It also inspired a new tribute album that tackles the delta sweete, gentrys underrated 1968 followup to ode to billie joe. Ode to billie joe by bobbie gentry rate your music. Based on his own screenplay, herman raucher has taken the bobbie gentry classic and written a tender, funny. When i made my 2017 research trip, i drove across the new tallahatchie bridge the original wooden one was destroyed by vandals. On june 3, 1953, billy joe mcallister jumped off the tallahatchie bridge.
Watch the music video and discover trivia about this classic pop song now. In august 1967, lyndon johnson announced that he was sending 45,000 more troops to vietnam. Murky and mysterious, prompting far more questions than it answered, ode to billie joe cast a spell over america, and bobbie gentry who turns 72 today was thrust into the spotlight to say what she knew about the unknowable song shed written and sung. Unique countrypop singer of the 1960s and 70s who remains famous for her mysterious, bluesy ballad ode to billie joe. I dont own the rights or anything to this video, just. Ode to billie joe is a song written and recorded by bobbie gentry, a singersongwriter from. In july of 1967, capitol records released ode to billie joe, a spooky wisp of a song by an unknown artist named bobbie gentry. Bestknown for her crossover smash ode to billie joe, she was one of the first female country artists to write and produce much of her own material, forging an idiosyncratic, popinspired sound that, in tandem with her glamorous, bombshell image, anticipated the. That honor goes to mississippi delta, which is, on my 2007 reissue, the opening track. Music notes for ukulele chords sheet music by bobbie gentry. I couldnt resist sharing this tune, which starts it was the third of june, another sleepy, dusty delta day.
The song brings the story of young love in a sultry southern town with small minded people to life. Ode to billy joe sound track from max baers motion picture is the soundtrack album to the 1976 film ode to billy joe. That is the opening line of one of music s most discussed, examined and appreciated songs ode to billie joe, written and performed by bobbie gentry. Bobbie gentry ode to billie joe 2018, vinyl discogs. Bobbie gentry ode to billy joe sheet music leadsheet. Bobbie gentrys albums compiled for new box set eightdisc set the girl from chickasaw county includes ode to billie joe singer s studio albums, plus more than 75 unreleased recordings. She was trying to transcend the ode to billie joe persona. In rauchers novel and screenplay, billy joe kills himself after a drunken homosexual experience, and the object thrown from the bridge is the. Ode to billy joe by bobbie gentry digital sheet music. Bobbie gentry ode to billy joe sheet music in f major. I have a first pressing in excellent condition and i think this one sounds better.
Its breezy bluegrass melody and catchy chorus made for an instant hit, and billie joe leapt to the top of the charts. The best storytelling albums from bowie to kendrick lamar. Print and download ode to billy joe sheet music by bobbie gentry. Hal leonard digital sheet music at sheet music plus.
Ode to billy joe dell paperback march 1, 1976 by herman raucher author. I had read stories of her singing gospel late at night with elvis, but little else about. Ode to billie joe singers secret life rolling stone. New 33 book explores life of mysterious chanteuse bobbie gentry. No one does a cover quite like sinead oconnor and ode to billy joe is one of my favourites. Even though people know the story is fake, people still insist on asking bobbie what was thrown off the bridge. The secret life of bobbie gentry, pioneering artist behind ode to billie joe.
Sheet music arranged for pianovocalguitar in f major. Because it is a long song like like a rolling stone. Whether its a a better tape transfer or just bettermore modern mastering, i dont know. Her hit song, meanwhile, long ago took on a life of its own. As someone who faithfully listened to the top 40 on am radio back then, i distinctly remember the first time i heard the tune in late july 1967. Get the best deals on bobbie gentry vinyl records when you shop the largest online selection at. Both songs, floating bridge and like a rolling stone were the songs that made bobbie wrote ode to billie joe. The lyrics to the bobbie gentry song ode to billie joe have mystified listeners for decades.
Today it remains one of the most popular country songs of all time. Amid ornate psychedelic pop sounding a little like strawberry fields forever, this tale of suicide, loneliness and familial. She was born in chickasaw county, mississippi in 1944, and grew up there. Bobby gentry won a grammy for best female vocal performance with ode to billie joe in. We know how her family feels about the young mans death. Bobbie gentry remains one of the most interesting and underappreciated artists to emerge out of nashville during the late 60s.
Billy joe mcallister jumped off the bridge because he was struggling with the fact that he was in love with a young girl, but physically attracted to a man. The most famous song about june 3, ode to billie joe, was written and performed by bobbie gentry. Ode to billie joe is the best song on this disc, very probably the best song of bobbies career, and one of the best songs of the era. The most famous example of how ode to billie joe affected the country charts is found in harper valley pta, a song about a womans experience of dealing with small town hypocrisy. Fancy, 25 million in record sales on over a dozen covers. Trying to unearth the story behind the reclusive bobbie. Ode to billie joe knocked the beatles all you need is love off the top of the charts.
