This would have been better if she was singing about sticky willy.

Last track - Ode to Billie Joe.

The one with the bridge in it.

Title track.

The legend.

The mystery.

Tallahachee bridge.

Black-Eyed Peas reference.

I didn't even know they had a record deal back then.

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

And 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
And 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

And 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

And 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 and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And 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 want to 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

Eerie strings.

I feel this might be a devastating story about suicide, but I'm mostly listening to the instrumentation.

It's no Harper Valley PTA.

There was a movie based on this song wasn't there?

Perhaps I dreamt it.

There's something to do with an abortion or a baby born out of wedlock I think.

Nightjar wrote:

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

And 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
And 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

And 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

And 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 and gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And 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 want to 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

Thanks.

I don't normally go for "story" songs, but this is good.

Nightjar wrote:

There was a movie based on this song wasn't there?

Perhaps I dreamt it.

There's something to do with an abortion or a baby born out of wedlock I think.

Like, it's the baby (or the foetus) that they're off of the bridge.

It is over.

That was a record that relied very heavily on a formula but it kept finding new things to do with it and was clearly a quality album filled with compellingness.

Now to look back at the thread and see what everybody else made of it.

Butterfield wrote:

I don't normally go for "story" songs, but this is good.

It's cos it's creepy and mysterious.

No definite answers are given.

Kind of like a country ballad version of Picnic at Hanging Rock.

I shall give it 5 stars.

Nightjar wrote:

Nightjar wrote:

There was a movie based on this song wasn't there?

Perhaps I dreamt it.

There's something to do with an abortion or a baby born out of wedlock I think.

Like, it's the baby (or the foetus) that they're off of the bridge.

If it was a Jeannie C Riley song, she'd have just come out and said that she flung a baby off a bridge and then her mother beat up anyone who complained about it.

Nightjar wrote:

Butterfield wrote:

I don't normally go for "story" songs, but this is good.

It's cos it's creepy and mysterious.

No definite answers are given.

Kind of like a country ballad version of Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Also, just as with that film, the mysterious tragedy seems to create a ripple effect of sadness and grim misfortune.