Ode To Billy Joe - Bobbie Gentry | Andy & Alex FIRST TIME REACTION!
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
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After all these years, the lyrics roll off the tongue like it was yesterday.
This!
I always listen to this on the third of June.
Yes!!! Lol
same here, but now I can appreciate the song more than I did as a kid, also hearing her voice on something a lot better than an old AM transistor radio.
@@anmana7 yes! Next one is Papa was a Rolling Stone - Sep 3😆
"Child, what's happened to your appetite?" is a chilling line. The family is oblivious to what the girl is feeling.
Hard times can do that.
@@pegasus5287True, but tell that to Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and a thousand other artists who grew up financially poor.
This was a huge hit when it was released. It was kinda controversial because it inferred certain things and left it up to the listener to draw their own conclusions. Bobbie Gentry had a sultry voice. She was a looker as well.
true
Well said. Definitely a looker!
Yeah, her voice is the very definition of sultry.
It was their baby.
@@mattdepinto7959 Bobbie Gentry has said it wasn't. She said that lone was a red herring.
People have speculated about what they threw off the bridge ever since this song was released. But it doesn't really matter. Bobbie Gentry said the song is "a study in unconscious cruelty." The family engages in idle talk about Billy Joe, yet doesn't notice how upset the narrator is over his death, or catch on to the fact that she was involved with him somehow. IMO, it's better for it to be a mystery.
100% agree. I’ve thought this since the song came out. So many around me were obsessing about what they threw off the bridge and not empathizing with the tragedy. Kinda remade the whole point of the song, imo.
I thought it interesting that the guys caught what I knew Gentry said about the song, rather than what most people talked about; what they threw off the bridge.
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
Well said!
As I just posted, one theory of what was thrown off the bridge is that it was a wedding ring. She had rejected Billie's marriage proposal.
The thing about this song to me is the story is told so well that you can picture the scenery going on through the entire song in your head.
I felt like I was sitting at the supper table.
Rick Hall, the music producer from FAME Studios, said he almost drove his car off the road the first time he heard this song at night on the AM radio, because it sounded so much like so many people he knew.
Agreed and in the final verse how within a year's time absolutely everything can change, just like in real life.
@@slcs369 : exactly!
To this day it makes me think back to my not fully-matured teenage brain being not quite able to process the sometimes disconcerting things that life could throw out there. The instrumentation and arrangement especially does a an excellent job of sustaining that sense of unsettling uncertainty
I heard someone refer to this as southern Gothic, which seems perfect. She wrote and produced her own music.
Exactly what I've thought -- Faulkner or O'Connor set to stark pop/folk music. Southern gothic and mystery, and the family "dynamic" is chilling. It was a huge hit.
What a picture this song paints. The conversational quality as she talks about suicide and the bleakness of life and the people coping by not coping is chilling and the story certainly leaves you wanting to know more.
I remember when this song came out and it caused, rightfully, a sensation. EVERYONE was talking about what they threw off that bridge. Most people thought it was an aborted fetus. In the song, what’s glossed over is the fact that the narrator and Billy Joe obviously had a secret relationship. The fact that she loses her appetite during the dinner while her mother is talking matchmaking her and that nice young preacher, is chilling. She probably knows why he jumped off the bridge, but can’t say anything.
By the way, please play her follow up hit “Fancy”. Do not, for the love of god, play or even listen to Reba McIntyre’s cover, which was horrible and a travesty. “Fancy” was based on a true story about a Southern politician and the woman who was first his mistress, then his wife. Again, it was a sensation and for the next year, people were speculating just which Southern politician it was. That woman could write some songs!
I believe she and Billy threw a fetus off the bridge and he killed himself by jumping off the bridge. That's why she goes up there and throws flowers off the bridge. Like flowers on a grave.
So realistic too. The mealtime conversation and familial epilogue that any, and especially Southern, family can identify with.
@@rudedogmat She threw the flowers in mourning for Billie Joe. Bobby has said, for all these years, that what was thrown off the bridge was a red herring, and it doesn't matter.
