Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe (The Andy Williams Show)
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Best-known for her crossover smash "Ode to Billie Joe," she was one of the first female country artists to write and produce much of her own material, forging an idiosyncratic, pop-inspired sound that, in tandem with her glamorous, bombshell image, anticipated the rise of latter-day superstars like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. Of Portuguese descent, Gentry was born Roberta Streeter in Chickasaw County, MS, on July 27, 1944; her parents divorced shortly after her birth and she was raised in poverty on her grandparents' farm. After her grandmother traded one of the family's milk cows for a neighbor's piano, seven-year-old Bobbie composed her first song, "My Dog Sergeant Is a Good Dog," years later self-deprecatingly reprised in her nightclub act; at 13, she moved to Arcadia, CA, to live with her mother, soon beginning her performing career in local country clubs. The 1952 film Ruby Gentry lent the singer her stage surname.
After graduating high school, Gentry settled in Las Vegas, where she appeared in the Les Folies Bergère nightclub revue; she soon returned to California, studying philosophy at U.C.L.A. before transferring to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. In 1964, she made her recorded debut, cutting a pair of duets -- "Ode to Love" and "Stranger in the Mirror" -- with rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds. Gentry continued performing in clubs in the years to follow before an early 1967 recording a demo found its way to Capitol Records producer Kelly Gordon; upon signing to the label, she issued her debut single, "Mississippi Delta." However, disc jockeys began spinning the B-side, the self-penned "Ode to Billie Joe" -- with its eerily spare production and enigmatic narrative detailing the suicide of Billie Joe McAllister, who flings himself off the Tallahatchie Bridge, the single struck a chord on country and pop radio alike, topping the pop charts for four weeks in August 1967 and selling three million copies. Although the follow-up, "I Saw an Angel Die," failed to chart, Gentry nevertheless won three Grammy awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal. She was also named the Academy of Country Music's Best New Female Vocalist.
With her second album, 1968's The Delta Sweete, Gentry returned to the country charts with the minor hit "Okolona River Bottom Band." Although her recordings were typically credited to Capitol staff producers, she later maintained she helmed the sessions herself and also wrote much of her own material, drawing on her Mississippi roots to compose revealing vignettes that typically explored the lifestyles, values, and even hypocrisies of the southern culture. Favoring more soulful and rootsy arrangements over the lavish countrypolitan style in vogue in Nashville at the time, Gentry's records sound quite unlike anything on either the country or pop charts at the time and her smoky, sensuous voice adapted easily to a variety of musical contexts. But to many listeners, she remained a one-hit wonder and her excellent third album, 1968's Local Gentry, received little notice. That same year, Gentry issued a duet album with Glen Campbell, returning to the country Top 20 with "Let It Be Me"; the duo regularly collaborated throughout the 1970s, scoring their biggest hit with a reading of "All I Really Want to Do."
In 1969, Gentry reached her creative zenith with Touch 'Em With Love -- though cut in Nashville, the record owed far more to the gritty R&B sounds emanating across the state in Memphis and generated her first U.K. number one, a smoldering rendition of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David perennial ." The single's success also earned Gentry her own short-lived BBC television variety series. However, as her star diminished stateside, she became a fixture of the Las Vegas circuit, mounting an elaborate nightclub revue that she not only headlined but also wrote and produced, even overseeing the choreography and costuming. Gentry's 1969 marriage to Desert Inn Hotel manager Bill Harrah ended after only three months, but the following year she returned to the county and pop Top 40 with the title cut from her fifth album Fancy. In 1971, she issued her final Capitol effort, Patchwork, primarily confining her performing to her nightclub act for the next several years. A CBS summer replacement series, The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour, aired for four episodes in 1974; Gentry next surfaced on the big screen, credited as co-writer for a 1976 film adaptation of Ode to Billie Joe. After a second marriage, to fellow singer/songwriter Jim Stafford, ended in 1979 after only 11 months, Gentry gradually receded from public view, retiring from performing and eventually settling in Los Angeles. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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Bobbie was an absolute dream.
There was a virus goin' 'round....... Prophetic!!
May have been one of Americas greatest singers who never was.....she is is incredible!!
Doesn't get any better than this!!! I am 60; raised in the south; and had a great 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Guilfoyle. We, actually studied this song!!!
So worth it!
We were more concerned with something else that happened in Money Mississippi.
When they found Emmett Till in the Talahatchee River.
Now this is a unforgettable performance. No one can measure up. Voice, looks, talent, took a ballad and made a life story out of it. Why can't we have beautiful singing today like this?