Holley inherited boxes of gentry s discarded possessions from his father, and insists that hes keen to return them to her but hes only met her once. Ode to billy joe sheet music for voice, piano or guitar. The story unfolds around the dinner table, where a family is discussing billie joes death, and directing occasional comments toward the daughter, who narrates the song and who knew the deceased. In the summer of 1967 country singer bobbie gentry b. Ode to billie joe is a song written and recorded by bobbie gentry, a singer songwriter from chickasaw county, mississippi. Our new desktop experience was built to be your music destination. Ode to billie joe landed near the top of the country and pop charts in the summer of 1967 and remained there for the rest of the year. The single, released on july 10, 1967, was a numberone hit in the us within three weeks of release and a big international seller.
Like most other books in this series, this here pocket book is about profiling gentrys debut album ode to billie joe, but its also very much about getting to the bottom of bobbies many mysteries, chief among them. Ode to billy joe by bobbie gentry single sheet music for. Bobbie gentrys ode to billie joe 33 murtha, tara on. Ode to billie joe is a song written and recorded by bobbie gentry, a singer songwriter from. How the singersongwriter who knocked the beatles out of the. Ode to billie joe was written and recorded by bobbie gentry, a singer songwriter from chickasaw county, mississippi. Five decades later, ode to billie joe still haunts. D7 ive been cookin all morning and you havent touched a single bite g7 that nice young preacher, brother taylor, dropped by today d7 said hed be pleased to have dinner on sunday, oh, by the way g7 he said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on choctaw ridge d7 c7 d7 and she and billy joe was throwing somethin off the. Sinead oconnor gorgeous cover of ode to billy joe youtube.
Trying to unearth the story behind the reclusive bobbie gentrys ode. And mama said it was a shame a bout billy joe any howoow. Download bobbie gentry ode to billy joe sheet music notes and chords for ukulele with strumming patterns. Bobbie gentrys ode to billie joe by tara murtha goodreads.
Ode to billy joe the book, not the song trivia quiz. The song, of course, was ode to billie joe, composed and then recorded by a thenobscure singer songwriter from chickasaw county, mississippi named bobbie gentry. The single, released in summer 1967, was a numberone hit in the usa within three weeks of release and a huge international seller. Download and print ode to billy joe sheet music for voice, piano or guitar by bobbie gentry. Bobbie gentry ode to billy joe sheet music notes, chords.
It is not, however, the most memorable single moment on the album. Beatles manager brian epstein died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Ode to billie joe 1967 a countrysoul singer songwriter from mississippi, the 25yearold gentry had a preternatural gift for observation and songcraft, evidenced on her debut lps title track. Trying to unearth the story behind the reclusive bobbie gentrys ode to billie joe the singer s silence amplifies the mystery behind the song that made her a star, now the subject of a book of. But bobbie gentrys ode to billie joe has a complex structure. But around water coolers, the hot topic was what billie joe mcallister and his. New york rockers mercury rev organized the homage, providing the instrumentals for twelve singers to each make one of gentrys songs their own. In 1976, the song was adapted to a screenplay and made into the film ode to billy joe. Seems like nothing ever comes to no good up on choctaw ri i i idge.
A 1976 film adaptation of the story with the title changed to billy joe, stars robby benson and glynnis oconnor and set the suicide event in the 50s. Is bobbie gentrys ode to billie joe based on a true story. Cover versions of ode to billie joe written by bobbie. In the case of bobbie gentrys ode to billie joe, we readers get a very well researched history about bobbie gentry including her reclusive way of living, the making of that hit song and then background rather than technical details about the album and then gentrys foray into directing. The recording remained on the billboard chart for 20 weeks and was the number one for four weeks. Set during the spring and summer of 1953 in rural mississippi, billy joe mcallister robby benson flirts with bobbie lee hartley glynnis oconnor as she crosses the tallahatchie bridge after the school bus lets her off as she walks on her way to her familys farm along a dirt road. Ode to billy joe the book, not the song a timed quiz game. Now, years after the whispers and rumors, the muddy tallahatchie river gives up its secrets, the secrets within the haunting ballad that swept america. You dont even need to have listened to ode to billie joe to find this book a. In the film, as in the novel, the object thrown from the bridge is bobbie lees ragdoll, symbolizing throwing away her childhood and innocence and becoming an. Her sole ambition originally was to write songs to sell to other artists, telling the washington post that she only sang on the recording of ode to billie joe that she took to capitol because it was cheaper than hiring someone to sing it.
Her book, then, is a reporters quest that takes her across america to find people who knew gentry and. Ode to billie joe gentry recorded a 12song demo at whitney recording studio in glendale, california, in february and march 1967. Singer bobbie gentry is shown in the studio in 1967, left, and in a 1969 portrait. She sang ode to billy joe and one other song missisppie delta and as she sang them an engineer made a demo tape of her singing her two songs to pass on. He realized that he loved the girl but could not be with her in the way they both wanted him to be. Please enjoy bobbie gentrys performance of ode to billy joe. Hall actually sat down in an effort to write a song like ode to billie joe, after a request from singer margie singleton.