I feel like Harry Chapin's "Taxi" might be the kind of ode you're looking for.
An ode to what might have been.
Yes, go back to the master of story telling, Harry Chapin. In addition to “Taxi”, listen to “A Better Place To Be” (live version), and “Corey’s Coming”, two of his best
Oh, yeah. That’s an excellent suggestion!
All three of those are awesome... And Sniper is just emotionally chilling. They'll love that one.
YES. They need to do that one. Although they seemed underwhelmed by Cat's In The Cradle.
In an interview Bobbie Gentry told Fred Bronson. “The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty.”
Yes. It's about how her family talks about it casually, not noticing how it affects the singer..
After a brief but successful career, Bobby Gentry retired and has been elusive and mysterious as ever.
She was one of the first female musicians to compose , produce and publish her own tunes - and did a mighty fine job of doing so.
She did some excellent duets with Glen Campbell before vanishing.
Petula Clark was also a very productive writer, but she had to write under an assumed (male) name to be taken seriously.
@@jdw5678yeh i have one of those records i think.they did stephen stills love the one your with have o dig out
It's an S, only because over the years it's become an enduring mystery and authentic Americana. Just what was she and Billy Jo throwing off the bridge? The singer knows more about why he jumped than she ever let's on, and in this way the song remains unequaled.
It was a baby. She miscarried his baby or something.
You can hear her emotional numbness in the way she relays the dinner conversation. A masterpiece of storytelling.
The perfect combination of what was said and what was unsaid.
It was a huge hit, sold 1 million copies in 6 weeks. So haunting.
It's pure Southern Gothic, and has always spooked me ...
that's a great description of this masterpiece
Bobbie knew how to tell a story in just a couple of minutes.
This song always brings to mind another mega hit of 1968 - Jennie C Riley's 'Harper Valley PTA'.
I was just thinking the same thing!! Also, Cat's in the Cradle by Cat Stevens.
@@jodiemaxwell375 Cat's in the Cradle is by Harry Chapin.
A&A suggested another ode. And Harper Valley PTA came to mind, but I decided it is a really bad ass song, but probably not an ode. But I’d love to hear them hear it.
Of which they also made a tv move staring Barbara Eden.
@@jodiemaxwell375I think you meant Father & Son
Her voice is still hauntingly beautiful.
The live version of this is even better. A movie was made, based on the song. It's still a shocker.
Yes but the movie was crap
Love the movie still to this day!
@@impudentdomain true
Did the movie version actually say (or heavily imply) what was thrown off the bridge?
@@kev7161 yes, it was a baby doll in the movie.
Bobbie recorded this as a guitar demo. (She's playing the guitar). The record company just added strings and the upright bass to her demo and released it in this simple form,...the song is that strong! Also, the song originally was actually much longer (She wrote something like 11 verses or so). So, they cut it down for radio. The other verses are locked in a vault in the Mississippi State Archives and have never been released to the public. Also, your analysis of the family's dinner table reaction to the death (Pass the biscuits please") is spot on. Bobbie described the song as a study in "unconscious cruelty". Bobbie was a philosophy major in College. A movie was made based on the song in 1975. It was produced by Max Baer, Jr (Jethro from the Beverly Hillbillies show). Oh, and lastly, the Tallahatchie Bridge was a real thing. But it was set on fire by vandals and had to be torn down.
This is an S song, it will be around for a long time, after many A+ are forgotten.
yeah, I think it is not their preferred genre
She wrote the song - which was #1 in 1967 -- and won Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and a couple of others at the 1968 Grammy Awards. It was also made into a movie in 1976. This is a good example of how it would enhance your reaction if you took a moment to Google the song and artist after giving your initial thoughts. She had an interesting career and life.
She had a variety TV show in the UK too.
