Bobby Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- Music video by Bobby Gentry performing Ode to Billie Joe (HQ/HD version)
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#BobbyGentry #Country
high class classic country at its finest 💖 🎶
Thanks for the music of the day's gone by of good music
Now that is beautiful. Finish...
Jeorge jone
Hqhsh
@@pattynaugle5938❤
In 2024 she is now 81 years old, I'm glad she is still here...
Bless her 🥰
God bless
Why though?
I don’t want her dead or anything, but unless something changed she retired.
@@ryansmith4494 Hum, strange response! For the same reason I'm glad the likes of James Earl Jones are still alive...
Best song about conversation at a kitchen table ever written.
The conversation that the violins have with her voice is priceless. What a masterpiece.
If you appreciate that, check out Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole sometime. The violin tries to escape the theme, but is always drawn back
"Conversation". I like that.
Wow, i agree ! She earned her Masters. This song has an eerie, haunting feel. I can recollect my childhood as soon as I hear this amazing song.
@@lolapalacios1654 Arranger Jimmie Haskell penned the string arrangement. It's scored for four violins & two 'cellos.
Every Saturday in the 1970’s growing up my Mama had my sister and I clean the house,and she would put on the 45’s --Harper Valley PTA ,Rose Garden, & Honey by Bobby Goldsboro . I still have those 45’s and they mean the world to me. ❤️
Boy are you bringing back many moons. I still remember all of them I'm just glad I'm still here
I'm glad you still have the 45 keep them and make sure they stay in the family❤
I still have all the old 8 track tapes and the 71 Chevy truck that we cruised in and enjoyed all the old great music and we still grab some beers and have another great cruise.
Back in those days my elementary school teacher would let us bring our records on Friday, Harper valley PTA and Rose garden 😊
Ah..Love the same songs as my Mum..What an Era!
You don't sing along to this, you just listen, pure quality, brilliant
so true
Or you read comments and reply while listening.
I do both. Listen and sing
❤
I beg to differ if you don't mind.
Sometimes there's that one moment at the bridge (climax) of the song, you just CANT help but to sing.
Actually when ever I watch this movie and this song starts....
I cant help but to sing along.
Sometimes you can sit there with your eyes closed and just listen....
Then there are others when the melody hits you so hard and the words start that you have to sing along.
I hope we can AGREE and also DISAGREE on this point.
@@ghostwritter1075*differ
Defer means you bow to someone else's expertise.
Her phrasing on this song is flawless.
Amen.
Pass the biscuits please
What a story to tell. At age 70 I still love it.
The best. The most emotional. The most mysterious song. Ever. ❤
Sooooo mysterious! Ignoring the movie.
BJ jumped because he was ashamed of being molested by the sheriff.
Yes, seems like she's really feelin this song...
Some vocals are forever burned into you and no other version can replace it. This one is in me.
Such a beautiful ballad. Where did this type of talent go? This world might be better if there was music such as this being written today
There is loads of excellent music written today, you just have to put the work in to find it.
Thanks for the way you just put that truth 🙌 🙏 💯
Your WELCOME 🙏
I think it takes a hell of a lot more than good music to straighten out out country's shit.
Songs of the real talented back in the day. Where on God's green earth has the talent gone.
It seems as though we're seeing "the music die" Did you see Biden give the South Korean president Don McCleans guitar and he strummed a bit and sang "bye bye miss American pie? It was a few days ago.
@@julietspoto9652 ...What a disgrace for a President!
We had more talent, because the majority actually cared more back then. Now, they pump out so called talent, in the name of superficial popularity.
@@rebeccalavoy6655 nigga rapp
Just enjoy it and stop whinging. Plenty of talent around still. They just aren’t aiming at cranks shouting at clouds.
You cannot duplicate this. THIS is country music, mixed with soul and blues. If a person ever does this song better, it's her in a new life form.
This is the type of song that should never ever be covered
I agree.
Ballads don't get any better than this. Bobbie Gentry is a phenomenal singer, songwriter. She simply brings music to life. You feel it down in your soul.
The song was great, the movie made it even better.
