Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe (Lyrics)

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Well, today is June 3, 2024. Seems the perfect day to honor a fictional character named Billy Joe McAllister who died on June 3, 1966.
The song by Bobbie Gentry was released in July of 1967.
It takes the form of a first-person narrative performed over sparse acoustic guitar accompaniment with strings in the background. It tells of a rural Mississippi family's reaction to the news of the suicide of Billie Joe McAllister, a local boy to whom the daughter (and narrator) is (unknown by the rest of the family) connected. The song received widespread attention, leaving its audience intrigued as to what the narrator and Billie Joe threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Gentry later clarified that she intended the song to portray the family's indifference to the suicide in what she deemed "a study in unconscious cruelty," while she remarked the object thrown was not relevant to the message.
Following the success of the single, Capitol Records received 500,000 pre-orders for Ode to Billie Joe, surpassing the label's record held by the Beatles' Meet the Beatles! [8] Gentry began receiving offers to make a motion picture based on the song in 1967, but she rejected them, preferring to wait for an offer from a movie maker who would "portray Billie Joe and his girlfriend in a serious, sensitive manner."
In 1975, Gentry and Shayne accepted an offer from Max Baer Jr., who decided to direct the film. Baer said his interest was to have two unknown young people "because the audience has to believe they are Bobbie and Billie Joe." The film would be shot on location in Mississippi with a budget of $1.5 million (equivalent to $8.49 million in 2023). Warner Bros. commissioned Herman Raucher to write an adaptation of the song for the upcoming film; Raucher's adaptation and novel were both titled Ode to Billy Joe. Gentry was present during the shooting and contributed a musical score. At the time of the production, she told United Press International that the film would "answer many questions left unanswered by the song." The film starred Robby Benson as Billy Joe and Glynnis O'Connor as Bobbie Lee. It was released in 1976. In the adaptation, the pair throw a rag doll off of the bridge, while a homosexual experience with the owner of the sawmill is established as the reason for Billy Joe's suicide.