"In 1968, after appearing on In Concert, Gentry became the first female songwriter to front a TV series on the BBC network. Impressed with Gentry's performances on- and off-screen, the head of the BBC invited her, in 1968, to host a variety show on BBC 2, making her the first female songwriter to host a series on the network. The Bobbie Gentry series was a 6-week special, broadcast weekly from July 13 to August 17, 1968. It featured musicians from the Mississippi countryside, as well as guests such as Glen Campbell, James Taylor, Randy Newman, Elton John, Alan Price, Billy Preston, and Pan's People. The Bobbie Gentry series was produced and directed by Stanley Dorfman, who was engage to be married to Gentry in 1970,[20] and credited Gentry as his co-director. Dorfman told author Tara Murtha, "After a few episodes, she was pretty much co-directing the show because she had such great ideas. [But] the BBC wouldn't have it, wouldn't have an artist credited as a director or producer, so the credit went to me as producer and director. But she definitely contributed as much as I did creatively to the show. She was just full of ideas.""
You're right, if only reactors would do some research first. A and A are good, don't get me wrong, but, a quick google first.....
So was also a smart business person. She negotiated a nice percentage of the movie's proceeds and has lived comfortably to this day. And she wasn't bad to look at. 😊
@@SpuzzyLargo Beautiful woman!
I could not disagree with you more. Back in the day there was no way to research a song before we heard it. It was just BANG! all of a sudden coming through the radio. That allowed us to hear it and make our own judgements. What we get is an honest first reaction. Do you not think that if they did go to Google and learn that it was such a huge hit and critically acclaimed award winner that would affect their listening experience and rating? Andy and Alex, just keep doing what you're doing. Trust the community. We won't steer you wrong.
S-tier for me. Story-telling at it's best. A haunting song, that once heard, is never forgotten.
An interesting movie based on this song, brilliantly acted by Robbie Benson and Glynnis O’Cconner.
The movie was “more-or-less loosely based “ on the song.
The song is haunting and leaves more questions than answers.
Fantastic song.
Great reaction.
📻🙂
Remember watching it years ago and if I recall correctly they didn’t explain anything more than was written in the song…?
"Polk Salad Annie" by Tony Joe White from 1969 comes to mind. The original "Proud Mary" by CCR. This song by Bobbie Gentry was huge back in the day hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
I love Polk Salad Annie! Was going to suggest it too.
Jimi Jamison and Sound Fusion 1993 sing Polk Salad Annie and it's great, try it sometime
The true “message” behind this song is the family’s nonchalant attitude over Billy Joe’s death and the fact the family can’t seem to understand why their daughter, who was dating Billy Joe, had no appetite. The sad truth is that there are actual people who react in this same way, which is one of the reasons the lyrics feel like an actual conversation is taking place. It might have been one of the reasons the song was such a big hit.
the true "message" of the song is what they threw off the bridge, and never explain in the song.
@@scambammer6102 That’s not what Bobbie Gentry said, who wrote the song. She even talks about what her true message of the song is in her live performance of it. It’s on UA-cam.
@@NYBredBamaFed Artists aren't always candid about their work, especially when it could result in adverse publicity, or when they are soft-peddling movie rights. I'm sure you will be outraged by this bit of insight.
I have a more cynical view of songs like this now that I'm old. It's clear it wasn't actually written by somebody experienced with farm life, but somebody who wanted to cast a negative shadow across farm life - a message that Hollywood and the music industry have been driving for decades.
@@LadyIarConnacht I don't know what planet your farmlife is from but for me it's spot on. The song especially evokes a memory for me of my great uncle being mangled while drilling a well and how it was a part of the midday meal conversation that evetyone had come in from work for and that we all had to go back to work from. I also had a cousin somehow fall off a tractor and get caught in his plow and how the adult men had to go out in the field to collect all the pieces. Additionally, my great grandmother left her family to run off with a man. Drove my great grandfather crazy. He ended up losing the farm and living out of a truck with my grandmother and her two sibs, travelling between seasonal work and going cold and hungry when there wasn't any work. Farm life can be really good...I would not trade my childhood years on the farm... but it has it's share of tragedy, heartache and scandal.
You need to watch the live version of this. She has a haunting, wistful look in her eyes during the line of her and Billy Joe throwing something off the bridge.
Absolutely!