Bobbie Gentry had it all , beauty , brains , voice and a hell of a songwriter. I bet she would have even been a great actress if she wanted. To me she is one of the best entertainers of all time.
I wish she would tour
Yep, you got that one mate. Bobby was a damn good singer
I miss my brother
BRAVISSIMO !
I believe Bobbie was the first woman that wrote and performed a song that went to #1 on the Country Charts. She is a National Treasure that walked away on top to learn Philosophy. Ode to Billy Joe is Philosophy when you think about it.
The 3rd of June will Forever be Bobby Gentry Day...Godspeed
This is timeless. She mentions a virus even in this song from the past. This sounds better live than recorded. What talent and beauty. Sure wish I knew her.
She is a very sweet person. She was friend of my Mama`s before she passed. I live about 20 miles from the Tallahatchie Bridge she's singing about. She didn't like the way women were treated when it came to pay & everything else so she quit show business and lives a quiet life now in Memphis with her husband.
Bobbie, like many of us girls in Mississippi, find our peace in these woods. Where people stay away and life is simple.
it's not a song - it's a movie. That kind of narrative in song is amazing.
How could anyone "dislike" this video?
It is haunting.
I don't worry about the dislikes. What others think means nothing, I just enjoy the music.
@@BackwoodsFilms youtube only likes Input good or
I love the song, but this rendition isn’t great.
I can’t pinpoint what’s wrong, but it rubs me the wrong way.
I would call giving a disliked here: bad taste!
@@louiscyphre2267 but it"rubs" you?!;-)
Bobbie Gentry was one of the best singer and Songwriter's in the sixties I sure wish you would go back on tour again after all these years I definitely buy tickets
Imagine writing a song that's still contemplated 50 years later.
I'd love to hear the full version.
A person I'd love to have met.
I read the full version with 2 more choruses is in a museaum somewhere..wish i could read it.
didn't read every comment but seems nobody mentions her guitar playing. what a talent!
Her guitar playing is excellent! I've been playing for years and still can't the rhythm of this song right.
The best live reading of this masterpiece by far.
She's a classic beauty in every way.
One of the sexiest women ever. Smart, strong, talented, amazing voice, and drop dead gorgeous!
*_sums it all up quite nicely....wonder where she's at these days...._*
I grew up in south Georgia in 70' and 80's. Can relate to this song.
About the best song and performer of her day. She walked away on top. Am just minutes away from the Mississippi State line in West Tennessee. Muddy water central. Haunting places and this song brings it out to the rest of the World. Wow! What a Babe!.
top notch performance by Bobby Gentry here!
This is a most haunting song. And Ms. Bobbie's voice is unbelievable. So gravelly and full of emotion. Beautiful.
A little rasp like Joplin
I still listen to her albums today.
I still like hearing this song in 2021 as much as I did back in the late 60s.
Quite possibly one of the Greatest Songs, well, ever!
One of her best renditions of this classic. The whole song is a masterpiece, but the way she gets so conversational in the delivery at 2:18 is spine tingling.
She's telling the story ... even more so than the other renditions. Beautifully done.
She is everything this Southern boy could want.
Spine tingling every time I hear her song.
The woman who topped the Beatles )
For whatever reason, she's SANGIN' this evening, ya'll.
An absolutely remarkable song by a beautiful singer/songwriter poignantly describing both the topography and the day in the life of her south in this haunting tragedy.....Bobby Gentry remains a siren
Just a stunning performance of a classic ballad.
IF I WAS IN THE AUDIENCE , I WOULD'NT TAKE MY EYES OFF THAT BEAUTIFUL BRUNETTE. BORN IN 66, I WOULD'VE HAD A MAJOR CRUSH ON YOU BOBBIE!!!!!!!!.
Unusual song..true that..but a true classic
Her theatrical story-telling style is incredibly powerful and moving, as if she is recollecting what happened that night...
Amazing song, talented and fine lady. Haunting and wonderful.
I love it even better live,, she makes it seems like she was singing it for the first time.
beautiful sad haunting song, lovely lady.
LOVING THIS! Singing and playing live. What a great talent. I had never seen this clip before. The song is perfection, hearing her do it a little differently is so special.
This is not performed live..how could you achive this fantastic ring...without a microphone? And where are the stringplayers...
I saw the movie "Ode to Billy Joe." As expected, it was a tear jearker. By some accounts, it reflected reality.
Absolutely stunning performance. I've always been drawn to those performers who can captivate as a solo artist.
