THE HIT HAMMER: Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Staring from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Bobbie Gentry - "Ode to Billie Joe"

Hit Number 1: August 26, 1967

Stay at Number 1: 4 Weeks

We've wanted answers for over 50 years, but it seems we'll never get them. The story of Billie Joe's suicide from the song "Ode to Billie Joe" has sparked a never ending quest for answers as to why Billie Joe "jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge". It's pretty fun to listen to some people's theories on the song, and why the boy decided to end his own life, but the artist, Bobbie Gentry, has never revealed why. She claims that when she wrote the song, she knew exactly what it was that drove Billie Joe to kill himself, but will never tell us why. Another question that arises with "Ode to Billie Joe" is what him and the narrator were "throwin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge". Theories have sparked, but Gentry won't tell us what that could be either. All information she's provided is, "It's in there for two reasons. First, it locks up a definite relationship between Billie Joe and the girl telling the story, the girl at the table. Second, the fact that Billie Joe was seen throwing something off the bridge - no matter what it was - provides a possible motivation as to why he jumped off the bridge the next day". You know what though, that's part of the beauty of "Ode to Billie Joe". We don't know anything!

The story of the song starts out on June 3, with the narrator, her brother, and her father coming back inside for dinner after farming chores. The mother of the household tells them all to "wipe their feet" before dropping a bomb on them: Billie Joe, a boy who was well known to the family, and had a relationship with the narrator, has jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge, and committed suicide. Here's the kicker though, no one besides the narrator seems to care that much. The father only says that Billie Joe never "had a lick of sense" before asking for the biscuits. The brother seems surprised, as he had just seen Billie Joe at the sawmill the day before, and recalls a prank that he, Billie Joe, and another boy named Tom played on the narrator (his sister). However, he moves on, and doesn't pay it much mind. The only one who is affected is the narrator, and she is unable to eat anything after hearing the news. Her mother notices, asks why she hasn't been eating, and then relays to her that a local preacher saw Billie Joe and a girl who looked a lot like the narrator "throwin' somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge." 53 years later, that "somethin'" is still unknown.

In the final verse, a year has passed, and a lot has changed. The brother is married, the father caught a virus and died from it, and the mother is devastated by the loss. It should be noted, that there is never a point where the mother and the daughter share their grieves with each other for their losses. It shows that this family is so far apart, and aren't close at all. So while "Ode to Billie Joe" almost seems like it should act as a tragedy, it's more mysterious than anything else. Why did Billie Joe commit suicide? What was being thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge? Why did no one in the family care at all when he died besides the narrator? That's how it's all supposed to work, and is why Gentry has never told us anything we've been asking about for over 50 years. There was a movie released in 1976 that detailed the story of Billie Joe, where the thing being thrown off the bridge was an old rag doll, and the reason for Billie Joe killing himself was because of a drunken homosexual experience. But that's just one interpretation, and Gentry, again, has never said how accurate the movie was to what she had in mind when she wrote the song.

The song even sounds mysterious. There isn't much else going on in "Ode to Billie Joe" besides Gentry and her guitar. The only other thing is some quiet strings that only act as support. There are no drums or percussion of any kind. Unless you've listened to the song yourself, you might think from my description that it's pretty barren and unexciting. You'd be right. But you'd still be missing the point. See, "Ode to Billie Joe" is a very neat, cool, and unique song. You aren't paying any attention to the instruments being played. The only thing you're paying any attention to is Gentry's smooth contralto voice, telling us this intriguing story about this fascinating Billie Joe character. And the only thing upon our minds after the song's conclusion are all the questions. Since it's quite likely we'll never receive any answers, we can come up with some ourselves. Though me personally, I'd love to know what it was that Gentry was thinking of while she wrote the song. It's all so mysterious! There's no other songs quite like it.

Gentry never had any other big hits that were quite like "Ode to Billie Joe", and after a few years, vanished from the music industry. She's as mysterious as her own song. No one seems to have any clue where she is today, but supposedly, is still alive, and just celebrated her 78th birthday this week. So there's another question for us to ponder: What is Bobbie Gentry up to these days? Well, wherever she is today, she's probably enjoying all her royalties from "Ode to Billie Joe", and the legacy it still continues to have. It's all well deserved.

GRADE: 10/10

JUST MISSED:

This was the point where they started being known as "Diana Ross & the Supremes". Their first big hit stalled out at #2 behind "Ode to Billie Joe", and it's called "Reflections". It's an 8.