Yep, one of the rare songs where the live version is superior to the studio version.
The BBC version!
Yes this is one of the rare times I recommend live version first. The part in the live performance that gets me is the when Mama is telling about the preacher and there is that pause (done perfectly live) before she says- “oh,by the way” You can anticipate the dread the narrator feels wondering what else Mama knows or is going to say. Done brilliantly.
Timeless masterpiece
I like that this song would work with the guitar only, but the strings really enhance the mood.
One of the three Grammys won for this song was by Jimmie Haskell for his arrangement.
1967 was the year I first started listening to the radio consistently and this was a big hit in the early summer. I would have rated it an S.
Don’t let her accent fool you. This woman was (is?) BRILLIANT. She attended a music conservatory, put herself through college, and had her own variety show on major television. By the way, the line about “the girl and Billy Joe throwing something off the Tallahatchee bridge is believed to be a miscarried baby.
I was about to make this comment, I had always assumed it was a baby that was referred to
I've heard that, but I don't believe it. She's still living with her family, I think they would have known if she got pregnant, especially if the baby was developed enough to be meaningfully thrown from the bridge. And why not bury it, anyway? My head cannon has always been that she and Billy Joe planned to hold up a convenience store out of town and use the money to run away. Billy Joe shoots someone in the attempt, and they throw the gun into the river, but Billy Joe feels too much guilt and jumps. Or maybe Billy Joe didn't bring her along for the robbery, but confesses to her afterwards, leading to the same results.
I believe she is still alive and living in Glendale, CA. Beautiful and brilliant lady, and one of the best American songwriters.
Yup, that was one of the two top guesses along with an engagement ring. Either would definitely fit the story of the song.
Or that they may have had a budding relationship.
I can imagine his offering her an ID bracelet or locket as a token and her not taking it, because.... everything. And him chucking it off the bridge into the water right then and there in frustration and hurt.
You didn't hear another song on the radio in August of 1967. Haunting Southern Gothic. The swirling strings. Family dysfunction at its best. Those of us of a certain age know every word and will sit in the car and listen to it until it's complete. I can forget a dear friend's birthday, but the 3rd of June will always hold a place on my heart.
Her story is so vivid, everyone who listens to this song is right there sitting at the dinner table with the family.
Big big hit back in the day. She had an amazing voice!😊
Saw Bobbi in Vegas at Caesar's Palace , performing this in 1968. Also ,as opening acts were Jose Feliciano and. Richard Pryor.
Phenomenal song, cultural signpost. Anyone who has heard it will remember it for the rest of their lives.
Still haunting after all these years. Almost ghost like in affect. I just got into works of Flannery O'Connor. Heavy emotions understated.
Ms. Gentry said that the point of the song was not the mystery of the death (which a TV movie gave away) but was exactly what Alex was saying. The point of the song is the indifference to war, poverty, and suffering over the average dinner table. We are all so wrapped up in 'me and mine' that we cannot have sympathy or empathy toward what is happening around us.
I kind of hope that's not true, because death, which is unavoidable, has been a matter of fact to most people in the history of the world, and has been discussed just this way over dinner tables for millennia. It's a poor analogy for indifference to those other things which are caused by us.
Yes, and also the trauma that the girl is going through with her listening to her family talking casually about his death, not realizing that she was his girlfriend.
@otisdylan9532 Or that they may have had a budding relationship.
I can imagine his offering her an ID bracelet or locket as a token and her not taking it, because.... everything. And him chucking it off the bridge into the water right then and there in frustration and hurt.
This. So much this.
The TV movie did not give away anything. It just gave someone else's interpretation.
NEVER in a million years would I have thought you guys would have much to say about this song. You keep surprising me.
Bobbie said in an interview that she didn't have anything specific in mind that was thrown off the bridge. She wanted to let listeners fill in the blank for themselves. Everyone claiming they know what it was is mistaken.
It’s not an Ode but the title song from “The Legend of Billy Jack” One Tin Soldier by Coven is a great song to hit!
One of my favorites...had the 45 record and played it all the time.
