Bobby Gentry says she wrote the song to depict indifference and cruelty (the way the family chats nonchalantly while discussing Billy Joe’s suicide). Only the girl/narrator is affected. She also said it was to show how emotional walls keep the mom and daughter from sharing their grief (after the father dies). She said she never defined what was thrown off the bridge or why Billy Joe committed suicide. That wasn’t the theme. When it came time to make a movie, it made it easier for the screenwriter to write because of that. That’s why he could invent the reason: that Billy Joe felt guilty for having a sexual encounter w/another man. Back in the 1950’s that was illegal in Mississippi and carried a huge social stigma. Also, the item thrown off the bridge was her rag doll, signifying her saying “goodbye” to her childhood.
Actually, wasn’t Billie Joe raped by an older authority figure (the sheriff?) And the movie kind of made out like this was ok but that because of it, Billie Joe was now gay? I wasn’t much older than a child when I saw the movie but that was my interpretation of it. Crazy, messed up times!
Emmit Tills Aunt and Uncle said that Emmit was a bad kid out looking for trouble. He grabbed a white womans arm and propositioned her according to Emmits cousins. That doesnt mean he deserved what happened but it does show that he was not the innocent young boy that people believe him to be.
@@silver21lady DONT YOU DARE LIE ON THAT POOR CHILD ...you should be ashamed...back in those times it was against the law to look at a white woman if you were black ....he was a CHILD ....give me your source that you found that information liar
@@silver21lady You are a liar and the fact that you would justify the brutal murder of a young boy only serves to prove how evil you are! There is a special place in hell for people like you!
You know how it is when somebody does a lot of talking but in the end doesn't really get to any point or even end up really saying anything? This is a classic example of that.
Well the song never says what was thrown off of the bridge but the movie shows it was a rag doll that Bobbie Lee dearly loved and talked to and Billy Joe got upset because he thought it was childish so in an argument at the bridge he grabbed the doll and threw it in the river .
There literally thousands of bridges in that state and bridges are a popular destination for suicides. I'm sure many local bridges has the same claim. Bobbi heavily implied during her BBC sessions that it was a fictional account and her family had moved near that location.
Hung out with Bobbie Benson with our girl friends in high school in fortwoet and the state fair ..we now live by each other..small world but I'm glad to see him around ..😮
This was Interesting information about the bridge and your childhood experience surrounding it. I like the song and the movie. By the way, you have a very sexy and raspy voice that reminds me of Wolfman Jack or Charlie Daniels. I'll bet you're a great singer, too, with that smooth voice that could melt butter and make even a recital of the phone book delightful.
the bridge over the Mississippi River from Lake Village to Greenville was very scary ( the old narrow wooden one, not the new wide one) -- so yes there are some scary ones
If you would read his words you will see why he jumped. He had a sexual encounter with a man while drunk because of that humiliation he committed suicide 💔💔
Nothing was thrown off. There was no legend involved. Bobby Gentry said herself that the point of the song was the reaction of the people to the news, not the news itself.
42ayla She never said that. Even if she did, that says NOTHING about WHY he did it. And midway through the movie, Billy Joe and Bobbie are sitting on the bridge. She's clutching a dolly from childhood; he gets mad about this, thinks it's silly, takes it and throws it.
True love was thrown off love true love i recon he knew he had to go . Some times we just know this and we know when where for years ahead what make it so unreal ( example just look at titanic old sinking true one or new love story one witch would u sit threw and love is the love one so for me he trew his love for her off that bridge
Thanks for the video. I grew up in rural Hinds County about 30 min from the Mississippi. Used to go fishing with my daddy there a lot. Can't wait to go back one day for good.
Just another situation where the “powers that be” manipulated a song and an artist to push an agenda. The homosexual agenda. She never forgave herself for giving in to this and is the major reason why she exited public life and has led a life of anonymity
In The South of my childhood, homosexuality was not accepted - no way no how, and those who got involved in it usually moved away or killed themselves. I remember one boy by the name of Horace - for he was my junior prom date. To me he was the sweetest and most chamrning and cute young man, though, I had no idea of the secret he was hiding, until he killed himself in our senior year and I thought deeper on the matter. Miss him to this day, but, he could not live with himserlf, because Horace was a True Southerner, (something which lived by the honour it was taught by our community) and no True Southern Man is ever dreaming of kissing other men. Though we had tragedies, such as horace, back in the day, I miss that South, because the new South is like Yankeeland - folks all focuset on what they can get for themselve,s and less on living by honour. Honourable Southern Men - we uset to have a community of them in every community, and what a world it was. The Negroes were that way, too, for under our system, they married their women, stayed at home, and workt hard, without asking for handouts, as they raised their children to be like them.
