Bobbie Gentry released "Ode to Billie Joe" in July of 1967. It was a number-one hit in the United States and has been ranked #412 in Rolling Stones' List of the
500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is a classic Southern Gothic, or as I prefer to refer to the genre "Rotting in the South," story of a family sitting around the dinner table and nonchalantly discusing Billie Joe's suicide. Mama is the first to tell of the news she heard from Choctaw Ridge that Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. While most of the family seems unconcerned or not surprised with Billie Joe's death it is apparent that this is the first time the narrator/singer is hearing the tragic news, and she is touched in a deeper way. It appears as though there was a hidden relationship of some sort between the singer and Billie Joe. The song lyrics hold several unsolved musical mysteries: What was the relationship between the narrator and Billie Joe? What did the preacher see Billie Joe and a girl that looked a lot like the singer throwing off of the Tallahatchie Bridge? Why did Billie Joe jump off of the bridge? Read more and watch the video after the jump.
