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Posted on 6/3/26 at 9:43 am to scrooster
They were throwing engagement rings into the water.
That's what we speculated.
That's what we speculated.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 9:53 am to fr33manator
Interesting. For some reason, I always pictured a long plunge to his death. But that is exactly what bridges over rivers in Mississippi would look like, someplace to dive in and cool off.
In retrospect, I think he dove in head first during a low water moment and broke his neck. He was being foolish maybe to show off for her.
In this telling, the girl is the southern feminine version of Ted Kennedy. She should have gone in to save him, but she didn’t because it would have been embarrassing. He was that no-good sawmill hand her daddy always told her to avoid.
In retrospect, I think he dove in head first during a low water moment and broke his neck. He was being foolish maybe to show off for her.
In this telling, the girl is the southern feminine version of Ted Kennedy. She should have gone in to save him, but she didn’t because it would have been embarrassing. He was that no-good sawmill hand her daddy always told her to avoid.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 10:08 am to scrooster
I never realized that the river goes all the way up so that I-22 crosses over it. I rode over the bridge up there a while back.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 10:08 am to RohanGonzales
quote:
I rode over the bridge up there a while back.
could've been you
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:13 am to scrooster
Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, please
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:16 am to Darth_Vader
That's an understatement. 
She was a very interesting person. Raised in poverty by grandparents. Grandmother traded a cow for a piano for Bobby who then taught herself to play using only the black keys. After becoming famous, she very shortly left Nashville and CW music and moved to Las Vegas. Hers was the first big "Vegas" music show. She did costumes, choreography and music orchestration. Then she dropped out of the public eye and hasn't been seen from since. She never disclosed what happened to Billy Joe. 
She was a very interesting person. Raised in poverty by grandparents. Grandmother traded a cow for a piano for Bobby who then taught herself to play using only the black keys. After becoming famous, she very shortly left Nashville and CW music and moved to Las Vegas. Hers was the first big "Vegas" music show. She did costumes, choreography and music orchestration. Then she dropped out of the public eye and hasn't been seen from since. She never disclosed what happened to Billy Joe. 
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:17 am to Jimbeaux
She got Billy Joe drunk and pushed him as revenge for him taking her innocence and making her get rid of the baby
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:18 am to scrooster
Way down yonder on the Tallahatchie, it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:31 am to ItzMe1972
quote:
They were throwing engagement rings into the water.
That's what we speculated.
That's what what my mother said.
She was 21 when the song came out
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:38 am to scrooster
Someone ripped off someone else’s song. It sounds like Harper Valley PTA. Pretty much the same beat. I don’t know which song came first?
Posted on 6/3/26 at 11:55 am to PJinAtl
quote:
If Bobby Gentry's two most well known songs (Ode to Billy Joe and Fancy) had been short stories or novels instead of songs, she would be included in the pantheon of the greatest southern gothic writers to ever put pen to paper.
Similar to this Southern Gothic masterpiece written by Bobby Russell.
quote:
"The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia"
He was on his way home from Candletop Been two weeks gone
and he'd thought he'd stop
at Webb's And have him a drink before he went home to her
Andy Wolloe said hello
And he said, "Hi, what's doing, Wo?"
Said, "Sit down,
I got some bad news, it's gonna hurt."
He said, "I'm your best friend and you know that's right
But your young bride ain't home tonight
Since you been gone,
she's been seeing that Amos boy, Seth."
Well, he got mad and he saw red
And Andy said,
"Boy, don't you lose your head
Cause to tell you the truth,
I've been with her myself."
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
That's the night that they hung an innocent man
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods southern lawyer
Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands
Well, Andy got scared and left the bar
Walking on home,
cause he didn't live far
See, Andy didn't have many friends
And he just lost him one
Brother thought his wife
musta left town
So he went home
and finally found
The only thing Papa had left him
and that was a gun
Then he went off to Andy's house
Slippin' through the backwoods, quiet as a mouse
Came upon some tracks
too small for Andy to make
He looked through the screen
at the back porch door
And he saw Andy lying on the floor
In a puddle of blood and he started to shake
Well, the Georgia patrol was making their rounds
So he fired a shot
just to flag them down
And a big-bellied sheriff grabbed his gun
And said "Why'd you do it?"
Well, the judge said guilty in a make-believe trial
Slapped the sheriff on the back with a smile Said, "Supper's waitin' at home and I gotta get to it."
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
That's the night that they hung an innocent man
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods southern lawyer
Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands
Well, they hung my brother
before I could say
The tracks he saw while on his way
To Andy's house and back
that night were mine
And his cheating wife had never left town
And that's one body that'll never be found
See, little sister don't miss
when she aims her gun
That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia, whoa-oh
That's the night that they hung an innocent man, uh-huh
Well, don't trust your soul to no backwoods, southern lawyer
Cause the judge in the town's got bloodstains on his hands
Oh, that's the night that the lights went out in Georgia
Posted on 6/3/26 at 12:34 pm to Sofaking2
quote:
Way down yonder on the Tallahatchie, it gets hotter than a scratchy snatchie .
FiFY
Posted on 6/3/26 at 12:50 pm to scrooster
Billie Joe was knocking the bottom out of it.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 1:00 pm to Champagne
quote:
Billy Joe was at the saw mill, by eyewitness report, the day before he jumped off of the bridge. If he wanted to die, he could have killed himself at the sawmill.
Just because he jumped into the water off of the bridge doesn't mean he died. He may be alive.
Working at a Mississippi saw mill in June is enough to make a man jump off a bridge over the interstate....
Posted on 6/3/26 at 1:10 pm to scrooster
What kinda old arse people even know what this is
Posted on 6/3/26 at 1:13 pm to cypresstiger
quote:
One of the most depressing and mood killing songs
—what kind of mood were you hoping for, listening to that song? You gotta admit, it’s effective
I think his point was that you could be minding your own business listening to the radio in a good mood, then this song pops up and is a total buzz kill.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 2:11 pm to Sofaking2
quote:
Someone ripped off someone else’s song. It sounds like Harper Valley PTA. Pretty much the same beat. I don’t know which song came first?
Ode to Billy Joe was released in July 67. Harper Valley PTA in August 68.
I've read several places that Tom T. Hall was approached to create a song like Ode, and he came up with Harper Valley. Same time signature, same single instrument (strings vs dobro) up front with the vocals, same female viewpoint condemnation of small town attitudes.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 2:19 pm to PJinAtl
quote:
Ode to Billy Joe was released in July 67. Harper Valley PTA in August 68.
both great songs IMO.
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