Phenomenal and heart stopping.
"Seems like nothin never comes to no good up on Chauktaw Rigde". Its sometimes impossible to overcome the poverty in these rural areas. Great story.
she probbly sang this song hundreds if not thousands of times by the time of this clip and she;s still throwing in different intonantions to make it sound different and fresh....very commendable
Amazing song
Ah, look at her at the end, awash in all that applause.
she nearly seemd embarassed by it
This woman her name is Bobby Gentry ,a very beautiful gorgeous woman,I Lord how she was playing this song title called Ode to Billy Joe she playing the guitar ,she was a remarkable woman the voice she had beautiful voice when she was singing this sing watch the video and will you get a little emotional because it's a sad when you listen to the song.
This is my all time favorite version of one of my all-time favorite songs..lip sync ideas are laughable.. if you stop and listen to any of her recordings of this song you can put that idea out of your head. She was one of the '60s most talented singers and decided to get off the performing and recording merry-go-round so she could have a real life. I miss her terribly.
I play guitar this is real and I am so thankful .....now I see the chords...and the right hand...so sneaky....mamma says to me child? and she hits the A THANK YOU JOHN
The BEST story telling song of all time sung and written by the amazing and beautiful Bobbie Gentry....I'll never understand why she dropped out of the music business....she was incredible : )))))))))))))))
I believe she loved the fortune without the fame. If I've got it right, she intended to sell the song and didn't care who sang it. Fame attached itself to her instead of her pursuing it. Which makes it all the more intriguing she packed her bags and left fame behind and not the other way around.
This song was incredibly controversial when it was released. What did they really throw off the bridge? Was it a ring or a baby? She caught a lot of heat about this song and it's message. She just said screw it and moved on with her life. There are still a lot of people who speculate weather or not she was the girl on the tallahatchie bridge that day.
A great song by a beautiful lady. What happened to women today?
That voice is the cure for ED!!!
What a voice
I'm wondering who the 17 people are that disliked this video, its an incredible song..ty Bobbie for giving us this amazing song
The story is timeless.
Amazing performance!
fantastic guitar. and this song has always given me goosebumps.
A great songwriter with a fabulous voice!
*_No studio effects!...no one has ever trumped Bobbie's voice - talent way beyond genius..._*
compressor/reverb/mixing levels with offstage instruments ,,,studio studio studio,operated by very skilled individuals.
luckily they didn't have autotune back then, lol
Why you gotta bring Trump into this. Jk 😂
@@kddavis5492 *_cos I'm aussie - & given the Donald's predilection for kitty-handling ...we dinkum aussies like to think - & not real deep down - he's really one of US!!!_*
Interesting video but not quite "tired" enough. When you're tired, you give of your best to show your audience how "great" you are.. I've seen this girl perform better, now she's well into her 80s
THIS WOMAN IS A GENIUS
Stupendous performance. No one... and I mean no one... can touch Bobbie Gentry as a vocal artist. So sad that she went all JD Salinger on us. Just a superb performance!!
Two words. The first is an expletive and the second is brilliant
A SUPER GREAT SONG SUNG WITH ALOMP !!!1967. A HAUNTING VOICE HAD NIGHTMARES !!!!THANKS TO BOBBIE GENTRY .FROM (U.K.).
Classic 💅💐💐 💌
This is my favorite song from her
I don’t want to cry anymore I’m tired of crying I miss my brother
That was no golf clap applause. Stunning.
Boy to go back in time
...
👏👏👏👏👏awesome
Everytime I see her perform this song I think of that Elvis song “One Night with You”
Of course I’m really thinking. “One Night With HER” lol
I was 17 when this came out and I fell in love instantly. Never really completely faded.
I still feel that “tug” when I hear her.
Haunting..
Wow! What a song & what a lovely girl.... I have always loved this song that Bobbie Gentry made a hit... Those were the days!Thanks for posting.....JJK
absolutely unforgettable beauty
She left the scene far too soon at our collective loss …. Such a passionate talent
Hey MILLENNIALS!!!... this is how real singers do it!
Just shut up, I bet half of us here are millennials. We come to the comments to find peoples opinions or interpretations of the song. Not a stupid and pointless generation-bash.
@@amberfillmore3517 oh wow....okay...I never said "all milllennials" but there seems to be a theme is all. If I offended you then I apologize...glad to see you are into classic themes / music.
