Hey! Isn't this the day that Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billie Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billie Joe
And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge

And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

[olddots]

1. One of the weirdest songs ever

It crossed over from C&W to top 40 and had a lyric that was much more than your normal teen puke anthem about lost love.

thanks I'm going to listen to it again and get in the "way back machine "

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. it had that kind of appeal

[IcyPeas]

2. nice piece of music trivia

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. I should've studied more than the radio in school -

Dad, always said if I knew my homework as good as I knew the songs on the radio I would do much better in school

[texanwitch]

5. What did they throw off the bridge.

There was a movie made about this song.

A rag doll was thrown off the bridge in the movie.

Billy Joe thought he was gay and killed himself.

The song was better, it left you wondering.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. a gun? some kind of incriminating evidence of some sort?

I think the mystery is what added to the allure of that song.

[LiberalEsto]

7. I always thought it was a stillborn baby nt

[texanwitch]

8. I thought along those lines also.

Who knows.

[kiva]

26. That's what I and my friends thought too.

[Wounded Bear]

28. I always thought it was an engagement ring...

..or a commitment icon of some kind. Like they broke up because of some kind of feud or social incompatibility.

I guess I got the vibe that Choctaw Ridge was a kind of a "poor side of town" or "other side of the tracks" reference. Decent people don't go there and good girls don't date guys from there.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. People have been wondering about those lyrics for over 40 years now.

It's always been a mystery. Supposedly, Bobbie Gentry said that the song was more about the family's matter of fact attitude toward the news of the suicide and not the reason for it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. yeah, just sitting around the dinner table - passing the biscuits - cos Billie Joe never

had a lick of sense ...

[olddots]

11. wasn't there a movie made about the song

Staring Christie Swanson ?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. was it Hallmark? who is Christie Swanson?

[dballance]

16. Yep, Ode to Bille Joe, starring Robby Benson

In the movie they had Billie Joe have a sexual encounter with another man, a carny I believe. So they led us to believe he jumped off the bridge because he realized he was a homosexual. It was 1976 so being gay was still considered as a perversion by the majority of the US.

[Aristus]

31. The female lead was played by Glynnis O'Conner.

I had a major crush on her as a kid. But she just seems to have disappeared...

[Demoiselle]

12. I loved this song when I first heard it, and I still do...

I think it's brilliant. It opens all kinds of doors and lets us do the work.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

14. gets the imagination working overtime -

[olddots]

15. Ode to Billy Joe 1976 staring Robbi Benson

How I got Christi Swanson I don't know Also a comedian did a gag song about it -- I remember this shit and can't remember what I did last week

now I'll look up Christi Swanson .

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. oh yeah ... Robbie Benson

[elleng]

17. Oh yeah.

?Thanks?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. ! sorry !

now will you pass the biscuits, please.

[elleng]

22. Sure. Never had a lick o sense.

[olddots]

20. Christi Swanson

the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer I have a crush on her but NOT Robbi Benson

Bobbie Gentry is fine as wine and had a super C&W hair helmet

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. Aqua Net, dude. sprayed til it set like cement

[Lady Freedom Returns]

23. K & R for the memories.

My mom was put to rest this month, 3 years ago. This was one of her favorite songs. She could sing it word for word. I remember cooking in the kitchen with her singing this song.

Thanks for the good memories, Tuesday Afternoon.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

27. you are welcome. my condolences on the loss of your Mom, LFR -

[olddots]

24. PLease stop me !!!!!!!

Bobbi Gentry married Jim Stafford then later married Bill Harrah = Harrah's Casino -------- somewhere Kevin Bacon enters this twisted picture when Buffy the Vampire Slayer has a Bacon Cheeseburger .

[Tuesday Afternoon]

25. wow. you are six degrees from Billie Joe.

don't you jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge, too!

[nolabear]

29. I was a Mississippi teen when this came out. She was a GODDESS in that state!

It really is a good song, and her sweet sadness and Southernness really appealing. We all spent beaucoup time trying to figure out what went off that bridge.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

30. what did you guys decide?

[nolabear]

32. Same as always, everyone disagreed.

Some agreed with Bobbie Gentry that the mystery is the whole point along with the atmospheric story. Then there was the "baby" crowd.

[Art_from_Ark]

33. I always thought it was flowers

They're throwing flowers off the bridge as they talk, they break up, he can't take it, he jumps off the bridge later when she's not there. Then the singer spends her time throwing flowers off the bridge in memory of that day.

[olddots]

34. A lot of people bought the record

so they could figure out the lyrics ,it made people think = a very special song.

a comic version was called Bill to Odey Joe so the song was so popular that there were spin offs like the movie and even talk of a series .