Bobbie Gentry Archives - chimesfreedom

It Was the Third of June, Another Sleepy, Dusty Delta Day

Bobbie Gentry begins her song “Ode to Billie Joe” by establishing the setting as June 3 in the American South.

Unless you are a big fan of Neil Diamond’s song “Desiree,” probably the first song that comes to mind regarding the date of June 3 is Bobbie Gentry’s classic song “Ode to Billie Joe.” The song opens with the line that sets the story in the American South in early June, after schools have closed but before the hottest days of summer have set in.

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.

The Mysterious Song

Much has been written about the mysteries of both the singer and the song. Many have pondered why the song’s Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the bridge as well as what the narrator and Billie Joe had earlier thrown off the same bridge. Even a 1978 movie about the song focused on those mysteries. Perceptive music critics, though, have explained how the song is not about those questions but instead is about indifference to human suffering.

The real focus of the song is the narrator’s situation around the family dinner table. When Bobbie Gentry appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967 (in the same episode where the network had censored a Pete Seeger song), the setting around her performance with mannequins around a dinner table highlighted that aspect of the song.

The Mysterious Singer

Bobbie Gentry eventually became a mystery herself. After a successful music career, several wonderful albums, television shows, and a successful business career, she disappeared. Many have tried contacting her, but she remains out of the public eye.

There are some excellent resources about the song and singer, including a wonderful episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Cocaine & Rhinestones. Another great source is Tara Murtha’s book Bobby Gentry’ Ode to Billie Joe in the 33 1/3 book series.

While recently reading Murtha’s book, I noticed a reference to a young Gentry being fascinated with Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged. While many folks while young become fascinated with Rand’s book and philosophy, many also later reject Rand’s ideas. But I could not help but wonder if Rand’s book, about a man named John Galt who disappears from the world, still had some effect on Gentry’s isolation from fame.

Gentry was extremely talented but often encountered hurdles to being able to make music the way she wanted. So one may imagine that she may have decided she did not owe her talents to the world.

Of course, we do not know, and in some ways her mysterious disappearance has made her more famous. While we may dream of her one day returning to share her music and voice with us, she owes us nothing. She already gave us so much, so the least we can do is be indifferent like the characters in “Ode to Billie Joe.” And the best we can do is to wish her well and to every happiness she deserves.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

Enjoy the History of Country Music with Cocaine & Rhinestones Podcast

The Mystery of Bobbie Gentry

This Week in Pop Culture Roundup (Nov. 12, 2011)

Ayn Rand, Justice Thomas, & The Fountainhead

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Enjoy the History of Country Music with Cocaine & Rhinestones Podcast

One of my favorite podcasts lately has been Cocaine & Rhinestones by Tyler Mahan Coe. In each episode, Coe delves deep into the history of country music in the twentieth century.

Cocaine & Rhinestones Episodes run anywhere between forty minutes and two hours, and each one may examine an artist’s career or may analyze the history behind a certain song, or both. For example, one two-part episode centered on the relationship between Buck Owens and his guitarist Don Rich. Another episode tells the story about how radio stations banned Loretta Lynn’s song, “The Pill.” Another episode focused on Bobby Gentry’s “Ode to Bille Joe” while also giving a fascinating overview of Gentry’s career.

Coe does an outstanding job trying to tell the truth behind the stories behind country music. An avid reader, Coe delves into books that tell the stories, comparing versions of events so he can explain his best estimate of what really happened.

Coe’s goal of telling us what really happened is part of the reason why he does not use original interviews but wraps information together to tell us the stories. And at the end of each podcast, Coe also fills us in with “liner notes,” telling us a little more about his sources and other information that might not have fit in the main tale.

As you might guess from the title Cocaine & Rhinestones, Coe does not shy away from the darker legends of country music, such as the first episode about how Ernest Tubb once showed up in slippers to try to shoot someone.

But Coe is most interested in the music behind these artists. His podcasts feature excepts from important songs, and he often breaks them down to help you hear them in a new way.

Coe recently explained to The New Yorker how one of his radio inspirations is Paul Harvey, who hosted, among other shows, The Rest of the Story. I used to listen to those shows as a kid too, and I even bought books with written versions of Harvey’s episodes. So, I can hear the connection, mostly in the way that Coe tells a good story that keeps you entertained while you learn something new.

Tyler Mahan Coe’s background in country music goes back to his birth, as he is the son of country legend David Allan Coe and later played guitar in his dad’s band. Now, he lives in Nashville as he spreads the gospel of country music through the Internet.

