BOBBIE GENTRY "ODE TO BILLY JOE" REACTION | Asia and BJ

Comments · 1.5K

• SU

  @SueProst · 5 years ago

  It's called Southern gothic.  A dark subject maybe a mystery

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• JU

  @justcallmesuzzie · 4 years ago

  Bobby Gentry was a well educated woman with a degree in philosophy. She wrote the song to bring people's attention to how people sit around in common situations and talk without thinking about how their conversations might affect others around them. I remember as a teenager, my mom sat me down to teach me that very lesson using this song. My mom explained how well educated Bobbie Gentry was and told me that we all need to be mindful and aware how and what we say in our everyday activities because we never know how it will affect those listening. Mom then played the song for me and had me listen to the lyrics. As a teen, I realized that the girl in the story was more than likely in love with Billy Joe and no one around her even knew it, Not her mom, dad or brother. It actually made me cry and still does today.

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• DO

  @DonRice · 5 years ago

  I have no idea what other people call her style, but I think of it as a fusion of country and blues.

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• SU

  @susieterry2624 · 4 years ago

  She's storytelling - she's got us all at that dinner table with her.

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• RE

  @reshaud81 · 5 years ago (edited)

  Bobbie was 26 years old in this video. She's still alive and kicking at 79 years old but a bit of a recluse now. If y'all haven't done it yet you'll love Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie C. Reilly!

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• HO

  @hollypinkley7936 · 4 years ago (edited)

  takes me back to my high school years in Louisiana -  the manners, the sights, the dismissive way they talk about another person death as of no importance while it breaks the heart of the singer!!!  This is an "old time ballad" it tells a story while it draws you in to the story - not the music!!!

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• ST

  @stanfortner7679 · 5 years ago

  She knocked the Beatles off the #1 spot on the charts! Her voice is like no other. Thanks for the review!

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• SU

  @sueg3650 · 5 years ago

  "He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Chocktaw Ridge...and she and Billie Joe was throwing something off the Tallehatchie Bridge."  I always got the feeling she (the singer/narrator) was Billie Joe's secret girlfriend, since her daddy didn't approve of him, and she's sitting there listening to her family blow off his suicide while she's sitting in shock and grief.  IMHO, anyway.

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• KE

  @kestrelle5345 · 5 years ago

  This song still gets tongues wagging after 40+ years. That's really something!

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• RO

  @ronstoner1823 · 4 years ago

  This song has been a mystery since the 60s. And it's still working.

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• EW

  @ewrekzz7360 · 5 years ago

  The crescendo that seems like it's missing (musically), actually occurs when the listener realizes that the author was in love with Billy Joe...regardless of what was thrown off the bridge - it's about a silent grief that nobody else at the dinner table even knew about.

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• KA

  @karinlangley6298 · 3 years ago

  There is actually a movie titled “Ode to Billy Joe.”  Came out in the 70s….don’t watch unless you want to be depressed.  They didn’t throw a baby off the bridge.

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