No comparison. Coven sucked.
She was one of the first women in music to produce her own music!
I think it might be the first number one single written, produced and performed by a woman (though she had to win a lawsuit in order to finally be given producer credit). At a time when most the big name country artists relied on hit songwriters and hit producers this twenty four year old unknown came straight out the box writing, singing and producing her debut album. And it was an enormous hit.
Cannot believe you have not reacted to this yet. It is such a classic. It just makes you stop and think about. Her voice is such a killer.
Bobbie Gentry , such an intelligent and talented song writer.
This song oozes southern gothic like nothing else ...
don't know if you'd call it an ode, but in the same vein as the song is "the night the lights went out in georgia" by vicki lawrence (NOT the reba mcentire remake). it's a story song about weird goings on in the backwoods. more upbeat,but just as eerie.
How about Angie Baby by Helen Reddy?
@@kev7161 that one too! macabre tales dressed in sweet melodies.
@@DannyD714Would also recommend Dark Lady by Cher.
Angie Baby too
I like how you two guys don't interrupt a great song
Ooohhh this song brings back such fond memories. Thank you both for putting a smile on my face! ✌🏻
Bobbie was the real deal from that part of the country but she was also incredibly talented; you've got to see her doing this live on that television performance where she's playing the bass line and the guitar together, fingerpicking on her acoustic, and it's just incredible beyond belief. But not only all of that, she was a sociology major and she described this song at one point as being "a study of the cruelty of casual indifference".
Bobbie sure has the vocals and the heart to tell the tale of a rural small town and the way the townsfolk relate news to one another. She emotes the family's misfortune, shame and dismay, while seamlessly conveying the passage of time. I don't think I know any odes other than this.🤷♂️
She left the music business and became quite the entrepreneur. One time part owner of the Phoenix Subs basketball team too.
It’s dark and lovely all at the same time.
I was 6 when this song came out, and it was EVERYWHERE. Radio, TV shows, variety shows… seemed like it stopped the world every time it came on.
I remember (barely) seeing her perform this on some TV show. I was only probably about 7? I wanted to be Bobbie Gentry SO BAD!!! Her voice, her looks - her everything was mesmerizing to me. ♥♥♥
Yes the orchestra gave me chills and goosebumps.
Ode to My Family, the Cranberries. Delores O' Riorden is just magical.
One of the best story songs of all time. The lyrics are intended to showcase unintentional cruelty by those who are simply unaware of what's going on that's hidden from them.
An ode to Billy Joel is "Piano Man"!
true
There was a National conversation for about six months as to what the girl and Billy Joe threw off the bridge right before he jumped. Many thought a baby.
One of the finest story-songs ever. S-tier for me!
Good one guys.... nice story song... putting Kinks Destroyer on the table again please
You can hear the screen door slam behind the kids when they come in.
Its a masterpiece. The composers and the vocalist are penutbutter and jelly.
Some songs you hear, no matter how many years go by instantly transport you back
you need to watch the live version everyone is reacting to. If for no other reason but to see how beautiful Bobbie is.
The live version isn’t nearly as good as the studio cut
Such a great story telling song and the instrumentation has a haunting quality to it that fits perfectly. ✌️
Years later, bobby Gentry described the song as "... a study in unconscious cruelty."
Love this song. Will live on forever.
Awesome 💯💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
She had another hit, Fancy.
The same as Reba's (cover?)?
@@kev7161Yes, she made a mint off the royalties of that cover (3 million reportedly).
The live performance is mesmerising.
Thanks, guys, for finally getting around to this song. I was 11 growing up in the rural south when this song was popular. Perfectly captured the time and place.
One of the very best story-telling songs. As good as, or better than, American Pie; Piano Man; Cats in the Cradle; or Stan.
How very strange, my friends and I were just talking about this song!! The strings in this song did ‘strange things’ to me…haunting.
I was 9 when this came out. It marked me for life.