Made me cry when I was 12, hard not to now.
I wouldn't want to imply something that simply isn't true here, but I'd not be willing to wadger that Bobbie Gentry wasn't singing about something she has first-hand knowledge/experience with.
After all, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
P.S. A virus? Really? all the way back in the 1960s?
Imagine that.
Pay attention, folks. because in all likelihood, what has been will be again. It sucks, but it is what it is.
@@guarddog318 : Why don't you get your little teddy bear and go to sleep. Your mind is working overtime.
@@dudekfox7685 - Unlike yours, which apparently fails to work at all?
Seriously, try thinking every once in a while, rather than simply sitting there and hammering inanely away at the keyboard, as if you actually know anything worth passing along.
simplicity
That's not just a country song that's a country blues song:)
Bobby Gentry whew...
I’m 55 and heard this for the 1th time when I was 9 years old and was amazed how I just sat and listened to every word , lsiteneing today 46 years later I still can’t stop listening to every word. I just believe I was there on that bridge every time I hear this being sung. That’s the power she has in her voice and how she tells this story. Love it to bits
Hi Mark, same age here. Aren't we fortunate to have experienced better times. What I mean by that, is not easier times, but more meaningful times. With at least, an illusion of innocence 😊
Hi Rebecca , yes todays world has so much in it , good and bad but when we were growing up everything seemed so much easier to me . I mean I grew up in Belfast Northern Ireland during the troubles here but still life was easier lol .
@@MarkMccullough-pz8gf...Mark, I am just seeing your reply now. Greetings, from America. Ireland is such a beautiful Country!! I wish you the best, navigating this new world order.
Hello Mark same age here and yes times are easier it seemed like back then and the beautiful music that was put out was wonderful it helped me through a lot of difficult times I do believe. I don't know if you have heard the story about the song but if you haven't you might go back and find it's out there on UA-cam but the song says it all really except a few things that was left out so enjoy digging deeper into the song God bless have a wonderful day.
@@MarkMccullough-pz8gfoh and wanted to say greetings from America I've always heard of Ireland and my family history is from Ireland hence the red hair so yeah greetings my friend greetings❤
Many classify this as a 'Southern Gothic Masterpieces'. It's hard not to agree.
Southern Gothic Folk Rock.
Incredible song…and Bobby was SMOKING HOT
I was mesmerized when this song first played on the radio. My friends in grade school and I would endlessly try to come up with answers about what happened to make Billy Joe MacAllister jump off of Talahatchee Bridge. This song is pure Southern Gothic wrapped up in a ballad.
I love the way she plays that guitar and then delivers the vocals with hsitations in exactly the right places, with the beat of guitar and her phrasing not quite matching, but also not clashing either. Very sophisticated performance and she makes it look SO easy.
One of the best, and most haunting, songs ever- Love it!
Choctaw ridge is random, but always horsts
When I was a kid I heard this song on the radio for the first time and I was totally captivated. I had never heard anything like it.
When I was a 15 year old gas pump jockey, this song played on the radio all that summer at the gas station when it came out and it puts me back in that special early time of my life. Such a fond memory. Wish I could go back.
John and Minnie Freeman . You are loved and missed. Rest in eternal peace. Gone but not forgotten.
a song.. a story...a legend...such a classic cause she POURED her heart into it. the pinnacle of performance
A true timeless classic. Sure takes me back to my childhood.
She does this well. She makes you see it and feel it. She knows how to capture a feeling with a song.
Such talent no longer exists in today's "music".
No one can sing it like her. Glad this is understood by those who try.
Beautiful lady with great singing talent.
I know in the movie that it was a rag doll thrown from the bridge, but when I first heard the song I immediately imagined it was a still-born baby that secretly belonged to her and Billy Joe.
Nothing like this today. And a beautiful woman.
This is a song that is a milestone in folk music. I just love it.
Great way to describe it.
Still one of my absolute, all-time favourites.
If "Gorgeous" can be defined , It is Bobbie Gentry singing this song, in so many ways.
