Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry

Ode to Billie Joe
Written by: Bobbie Gentry


to download this song click here

Lyrics:
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

'n' Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
'n' Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

'n' Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece-a apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

'n' Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
'n' Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Singers: 
1. Bobbie Gentry (billboard hot 100) July 10, 1967 2. Jerome Richardson 1967 3. Howard Roberts 1967 4. Ray Bryant 1967 5. The Alan Copeland Conspiracy 1967 6. Marilyn Maye 1967 7. King Curtis & The Kingpins 1967 8. Ferrante & Teicher 1967 9. Buddy Morrow 1967 10. Margie Singleton August 1967 11. Brook Benton September 1967 12. The Lennon Sisters November 1967 13. The Ventures December 1967 14. Sonny Criss 1968 15. Merl Saunders Trio and Big Band 1968 16. Mike Carr Tony Crombie Duo 1968 17. Johnny Hammond Smith  1968 18. The Racket Squad 1968 19. Willis Jackson 1968 20. Louie Bellson 1968 21. Dick Hyman and the Group 1968 22. Lou Donaldson 1968 23. Roger Williams 1968 24. Jan Akkerman 1968 25. Billy Larkin & The Delegates 1968 26. Fausto Papetti 1968 27. Nancy Wilson January 1968 28. The Mighty Flea Featured with The Johnny Otis Show January 1968 29. Liz Anderson January 1968 30. Tammy Wynette January 5, 1968 31. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs January 6, 1968 32. Jackie Wilson and Count Basie March 1968 33. Detroit Emeralds April 1968 34. Diana Ross and The Supremes April 1968 35. Booker T. & The M.G.'s April 1968 36. Joe Tex July 1968 37. Africa October 1968 38. Billie Jo Spears November 1968 39. Leon Haywood 1969 40. Oscar Peterson 1969 41. George "Harmonica" Smith and His Blues Band 1969 42. Joe Pass 1970 43. Jimmy Smith 1970 44. Joe Sealy Trio 1970 45. The 5th Dimension 1971 46. Ellen McIlwaine 1972 47. Lenore 1973 48. Gil Trythall 1973 49. Byron Lee and The Dragonaires 1974 50. Harry "Sweets" Edison 1975 51. Denis King 1976 52. The Jimmy Dawkins Band 1976 53. Nashville West 1978 54. Sid Kučera Revival Jazz Band 1980 55. Sort Sol 1987 56. Ike and Tina Turner 1988 57. Henry Kaiser 1988 58. Jaco Pastorius 1991 59. Danny Gatton 1991 60. The Gene Harris Quartet 1993 61. Patricia Barber 1994 62. Jerry Vivino 1995 63. Susan Voelz January 1995 64. Sinéad O'Connor September 1995 65. Bonnie Hayes May 21, 1996 66. John Butler September 8, 1997 67. Joe Beck & Ali Ryerson October 21, 1997 68. Chaise Lounge 1999 69. Lucky Peterson October 5, 1999 70. Megan Mullally and Supreme Music Program September 17, 2002 71. Jean Synodinos 2003 72. Tricia Walker 2004 73. Pam Purvis 2007 74. Molly Johnson 2008 75. Sarah McQuaid October 2008 76. Jean-Jacques Milteau 2009 77. Halie Loren October 22, 2010 78. Amy Francis 2011 79. Cindy G 2012 80. Nicola Conte feat. Bridgette Amofah April 2014 81. Melinda Schneider & Beccy Cole November 14, 2014

Click image to go: