What does Ode to Billy Joe lyrics mean?
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.”
Was Ode to Billy Joe 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.
Why did Billie Joe jump off the bridge?
“This boy’s death did not get his neighbors involved,” she explained at the time. She explained that the object thrown off the bridge was just a way to establish motivation for Billie Joe’s suicide. “I left it open so the listener could draw his own conclusion.”
Who did Billy Joe sleep with?
One night at a jamboree, McAllister gets drunk and seems nauseated and confused when entering a makeshift brothel behind the gathering. It turns out that in his inebriated state, he had sex with another man, later revealed to be his sawmill boss, Dewey Barksdale (James Best).
Where is the Tallahatchie Bridge located?
Greenwood, MS
On Grand Blvd, on the edge of Greenwood, MS there is a bridge over the Tallahatchie River that has a very nice and comprehensive two-sided historical marker regarding singer Bobbie Gentry, her general career, and the 1967 song and subsequent movie, Ode to Billie Joe.
Is there a real Tallahatchie Bridge?
The wooden bridge collapsed in 1972 after being set alight by vandals. It crossed the Tallahatchie River at Money, about ten miles north of Greenwood, Mississippi. The bridge has since been replaced.
Is there an actual Tallahatchie Bridge?
Tallahatchie BridgeTallahatchie River / Bridges
What songs made Bob Dylan write Ode to Billie Joe?
It was a song called Like A Rolling Stone written by Bob Dylan in 1965, Because it has an impressive line Like A Rolling Stone, that reminds me of Muddy Waters’ song Rolling Stone. Both songs, Floating Bridge and Like A Rolling Stone were the songs that made Bobbie wrote Ode To Billie Joe.
Did Billie Joe have a lick of sense?
“Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense. Pass the biscuits, please 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 Mama said to me, “Child, what’s happened to your appetite? Said he’d be pleased to have dinner on Sunday.
Is Billie Joe a boy or a girl?
J Johnson from 92040Nowhere in the song, “Ode to Billie Joe,” is Billie Joe referred to as “he” or “him,” or as a boy or as a male. The spelling of “Billie” is often used for girls and women.