I never get tired of this song
When I was a kid my dad would take us riding on Sunday and listening to music. This one of the best!!!
She sounds so country kinfolk, dirt road music yet her beauty would stop traffic. Great story teller.
It sends chills down my spine. It is as though you feel his spirit. Unbelievable song and singing.
yes
It sure does,love the song.
One of my all time favorites
Yes! The superb vocal combined with that instrumental arrangement - those strings echoing after the lyrics with that metronomic strum. So nice
Goosebumps every single time!
100 percent pure....none finer....where did she go ? Almost like she was a dream . We woke up and she was gone.
She jumped off the Tallahatchie bridge 😲
See Wiki.
I still have this song on a 45 rpm record. From the first time I heard her sing the song, I was struck by how everything about the song, especially Ms. Gentry's voice, evoked so much atmosphere that it's almost visual... Those were the days. So much great music.
I also still have my 45 of this, ran out to Woolworths to get. Oh the good ole days....
A hauntingly beautiful song and singer. I think Hollywood really lost an opportunity to make her a movie star. A song can be a three act play, this is certainly one and acted to perfection. 🌼🌷🌻
It was made into a TV movie with Bobby Benton......
your brainy?
Phuck Hollywood, and Bobby Gentry never wanted a part of that commercialized MSM BS, no matter the money.
She lives that way till her end. Which only makes her more respectable and honorable., now.
She retreated from fame and money, because it wasn't her, or her music, or how she had been brought up.
Elvis does not stand up so high. Besides , Ms. Gentry wrote and sang her own songs.
F Hollywood
I've been a music nut since 1967. I still think this is probably the finest song (country, folk, whatever - defies definition) I've come across in all that time.
It is perfectly crafted.
I agree, a tantalizing mystery constructed around an ordinary dinner table conversation. Along with the gorgeous music and voice, this is lyric story telling at its finest.
Perhaps the finest mysterious tragic love ballad in the history of music.
Sad song very emotional and sensitive
Bobby gentry was simply a fantastic singer and this song identifies her when she was mainly at her peak. Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful song.🙏🙏🙏🍀🍀🍀🌹🌹🌹🌹❤️
Shucks
And a fantastic song writer.
I first heard this song on the radio when I was 17 and thought it was so out of the ordinary but I immediately was enamored and hoped it would earn recognition so I could hear it again. Little did I know that I wasn't alone and that it would become a hit and gain such a large following. It resonated with me having grown up on a Midwest farm and now that we live in Mississippi, not far from the Delta, it has another dimension of special meaning, especially every summer "sleepy, dusty Delta day."
She was beautiful
Gentry is a premier balladeer. ODE TO BILLY JOE and Lightfoot's WRECK of the EDMUND FITZGERALD are two ballads that haunt the human heart. They both describe human emotions; wonderment and hurt. ODE TO BILLY JOE describes my youth in an agricultural county. It strikes straight to the human heart's wonder about love and loss, rather you're rural born or city born. Gentry is superb in her renditions. Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon, Bobby Gentry, Dusty Springfield, et al are superb balladeers. Each is unique. I am thankful I was alive to hear them. And that is also my thanks for hearing Peggy Lee and Patti Page.
This is a great list you have here my friend. Love them all too.
Jim Stafford's " Hattie's Shack,". Excellent!
so sad so real so beautiful...............
Remember hearing this on my brand-new transistor radio in the sixties coming home from school on a hot 🔥 dusty afternoon along a sunny Suffolk lane. I could really identify with the sentiments. God bless her.
AM radio, I bet
Transistor radios! Those were the days. I had a small, yellow, round one! Fun to listen to cool music back then.
Such a haunting song!
Hello🌹
Bobbie Gentry makes that ballad come alive. It's a haunting song.
This song is so classic, l don't recall anybody doing a cover. How could you? This song is timeless. Thanks Bobby. Love ya.
How can you cover the plus ne ultra?
No "cover" required. The people who lived 50 year ago are not the soul-less lizards of today. people with "connection" no longer to be found
Love her throaty voice. Great song. A milestone really in the annals of folk music.