So, check, out the episodes from the first season of Cocaine & Rhinestones at the show’s website. Find an artist or topic that interests you and start with that episode. One of my favorites was his take on The Louvin Brothers (Running Wild), which also inspired me to read one of the books Coe recommended.

Yet, part of the joy is learning about people you do not know and the way Coe ties together a number of country music characters throughout the episodes. So, yes, start with a song or artist you think you know already. But, like me, you probably will just give in and decide to go back and listen to all of the episodes of Cocaine & Rhinestones in order. And then you will wait anxiously for Season Two.

What is your favorite episode of Cocaine & Rhinestones? Leave your two cents in the comments.

It Was the Third of June, Another Sleepy, Dusty Delta Day

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The Mystery of Bobbie Gentry

Bobbie Gentry created great music in addition to her mysterious “Ode to Billie Joe” before her early retirement.

Where is Bobbie Gentry? Roberta Lee Streeter, who later took the stage name Bobbie Gentry, was born in Chickasaw County, Mississippi on July 27, 1944. Best known for the song “Ode to Billie Joe,” the singer-songwriter eventually became almost as mysterious as the song.

Bobbie Gentry released her first single, “Mississippi Delta,” in 1967. But it was the flip-side song, “Ode to Billie Joe” that became the hit. There are various reports that the four-minutes-plus song was originally written as a seven-minute song with extra lyrics, although others doubt that story.

Ode To Billie Joe, the album that featured the song, also became a hit. It replaced The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the number one position on the Billboard Albums Chart.

The Mysteries of “Ode to Billie Joe”

Listeners loved “Ode to Billie Joe” partly because it left so many questions unanswered. The song tells the story of two Mississippi teen lovers who share a secret, with the young man, Billie Joe MacAllister, committing suicide by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

In the song, the young woman listens to her parents talk about Billie Joe. The parents do not know what the listeners understand about the young woman’s connection to the young boy.

Fans still debate what the girl and the boy earlier threw off the bridge. But Gentry has stated that the item is not the point of the song.

Gentry explained to Fred Bronson in an interview, “[T]he real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family.”

Below, Bobby Gentry performs “Ode to Billie Joe” on BBC Live in 1968.

The year “Ode to Billie Joe” was released, Gentry won three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. Rolling Stone today lists “Ode to Billie Joe” as the 47th greatest country song of all time.

Gentry’s Career After “Ode to Billie Joe”

After “Ode,” Gentry continued to write and record songs like “Fancy” (later covered by Reba McIntyre).

Gentry hosted a TV show on BBC-TV. Below is an episode of The Bobbie Gentry Show from 1968.

The 1970s was the era of variety shows, and Gentry appeared on several of them. For example, she appeared with The Smothers Brothers and on Dick Van Dyke’s 1976 show Van Dyke and Company. In 1974 she even hosted her own summer replacement CBS variety show, The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour.

Below, Gentry sings “Let it Be Me” with Glen Campbell on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in 1969. During the making of the show, the two realized how well their voices blended. So, Campbell and Gentry ended up making an album together too.

Gentry’s song “Ode to Billy Joe,” though, continued to be her biggest hit and to have a life of its own. The song was eventually transformed into a film that provided its own answers to the questions asked in the song.

In 1978, Max Baer, Jr. directed Ode to Billy Joe, which starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor. Gentry re-recorded “Ode to Billie Joe” for the movie, which had changed the spelling of the main character’s first name to “Billy.” Below is the trailer.

Retirement

In 1978, Gentry decided to retire and married singer-comedian Jim Stafford. The marriage ended after about a year, but the retirement was more lasting. In addition to her work in music, her success with investments (such as purchasing a share of the Phoenix Suns NBA team in 1969) allowed her to exit the public stage. In the last several decades, Gentry has stayed out of the public eye and denied requests for interviews.

In a June 2016 Washington Post story, reporter Neely Tucker wrote of efforts to find Gentry. The reporter tracked down Gentry to a gated community about a two-hour drive from the location of the Tallahatchie Bridge, which had collapsed in 1972.

The reporter called the number of the house and asked for Gentry. The person who answered said that Gentry did not live there and hung up, although the reporter believed the person speaking was Gentry.

So we do not know much about Bobbie Gentry during the last several decades. But she is entitled to her privacy, just as we can be thankful she entertained us and gave us some great recordings, including one of the most mysterious songs of all time.

Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule (“I Kissed a Girl”) even took the mystery about Bobbie Gentry and turned it into a song. Her song “Where is Bobbie Gentry?” is, of course, in the style of “Ode to Billie Joe.”