry. This tune was as much an "Ode" to my uncle. He had incredible personal issues and a big disconnect with his family and younger sister (mama). Bobbie tells the story very well...

[@jamesgordon8867]

This conversation was my grandma's way of talking. Eastern Kentucky was so much like this. Life was so much simpler then😊

[@svart_kors]

This song is full of class. Thank you Ms Gentry.

[@noooddle]

This is an incredible piece of poetry.

[@renadenison6759]

I miss her so much, she was my hero! When I was a little girl my mom and Dad took me to see her at Harrahs in Reno Nevada where I was born and raised, and when she came around that curtain vamp like and sang Fancy I was never the same. Since I sang Since I was a tiny girl my mother would put me on the kitchen table in my red dress and I would catwalk down the table singing Fancy to all the huge Italian family and friends . Reba did a good job but nobody could ever beat Bobby Gentry. Fun fact she married Bill Harrah but divorced in a few days.

[@Sydney-Casket-Base]

The emotion in this one is so strong. She's so gorgeous & talented. Everything about this video resonates so well. It's like magic. It's so soothing, despite the dark subject matter.

[@nancycolclasure489]

First heard this song while watching a movie in the 70s, when I was probably too young to be. The movie is called Ode to Billy Joe and 40 years later still gets me. Robbie Benson was awesome!

[@Godwinpounds4333]

Hello 👋how are you doing?

[@ericsmith1786]

What a good lyrics nice memories I love this song so interesting bring me some good feelings. How are you Nancy ?

[@stevieray56]

"Ode to Billie Joe" was originally intended as the B-side of Gentry's first single, a blues number called "Mississippi Delta", on Capitol Records. The original recording, with no other musicians backing Gentry's guitar, had eleven verses lasting seven minutes, telling more of Billie Joe's story. The executives realized that this song was a better option for a single, so they cut the length by almost half and re-recorded it with a string orchestra. The only surviving draft of the 7 minute version of "Ode to Billie Joe", which consists of two handwritten pages, is located in the archive of the University of Mississippi, donated by Gentry. In addition to the iconic lyrics that made the final cut, the unused lyrics may showcase Bobbie Gentry's mindset and possible answer to the mystery of what was throw from the bridge; as well as the relationship of the narrator to Billie Joe. The shorter version left more of the story to the listener's imagination, and made the single more suitable for radio airplay.

[@bookofjashertribeofasher889]

thank you.

[@stevieray56]

@@bookofjashertribeofasher889 You're welcome!

[@jpaley550]

Thanks!... Fascinating Story & haunting song... Incredibly moving...heard it coming from a car radio in Manhattan yesterday afternoon, 8/7/20 and woke up @ 5:38 a.m. this morning and am listening to it now... It's hypnotic.

[@petemavus2948]

@@stevieray56 Thank You, I thought I heard that...I think Bobbie Gentry herself would be proud of your knowledge and accuracy. 👍

[@stevieray56]

@@petemavus2948 Wow, awesome compliment! Thanks

[@39thala]

I always loved the melody on this song and her unique shuffling strum on that little acoustic guitar. That song really caught the mood of being out in the rural parts of the south among the tall pine woods and bayous even if you weren't watching a film accompanying it. Bobby Gentry is a great songwriter, story teller and singer and a good representation of the beautiful ladies from down south in those days. A good live rendition of that tune too.

[@39thala]

Such an awesomely flawless and moving live performance by Bobby. And the quality on this audio and video is great for that time. She really shows her talent as a singer and story teller.

[@momyrose]

yes yes

[@momyrose]

39thala yessss

[@patweston5303]

NOT ACOUSTIC...CAN SEE THE CONNECTED CORD TO THE SPEAKER BY HER ELBOW...

[@39thala]

@@patweston5303 I said "Acoustic guitar" not acoustic performance!. The 'guitar' itself is in fact, of an acoustic type as opposed to being an electric type

[@ShedonistaShamanatrix]

I have always loved the simplicity and melancholic nature of this song. It cam out before I was born, still I recall hearing it and being moved by it.

[@keithoudal890]

+Shedonista Shamanatrix There is much to be moved by.

[@IrishAnnie]

Wow. I remember that from my youth. This song is incredible. She has incredible talent and brings our imagination to life with this ballad.

[@snoopylover9]

I was a little kid, a kindergartner in NYC, listening to this song while riding in the back of the Pontiac. Still gets me every time. As I've gotten older the lyrics have grown more meaningful. Glad to know it has stood the test of time.

[@ruthhenderson5413]

It's about Emmett Till, and we will never forget him.

[@cam4636]

@@ruthhenderson5413 ...Not that we should ever forget Emmett Till, but that's really, truly not what the song's about.

[@ruthhenderson5413]

@@cam4636: Bobbie Gentry herself said in an interview that the song was a tribute to Emmett Till. She was 13 and lived 10 miles down the road from the scene of the crime when it happened. After that, she couldn't bear to stay there with her paternal grandparents any longer, and went to live with her mother in California. She wrote the song years later.

[@RB-je3yj]

Bad ass Jam!! This is music NOT the crap that plays in 2021!!!

[@larrycaldwell-gb8vq]

Those of us of the age of 70+ we can relate to being raised up working on the farm the way she is singing this song. Wouldn't won't to have been raised up any other way. Love those old days and love this song and the way she sings it.

[@rodsreel]

This song has a sense of tension like no other, no shouting or screaming guitars, just that little simple 3/4 guitar setting the rythm and feeling with Bobby's extraordinary sincere vocal and the lyrics are just mesmerising. A genuine musical original one off. Cheers for the upload.