This song brings me back when life was a bit easier, for me anyway. Not for everyone, childhood turns into oldhood before you know it.
Yup. I was a 15 year old gas pump jockey and life was good.
HA!
One of the best Ballads ever Written
She's in a league with Patsy Cline. Utterly exceptional, unbelievably talented, driven, intelligent, knew what she wanted and got it, then disappeared. Wish Patsy had lived longer.
National treasures, both of them.
I’m Transported to another dimension by Brilliance of The voice…the lyrics…the melody. One of a KIND.
I have a special place in my heart for this tune, one that my mom (God rest her soul) introduced to me, like other amazing classics from the 60s
A masterpiece.
A long time favorite that never loses any of it's enchantment. 💙❤️🔥👑
I was 11 when I first heard this song 55 years ago. I would stay awake school nights with my transistor radio turned low tuned to the Far East Network hoping to hear it again.
This reminds me so much of growing up around the Mississippi Delta. My mother's name was Bobbie Jo even. She was 1 if 12 sisters born to share-cropper parents during the great depression. My daddy used to tease that he married her because she could pick more cotton than the other girls and I was young enough to believe him. Anyway, this song takes me back.
My daddy was born in the delta. Sunflower County
WOWWWWWWWWWWWW... What else can anyone say?
I have crossed this bridge 500 times
Arguably the greatest ballad ever put to paper.
A story in a song....you really can't get anything better...👏👏👏♥️
Babababeeee
One of my favorites while serving in Vietnam when it came out...
Thank you for your service, sorry you had to wait to get the recognition you & do many deserve.
@william strozier My dad, named William also, stayed in the service until 1969..he decided to retire after 25 years, he was to go back for a 3rd tour in vietnam in 1969 but enough was enough. I was born a few years later. THANK YOU for your service.... a regconition not given freely back then and its sad, my dad never got over how he and others were not welcomed back. : (
Never served Viet Nam. You guys are my Heros. I was 17 yrs old in 75. Again you are my Heros.
Thank you for your services. You are a treasure my friend, love the Viet Nam vets.
@@MydNyteRayne "Thank You for Your Service " was a joke cooked up by the Government/Bush Sr Neocon admin post Desert Storm to keep the Cold War Vets involved and a patriotic feeling among the masses. It was a joke then in the early 90's and it became more of joke after 9/11 to any real vets. I laugh inside whenever hear it, then I think of friends who died in service who never got to hear the joke. I laugh for them., because it has been a joke for a very long time.
WWII vets would laugh at it now.
It’s years since I heard this song ,I love it 🥰
Song came out before I was even thought of. My parents owned this record 30 yrs ago and many more I listened to,guess that is where my love of music comes from
Right on. I grew up in Mississippi. Real as it gets
My dad was born on the 3rd of June. Obviously his twin brother was too. My first niece was born on the 3rd of June. That bridge is like 13 feet. Unless you land on your head, you're fine. I miss women like this. Talented!
This song is very old but it really fits our time today perfectly
How?
@@bluelava4282 Suicide rates? Just a guess ;)
Get your booster
I've never lived in Mississippi, but I did grow up in Arkansas. But somehow, this song always takes me back to a place I belong. That hasn't ever changed for me since 1976. I was one of the first to the theatres.
It was the 3rd of June 2022.... still a great haunting song!
I have loved this song since it came out in 1967.And Bobby Gentry was such a beautiful Waman.
I love this song! Don't know if it's the words/ writing of the song or Bobby's delivery but this song makes me feel like she's singing about events that actually happened. Awesome!
It is the combination of all three, John.
She saw the song, wrote the song , and sung the song.
I believe the song is based on actual events
It's that heart the mighty one put in a flesh body! Tic tock! Tic tock!
Maybe she is ,wasn't she born and raised there?
When my brother visited from the old Country decades ago, he first wanted to go to the Tallahatchie bridge. Seeing New Orleans, Elvis childhood home and such were secondary. That’s how much he loved this song and the story behind it…
I was about 10 years old when this came out. Beautiful woman and voice. We only had country music in our home. I've been looking for this and Fancy and I found both. I prefer this version of Fancy to Reba's. Thank you very much for this.
