Southern Gothic

This week at Glyn Wilton’s Mixed Music Bag,
he’s asking us to write about a song in which
the title or a line mentions the current month. 
Here’s my final artist for June and her song.

My featured song this week for Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag is one I have written about a couple of times before …. originally for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday in 2023 and most recently for the 2025 A To Z Challenge. If what you’re reading sounds familiar, that’s why. This song is just too good and has too much of a reputation to exclude but, quite honestly, it’s been so hot here, I couldn’t muster the energy to write something from scratch. Here’s where repurposing a previous blog really comes in handy.

Today’s song was a hit back in 1967 and it did very well on the U.S. charts but it was always surrounded by a bit of controversy …. but who doesn’t love a bit of controversy and intrigue now and then? It was doubtful this number would gain popularity, but it became a smash hit as many people attempted to solve the mystery behind this chilling song. As a family talks about the unexplained death of their neighbor, the song juxtaposes the severity of dying with the lighthearted – perhaps callous – nature of a casual dinner conversation.

My parents hated this song, something which only made me want to listen to it more and more. I memorized the lyrics and practiced with the amateur pop band I was singing with at the time; our plan was for this to be the closing number in our school talent show. When we were overheard rehearsing the song, a couple of teachers got their panties in a knot and refused to let us perform.

I’ve been obsessed with this song for years and its “show, don’t tell” concept. The entire song is written in action – not a single emotion stated, no inner monologue, just action – which is part of what makes it so powerful. We’re a fly on the wall observing the behavior of this family, and each member’s individual reactions to the fate of their friend, and what that reveals about them. It’s truly so well-crafted – a perfect, dark story set to incredibly evocative chords.

Among the many things that makes this recording special is the lush string arrangement in the background – extremely unusual for a folk song. The risk of having the song sound overproduced was a great possibility but it is perfectly in keeping with the dark mood of the lyrics. The dissonant guitar chords provide an exquisite synchronicity between the dismal subject matter and the every-day conversation while the family eats dinner.

And let’s not overlook that final cascade of violins; the symbolism is among the most evocative I’ve ever encountered in popular music. If you’ve never really LISTENED to those final chords, here’s your chance. Southern GOTHIC. One of the best narrative songs ever recorded, just a smoke of sinister. Among many, this little ditty shaped my life. It became one of my favorites and still is to this day.

This is “Ode To Billie Joe” by Bobbie Gentry. For more info on Bobbie, click on her name.

LYRICS

Was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin’ cotton and my brother was balin’ hay
And at dinnertime 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 Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits please
There’s five more acres in the lower forty I got to plow
And Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin’ ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie 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 of apple pie, you know it don’t seem right
I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now you tell me Billie Joe’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Mama said to me, Child, what’s happened to your appetite?
I’ve been cookin’ all mornin’ 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 Billie Joe was throwing somethin’ off the Tallahatchie Bridge

A year has come and gone since we heard the news ’bout Billie Joe
And brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus goin’ ’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

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Bobbie Gentry
Ode to Billie Joe lyrics © Northridge Music Co., Northridge Music Company, Northridge Music

Mixed Music Bag 2025 – Goodbye June

Big thanks to Glyn Wilton for hosting Mixed Music Bag each week. Please be sure to follow the link and check out Glyn’s site.

Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, and The Rhythm Section, et. al., and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.