Ode to Billie Joe * Bobbie Gentry 1967 HQ

"Ode to Billie Joe" is a song written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry, a singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. The single, released on July 10, 1967, was a number-one hit in the US within three weeks of release and a big international seller. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song of the year.The song notably kept the Diana Ross & the Supremes number "Reflections" from becoming the group's 11th number-one single in the U.S. The recording remained on the Billboard chart for 20 weeks and was the Number 1 song for four weeks.

[christopherphillips]

One of the greatest songs ever recorded. One of my favorite oldies.

[mariogonzales]

Nice song for 4 a great movie, well done Bobbie Gentry ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐...

[evanwales]

Married With Children introduced me to this gem 💎, & I’m forever grateful 🥰🎧

[BillHarding]

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 at the back door,
"Y'all remember to wipe your feet!"

And then, she said “I got some news
This mornin' from Choctaw Ridge.

“Today, Billy Joe McAlister
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.”

And Papa said to Mama,
As he passed around the black-eyed peas,

"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense.
Pass the biscuits, please."

"There's five more acres
In the lower forty I got to plow."

And Mama said, “It was a shame
About Billy Joe, anyhow.

“Seems like nothin' ever comes
To no good, up on Choctaw Ridge.

“And now, Billy Joe McAlister’s
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.”

And Brother said he recollected
When he, and Tom, and Billy Joe,

They 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 o’ apple pie.
You know it don't seem right.

"I saw him at the saw mill,
Yesterday, on Choctaw Ridge.

"And now you tell me Billy Joe's
Jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

And Mama said to me, "Child,
What's happened to your appetite?

"I've been cookin' all mornin’,
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 Billy Joe was throwin’
Somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

A year has come and gone
Since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe.

And Brother married Becky Thompson.
They bought a store in Tupelo.

There was a virus goin’ '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 in to the muddy water,
Off the Tallahatchie Bridge.