Ode to Billie Joe
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| Ode to Billie Joe | ||
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| Studio album by Bobbie Gentry | ||
| Released | 1967 | |
| Recorded | ? | |
| Genre | Country | |
| Length | 26:24 | |
| Label | Capitol | |
| Producer(s) | ? | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bobbie Gentry chronology | ||
| Ode to Billie Joe (1967) |
The Delta Sweete (1968) |
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Ode to Billie Joe is a 1967 album written and performed by Bobbie Gentry, a singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. Released as a single in late July, the album's title track was a massive number-one hit in the USA and became a big international seller.
This Southern Gothic song recounts the night when Billie Joe McAllister committed suicide by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge on Choctaw Ridge, Mississippi. The song is noteworthy for the mysteries surrounding the events: Why did Billie Joe jump off the bridge? What did he and the narrator throw off the bridge shortly before his suicide? Both questions led to much speculation at the time. In 1975, Gentry told author Herman Raucher that she hadn't come up with a reason for Billie Joe's suicide when she wrote the song. She has stated in numerous interviews over the years that the focus of the song was not the suicide itself, but rather the matter-of-fact way that the narrator's family was discussing the tragedy over dinner, unaware that Billie Joe had been her boyfriend. "Ode" was so popular in 1967 that Frank Sinatra, who loved it, asked jazz great Ella Fitzgerald to sing a few verses for his TV special. The recording of "Ode to Billie Joe" generated eight Grammy nominations, including four wins. Bolstered by a perfectly judged arrangement of strings and acoustic guitar, the single creates a haunting and atmospheric universe in a category all its own. A popular speculation at the release of the song in 1967 was that the narrator and Billie Joe threw their baby (either stillborn or aborted) off the bridge, and Billie Joe then killed himself out of grief and guilt.
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[edit] Novel and screenplay adaptations
The song's popularity proved so enduring that in 1976, nine years after its release, Warner Bros. commissioned author Herman Raucher to adapt it into a novel and screenplay, Ode to Billy Joe (note different spelling). The poster's tagline, which treats the film as being based on actual events and even gives a date of death for Billy (June 3, 1953), led many to believe that the song was based on actual events. In fact, when Raucher met Bobbie Gentry in preparation for writing the novel and screenplay, she confessed that she herself had no idea why Billie killed himself. In Raucher's novel and screenplay, Billy Joe kills himself after realising he is homosexual, and the object thrown from the bridge is the narrator's ragdoll.
[edit] Cover versions
Jennie DeVoe, an independent musician from Indianapolis, IN, recorded Ode to Billie Joe to put on her 2003 record, Fireworks and Karate Supplies, under Rubin the Cat Records.
Bluegrass and rock guitarist Clarence White, a latter-day member of The Byrds, performed an electric guitar instrumental version of "Ode To Billie Joe" with the band Nashville West on their album of the same name.
Country Music artist Margie Singleton recorded a version of the song in the late 1960s, and made it a Top 40 Country hit.
Another electric guitar instrumental version of Ode To Billie Joe was performed by The Ventures. It was released on their $1,000,000 Weekend album in December 1967.
Singer Nancy Wilson featured a cover of "Ode To Billie Joe" on her 1968 album Welcome To My Love. The track is notable for a funky, driving arrangement by Oliver Nelson. It was used by David Holmes in an Essential Mix he produced for BBC Radio 1 in 1997.
Ill-fated guitar great Danny Gatton and pedal steel legend Buddy Emmons traded licks on a funkified version of "Ode to Billie Joe" on live recording titled "Redneck Jazz" (NRG Records, 1978).
The British band Torch Song covered the tune for their 1984 album Wish Thing. They released it as a single in 1985.
Bonnie Hayes covered it on her 1987 album Empty Sky (Beacon Records BEA-51562).
"Ode To Billie Joe" was also covered by jazz singer and pianist Patricia Barber on her 1994 album Cafe Blue.
The song was covered by Sheryl Crow during her VH1 Storytellers session in 1998. Introducing the song, Sheryl Crow cited it as one of her major influences, stating that she was fascinated with the string arrangement and that she'd tried to carry that through on her own records.
In 1993, Sinéad O'Connor covered the song for the Warchild benefit album.
Jean-Michel Rivat and Frank Thomas translated "Ode to Billie Joe" to French for American-French singer Joe Dassin, who recorded it in October 1967. In the French version the central character is Marie-Jeanne Guillaume, who jumps into the Garonne.
Blues musicians Paul Oscher and Steve Guyger recorded an instrumental version, which features the melody on harmonica, and was released on their Album "Living Legends: Deep in the Blues" in June, 2000.
Country artist Leslie Satcher covered the song on her 2002 album Love Letters.
John Butler recorded a version on the EMI records 2-disc release entitled "Come Again" in 1997.
Karin Krog recorded a version with Dexter Gordon on the album Some Other Spring in 1970.
[edit] Parody
Bob Dylan's 1967 "Clothesline Saga," sometimes referred to as "Clothes Line" (on The Basement Tapes), is a parody of the song. It mimics the conversational style of "Ode to Billie Joe" with lyrics concentrating on routine household chores. The shocking event buried in all the mundane details is the revelation that "The Vice-President's gone mad!"[1]
[edit] Track listing
- "Mississippi Delta" – 3:05
- "I Saw an Angel Die" – 2:56
- "Chickasaw County Child" – 2:45
- "Sunday Best" – 2:50
- "Niki Hoeky" – 2:45
- "Papa, Won't You Let Me Go to Town With You?" – 2:30
- "Bugs" – 2:05
- "Hurry, Tuesday Child" – 4:52
- "Lazy Willie" – 2:36
- "Ode to Billie Joe" – 4:15
[edit] Chart positions
[edit] USA
Billboard albums
| Year | Chart | Chart position |
| 1967 | Pop Albums | #1 |
| 1967 | Black Albums | #5 |
| 1967 | Country Albums | #1 |
Billboard Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Chart position |
| 1967 | "Ode to Billie Joe" | Adult Contemporary | #7 |
| 1967 | "Ode to Billie Joe" | Black Singles | #8 |
| 1967 | "Ode to Billie Joe" | Country Singles | #17 |
| 1967 | "Ode to Billie Joe" | Pop Singles | #1 |
| Preceded by "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single August 26, 1967 |
Succeeded by "The Letter" by Box Tops |
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Song lyrics
- The Mystery of Billy Joe
- Discussion about the song
