Did Bobbie Gentry ever explain Ode to Billy Joe?

Did Bobbie Gentry ever explain Ode to Billy Joe?

In this song, a family finds out about the death of Billie Joe and shares gossip about him at the dinner table along with their other mundane concerns. Bobbie Gentry explained: "The message of the song revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. The song is a study in unconscious cruelty."

What is the meaning of the song Ode to Billy Joe?

Gentry remarked the song's message revolved around the "nonchalant way" the family discussed the suicide and that what was thrown off of the bridge was included because it established a relationship between Billie Joe and the daughter and provided "a possible motivation for his suicide the next day".

Is the song Ode to Billy Joe based on a true story?

No. While Bobbie Gentry admits the story is fictionalized, she did explain that it was inspired by the 1954 murder of Emmett Till. Till was only 14 years old when he was shot and thrown over the Black Bayou Bridge in Mississippi for offending a woman in a grocery store.

Is Bobby Jo Gentry still alive?

The "Ode to Billy Joe" and "Fancy" singer's disappearance was very much of her own doing, however — in fact, the public now knows where to find her. Gentry, who turned 77 years old on Saturday (July 27), is said to be living near Memphis, Tenn., after years spent on the west coast following her early '80s exit.

Is Billy Joe McAllister a real person?

-- A group of Mississippi residents gathered on a sleepy, dusty Delta day to remember the fictional Billy Joe McAllister where — as the 1967 hit song had it — he ended his life when he jumped off the Tallahatchie bridge. ...

What did Bobby Joe throw off the bridge?

They seem like arbitrary inventions of the filmmakers, but they're the closest thing the song has to an official “solution”: In the movie, Billy Joe tosses his girlfriend Bobbie Lee's rag doll off the bridge and jumps the following day, tormented by uncertainty over his sexual identity.

Who really wrote Ode to Billy Joe?

Bobbie Gentry Ode to Billie Joe/Paroliers “Ode to Billie Joe,” written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry in 1967, is an elegy that became a hit in many countries, knocking “All You Need Is Love” and “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” out of the number one spot on the charts. The song and album won three Grammys.

Where is Bobbie Gentry?

She was 40 years old. Since that time, she has not recorded, performed or been interviewed. One 2016 news report stated that Gentry lives in a gated community near Memphis, Tennessee. According to another, Gentry lives in a gated community in Los Angeles.

Is the “Ode to Billie Joe” contest over?

• The annotate “Ode to Billie Joe” Contest is now OVER! Tara Murtha has selected three winning annotations. The… Read More The Section Header button breaks up song sections.

What was Bob Gentry's first single?

• "Ode to Billie Joe" was originally intended as the B-side of Gentry's first single recording, a blues number called "Mississippi Delta", on Capitol Records.

What did Bobbie Gentry do with her handwritten songs?

• Gentry donated her handwritten lyrics to this song to the University of Mississippi, where it is housed in a collection along with works by Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner. Jimmie Haskell's string arrangment on this song, which won a Grammy award, was a masterwork and a feat of innovation.

What college did Bobbie Gentry go to?

• Singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry was born in Mississippi and lived in Chickasaw County. After her parents divorced, she lived with her paternal grandparents. At age thirteen, Gentry moved to California to live with her mother. She graduated from high school and then she entered UCLA as a philosophy major.