@@amberfillmore3517 BTW, I am NOT PC and will never apologize for my personal observations. Your hostile response "shut up" was not the greatest. If I seemed to generalize, I apologize. However, I have noticed a huge shift in music and just because I share my views does not give you the right to sling insults at me for simply sharing my views. It's called humility, understatement and respect which I think has fallen by the wayside in recent years! If you don't like it...too bad! : )
@@amberfillmore3517 Maybe we should ask Amber if she knows what a 'cunt' is. She seems to act like one.
Love this song shes amazing
Geniusry. !!!!!
Perfection...
I am used to the BBC recording, and this recording is so great too! I’m in love with her talent and timing. Her voice Is so g-d sexy. How can I be in love with this woman through time and space, as I do?
The BBC is excellent but sounds like she has a cold
That was a spectacular performance! Wow!
A very talented lady
Thanks
OMG♡♡♡
Loved this version. She can draw quite a picture with her words and her voice! What a beautiful, massively talented lady.
song of the south. certainly a true story and everyone knows what they threw off the bridge
Enlighten me if you wish.
Once there were singers and songwriters and Bobbie was a Wonderful smart TOP one: she alone is The Concert!
Absolutely fabulous!
This is my favorite version of this song. Bobbie’s phrasing really illustrates the point of the lyrics. Yes, she is truly stunning, but if the song wasn’t good it wouldn’t matter.
It amazes me that someone that talented can just walk away. If she ever toured I would absolutely go.
I like the song as much today as I did in 1967. Timeless. I would love to sit down and talk with her about the very thing of walking away from Her Music Career completely. She is a very rare impressive individual because not many people could walk away from the Stage- Fame-and Money as she did.
guitar hillbilly. She's filthy rich. Married a hotel magnate, invested 50k from the proceeds from this song and became part owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team and has made plenty in other ventures.
@@da324
Yeah I just read that she lives in an 8000 square foot house in a gated community near Memphis. Good for her for living her life the way she wants to.
@@da324 they divorced in 1970
@@da324 I saw her up on Choctaw Ridge.
My first crush, first time I saw a colour Tv it was the Bobbie Gentry show playing.
this is such a jam
dopo 50 anni, mi domando ancora perche' mi sono innamorato di questa canzone la prima volta che l'ho sentita
passando davanti al negozio di dischi, da dovermi comperare il 45 giri, e ancora oggi lo farei.
Brilliant
More talent in her little finger than Taylor Swift has I her whole body.....
That's an unfair comparison. Taylor has talent. Sure Bobbie is a super legend. But taylor has made a good place in music as well. You might even realize Taylor has more of a contribution. I'm not sure how much of Taylor's stuff is Taylor's stuff but anyway if it is her stuff your statement is wrong. But I myself am In love with both women.
@@metalandwood4u Yeah, you can't deny Taylor's talent, even though she has a much more pop sensibility to her music. Both extremely talented in their own ways.
@@BackwoodsFilms Still waiting for Taylor's 'Masterpiece', every recording artist needs one, if not, you won't be talked about like Ms. Gentry over 50 years on.
Always has to be someone with something to b!!ch about right in the middle of an angel singing us a song.
Fantastic woman 💓
She is so gawjuss and i bet still is x
Artistry
Note a young & beautiful, looks like French/Polynesian/Louisianan/Cajun lady @ 0:45. Could easily stir a fever in the deep south or delta with the possibility of the very tragedy of the title song.
Just read that this song was originally 7 min's long, and 11 verses that gives more insight into Billie Joe and why he jumped. Apparently the only remaining copy of those lyrics are in Mississippi University, would love to be able to see those. As this turned into an all time classic it was the right choice, but would love to have heard the full 7 min song also.
From what I've heard, the longer version didn't explain it any more than this one did. Bobbie once said the theme was indifference.
I believe the longer version talks about the town gossiping about the girl & if she had something to do with it... but nothing is ever cleared up.
SPLENDID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this song. I always say women write the best songs
Regarding the mic. That was totally live which is why it was so incredible. There was an overhead mic being used.
The lip syncing would have to be exceptional for it not to be live. As well as the guitar movements.
Top level stuff! :-)
Lip synched big time.
@@Reb10999 I am a vocalist! There was no lip synch for her, she was very real, Too much integrity to do that. Listen to how much reverb that studio had and I think there was a fair anount added. That was as live as it gets!
@@Reb10999 nope, no lip synch. Live and real.
@@ggamos9831 righhhtttt
Ture story or it's just a fable the debate still goes on
beautiful and talented woman.
John Jarou yea
Aint that bad
Oh my goodness!!!!