[@pattyayers]

Not that there’s anything wrong with screaming guitars though

[@ronalddesiderio7625]

Still think Billy Joe is a Badass song after all these years ❤

[@patweston5303]

I WAS IN BASIC TRAINING AT LACKLAND AFB IN TEXAS THE FIRST TIME I HEARD THIS SONG ON THE RADIO...NOV/DEC OF 1966...STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITES, 55 YEARS LATER!!

[@fredjohnson513]

How are you doing today pat??

[@ericsmith1786]

What a good lyrics with nice memories I love this song so cool. How are you Pat?

[@kurtsherrick2066]

This song is absolutely a work of art. She knew how to write a great Southern Song and you can feel your soul listening to this.

[@elcajoia619]

Much appreciated for a Sunday vid, keep up the hard work, much appreciated.

[@oddievandijk4252]

Haunting...even after listening to it all these years later. Beautiful as is the singer.

[@patman7421]

This song will always be a classic.

[@annejohnston8696]

Still listenin in Scotland! It's the 3rd of June 2021...

[@fredjohnson513]

Hi Anne...

[@George-fh9zm]

The story of the song tells of how people can be emotionally detached from something as severe and final as death. I think that is why the song endures. It catches that part of the the human psyche that wants to protect itself from death.

[@spacerothstein1381]

You've absolutely got it Kid.

[@daddydev70]

Fuck trump stupid....

[@howlingwaters2741]

@George, and the callous disregard for human life has only gotten worse. We are supposed to be a civilized nation! How can it be legal to kill so many innocents? How can it be tolerated to stand idle as toddlers get caught in the crossfire every single day? This song has been a part of my life since age 5. I have sung and cried to it hundreds of times. My father is the radio announcer who played it raw, unknown back in the Deep South. He received an award when it topped the charts. Miss Gentry was a force of her own, just like many women who break barriers and defy societal norms. But there was not one thing about her that was not feminine. (I've relayed the story elsewhere under a different anon name and gotten slammed.) But that doesn't matter- the tarnished golden record and HOF history hang on the wall. it was a defining moment in the Southern Gothic story of our lives. Daddy's battling for his life now. Please, if you are so inclined- lift him in prayer. There's so much more 🙏🏾🤲🙌

[@petemavus2948]

"And they turn right over to the t.v. page, hey now, hey now…..........."

[@christienelson1437]

@@howlingwaters2741 It wasn’t legal, but people make their own rules for selfish reasons. How do we sin more and more each day knowing it just drives one more thorn, one more blade and one more curse into Jesus’ soul? I don’t know, I just don’t know and we don’t stop.

[@VinylForest]

Who's listening to this great song from the 1960's in October/November 2019?

[@eugenemalush9284]

10/26/19 here

[@brianmullis2556]

Love the storytellers. 11/1/19

[@citronellapianos6744]

Heard it on KGY yesterday!

[@VinylForest]

@Brian Mullis: It is a great story, both sad and beautiful and so well told.

[@mauidon]

VinylForest. yep, 11/2/19, listening to this beautifully haunting song

[@avalondreaming1433]

One of the best songs ever written. Ms. Bobbie Gentry had it all, looks, talent, smarts and sweet Southern charm

[@ericsmith1786]

Beautiful voice I love this song what a good lyrics nice memories in the 60s. How are you AvalonDreaming ?

[@alisonbailey9237]

I used to play this to kids in school, they loved it. So open to interpretation. Totally agree with all the comments, phenomenal song and artist.

[@JeffTheGent]

Man, Bobbie Gentry’s lyrics and story are brilliant! She included mentions of the mundane such as passing the black-eyed peas, “I’ll have another piece of apple pie,” etc., with the story of a young man’s tragic death. That helps drives home the theme of subconscious cruelty. It’s made all the more clear by the “Billie Joe never had a lick of sense” comment. People around the dinner table are speaking nonchalantly about something so terrible. Plus they don’t even realize that the narrator _is_ the young lady who’d been spotted with the deceased - the girl who “looked a lot like you,” as someone said to her. Folks are talking cavalierly about his death, not getting that she’s in mourning. Her mom even cluelessly wonders why she seems to have lost her appetite. Then at the end of the song, the tables turn as the narrator gives an update on her family life in the year since Billie Joe’s death. Her dad has died, and her mom is in a deep state of depression. At this point, the titular fellow’s former girlfriend could be consoling her mother, and one might expect her to be grieving her father’s passing. But she’s still too consumed with her own sadness over her boyfriend’s death for any of that. So there she is spending much time dropping flowers at the sight of his suicide. This is an absolute masterpiece! 👏🏽

[@wmorris189]

A beautiful, original song and a beautiful, original, creative singer. A rare thing, a lovely song and a moving story in one. Well done Ms Gentry very impressive.

[@cindyinnew]

I was 7 yrs old when this song was released. I remember my mom having every Gentry album including her duet album with Glen Campbell. I also remember being totally taken with wonder regarding the lyrics. When the film debuted in 1976, we finally thought we knew. I have often wondered what Gentry thought of the film

[@honestj820]

Hello how are you doing?😊

[@deborahsellars3924]

My dad had a collection of country and western albums , this song was my favourite track, always thought i was a weird ten yr old for wanting to play it till i knew it word for word ,

[@scottraymond8981]

Hello Deborah

[@fredjohnson513]

Hello Deborah...