TRUST ME on this guys,, I would strongly suggest watching the video for this classic,, Not only because you get to hear her speaking/telling about herself & the song,, But also during the performance,, There are facts about her personally,, her career,, achievements,, impact,, etc. that are very interesting & are scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
The live version with her talking before it is well worth checking out.
Her performance on the recording Live at the BBC takes this song to an altogether higher level.
I watched an interview with Bobby Gentry years and years ago and I am so impressed with the two of you because you actually got the point of the song!! She said the song was about how people get so wrapped up in their own lives and struggles that they don't even notice or aknowledge the struugles that their friends and loved ones are going through. The narrator of the story was seeing Billie Joe and her friends and family never noticed or aknowledged it. She was really hurting when Billy Joe jumped, and she had to get through it all by herself. The story wasn't really about Billy Joe and you guys reccognized that. I'm just so impressed with the two of you! Very intelligent. Great video! Have a great day guys!
Let me just say guys that I LOVE your song reviews. Biggest reason? YOU DON'T INTERRUPT THE SONG! You let it play through THEN react to it. So many song reviews chop the damn song up and lose the thread of the emotions evoked by the music. In addition, I'm a 60 year-old dude who LOVES seeing a couple of music-loving young guys checking out songs they normally wouldn't hear. Kudos Andy and Alex!
This song still sounds great today. I remember it being on the AM radio stations when it was popular.
You must eventually do the live version. It’s powerful. Her eyes. Her delivery. Always so haunting.
According to the website Second Hand Songs , Ode to Billie Joe, has a staggering 246 covers. Record sales are over 50 million with the majority being by r&b and jazz artists. Over half the covers are instrumentals. In 1967 , this Bobbie Gentry classic scattered itself on all the musical genre charts. #1 pop( 4 weeks), #8 r&b, #5 adult contemporary and #17 country. The Ode to Billie Joe album was only the second by a female solo artist to sell over 1 million copies. The first solo female artist to achieve this was Barbra Streisand. in 1968, the single and album received a staggering 10 grammy nomination, 8 for Bobbie Gentry who would win three and Jimmie Haskell would pick up one for the string arrangements.
I was 16 in 1967 & this story telling song hit a young poet like a bomb. I still remember every word & inference Bobbie Gentry puts on it.
She said in multiple interviews that the song was less about what was thrown off the bridge and more about everyone's indifference about him taking his own life.
Great song from my childhood, I forgot how good it is.
Very famous tune played often on the radio. If you want 2 great storytelling songs then, if you haven’t already, you will love reacting to Bob Dylan’s Tangled Up In Blue and Hurricane!
Bobby Gentry was an innovator in female musicians creating and owning their own music.
I love the fact that the questions are never answered during the song and everyone can draw their own conclusions.
Song was a smash when it first came out. Had a very Grapes of Wrath feel to it. Great songwriting and production.
This what songwriting is all about.
What I loved about this reaction is that you spent time discussing many aspects of the song and didn't get sidetracked into obsessing over what was thrown off the bridge. Thank you for a thoughtful breakdown!
Not an ode, but a similar type of country storytelling is "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley. It was also a late 60's song that crossed over from country to the pop charts. You'll like it.
"Patches" by Clarence Carter 1970 and "Hazzard by Richard Marx 1991 are 2 good songs that tell a story that you should check out!
The most SOUTHERN SONG ever written...
Bobby Gentry was the first “boss babe” in the music biz! Huge respect for her as a guitarist, songwriter and producer!
I had a huge crush on her when i was 10-12 yrs old! (I’m 66)
Peace
It's all about apathy. And Bobbie Gentry wrote and directed all of her own music. She was way ahead of her time.
Hey guys this makes me wanna hear some Bob Seger, Her Strut
The conversation is so natural, nothing false or arty at all. Fabulous songwriting.
Great "Who Dunnit" song. I was 12 yrs. old back in 1968. This song was a crossover hit on both AM pop and Country Western stations. Everyone was asking "Was it murder, or did Billy Joe commit suicide?" In any event Bobbie Gentry is such a beautiful southern Belle of a woman, and we all had a crush on her, and her southern drawl.