No you where not 10. You was 11.
I was 12. Our family was actually eating supper when we heard it played on the radio. We all commenting how nonchalant about someone’s death whi,e eating supper as we say it in the South.
Or folk music
Heard this song on my 1st night at Marine bootcamp Parris Island SC.1967.Won't hear any music for the next 3 months.
@@wd8557 every am radio station in the south played it four, five, six times a day. I listened to it every morning waiting on he school bus to arrive, I was nine going on ten years old.
...the pause for 'OH, BY THE WAY' in this live version brings truth to the dinner table with black-eyed peas and biscuits. I can feel it in my soul.
Just a child, barely 10, when Bobby Gentry released this haunting tune on her 3/4 size Gibson... I still get goosebumps.
More great memories. I was12. When this. Was a hit.
The violins sympathize so effortlessly
This song will bring a tear to your eye
Ii kno.. It's too close to home.
ive only discovered
An amazing song, brings tears to my eyes and is an ode to anyone who knows the deptths of sorrow locked up in suicide.
Good Lord what a talent!!!!
Hello 👋 friend how are you doing today 😃 hope am not bothering you??
This just tears at your soul
When I was a young teenager about 55 years ago in Phoenix Arizona my first concert was Bobbie Gentry. I loved it. I'll never forget it
Bobbie Gentry’s amazing voice, recorded with the warm deep sound that Rick Hall put his touch on at FAME recording in Muscle Shoals, Al
her style of singing makes the song seem so real,,,,,
A classic song!!
Now you can sing along ❤️ ❤️
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 out 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 MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And papa said to mama, as he passed around the blackeyed peas
Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, please
There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow
And mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he, and Tom, and Billie Joe
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-a apple pie; you know, it don't seem right
I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And mama said to me, child, what's happened to your appetite?
I've been cookin' all morning, 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 throwing 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 going 'round; papa caught it, and he died last spring
And now mama doesn't seem to want to do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Epic performance
Southern Gothic at it's best by one of the best ❤👍
Holy-smoke, what an amazing song.😊
I remember the biggest thing about this song that had the entire country buzzing and pontificating about and that was "what were she and Billy Joe throwing off of the bridge together?" It was the mystery of the entire country.
A baby
The song 'Ode to Billy Joe' explained:
The singer was Billy Joe's secret girlfriend; they had to keep their relationship secret because of a feud between her father and Billy Joe's father. The singer had become pregnant and was meeting Billy Joe behind the church to tell him that she could not marry him and she was going to abort the baby and terminate the relationship. They threw the unborn fetus off the bridge together; however, Billy Joe could not live with losing his first love and his unborn son, which is why he committed suicide.
A year later, the singer still gathered flowers and threw them into the river as tribute to her first love and her unborn son.
@@robertperry4439 The artist said she actually no idea what they threw off the bridge when she wrote the fictional song because it was only to show they where together. She did say years later she has an idea of what she thinks it was but she never told anyone. It was never the point of the song, just to show the callousness of people discussing a boys suicide so casually while their daughter is grieving without them noticing.
@robertperry. That is for sure at least partly incorrect. Obviously, her brother and Billy Jo were friends because they were playing pranks on her. She also talks about taking to him at church. So there was at least no family feud. That would make the rest of your analysis suspect.
The enduring mystery is one reason this is such a great song.
@@eds3969 There is no mystery to it. The artist kept the meaning "hidden," because mentioning something like that back then would have been extremely frowned upon. I mean really, can nobody figure out what a young couple would be tossing off the bridge together? Did they think it was a pound cake?
What a great song!!!!
what a great movie
Brings me back to when life was less complicated and honest . Great song standard will be around long after we are all gone
You expressed that perfectly. I couldn't put my finger on it, "less complicated and honest"👌
I don't think that it is going to be long after we are gone. I think that Jesus's entrance is right around the corner.
She's beautiful ❤
She is still alive yes she is and still looks rhe same she will be 82 this year.
I young guy I love this song back in the day