Brenda Sherman I grew up in a vast rural region of Michigan in the 70s. Cousins, Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents all in the same county. Sex was never talked about, let alone gay sex. I was always aware that I had a first cousin, Vincent, who killed himself in 1955, He piped the tailpipe of his Dad's car into a nearly-closed window, all other windows closed and started the engine in a closed garage. I always wondered about him.....then 2 years ago, his brother, now 75, finally told us cousins that Vincent was gay and had an affair with a teacher. So there was Vincent, stuck on a farm in remote country. His parents were strict old-school types (like all our elders). In 1955. I know he had no one to talk to and was totally isolated.
Yea. From north west Alabama. I agree. My aunt got killed on her 18 th birthday. She ran away after fighting with my grandparents after breaking down and telling them. She was hit by car and died the same night. I never met her. Wish I could have. Was in 80s Mid 80 s maybe sooner. Carolina. Bet she would be cool if she was still alive. Shame. My grandparents went to there grave I’m sure never forgiving themselves over something so. Well it just don’t matter. Wish you were here…..
I'm from England there's a truly scary bridge opposite where my auntie used to live across the river Wye it's wooden and quite high up with huge chunks out of it if anyone has seen the movie the evil dead it's like that bridge
Great story, and I loved this movie, for some reason when I was just a kid. Kept trying to figure out why Billy jumped. I would ask my mom, but she wouldn't tell me????? Also had a major crush on Bobby Gentry. Boy was she a Fine southern belle!!! Whew Whee.
Billie Joe jumped off because he was taken advantage of by a man and sexually abused . He couldnt live with the shame of it even though he loved his gf
Toward the end of his long winded explanation he actually gets it wrong as to why the young teen committed suicide. It was not because he got drunk. And he was not drunk when he jumped off the bridge either. A movie came out about 10 years after the song. Ironically, I watched the movie this morning after having not seen it in 30 years. The song doesn’t reveal why he jumps, but the movie does.
Here is my truth. I don't give a rat's ass about your knowledge of the bridges in the Delta. I loved the song, and have listened to it many times since it was first released. Bobbie Gentry was a great singer/songwriter, and that's all most of her fans care about.
@@thomasbrown8468 Everyone who hears the song wonders and that is why folks still discuss it decades and decades later. Her point is that her family did not care. She cared. She was part of the event. Her family just saw it as a minor thing to mention at the dinner table without a thought. He suicided. Likely one of the most devastating topics for a family to discuss. They don’t discuss it. It’s unimportant to them. She is contrasting her devastated reaction with the callousness of her family. They didn’t connect that it was definitely her who was spotted there. Regardless, of her presence, or lack thereof, they could at least appreciate that a human being suicided. A human being that they knew…
I find it interesting the way people want to analyze the words in a song. In reality the songwriter is just taking a general subject or a phrase that sounds well and making a song out of it. The song is just a string of words that fit well together. Just enjoy it.
She was promised to the Preacher who reported to the dad he saw a "girl who looked like you" talking to Billie Joe on the Tallahatchie bridge. Brother saw her as well. Hmmm....
I had a friend who jumped off a bridge about 12 foot taller than this bridge, or so she claimed, and she lived to tell about it. Since you are the bridge guy, is it virtually possible for someone to actually jump off a bridge and live to tell it ???
What? no mention of homosexuality???? These good old boys just can't get their little mouths around the gay. a.) It was a fictional story b). in the story Billie-Joe couldn't handle his sexuality confusion. Much like I couldn't understand wtf this guy was talking about.
Poor Billie Joe, abused and humiliated. Glad she was with him when he jumped. Only person that seemed to care. What was thrown of the bridge does not matter now. He wanted someone who cared with him. I get that!!
That still doesn't explain WHY he jumped . I saw the movie , but i don't remember ever hearing that Bobbie Gentry ever said that the movie explained the song .
Billy Joe jumped into the river because he was being sexually abused by someone in authority in town. Bobby Lee went away to protect Billy Joe memory and honor. Bobby Lee let everyone think that she was pregnant when in fact she wasn't.
I don't agree that Billy Joe in the movie committed suicide and or jumped off this bridge on his own I think he was murdered had a little help getting off that bridge the nice young preacher brother Taylor and the owner of The sawmill who had a wife and children had plenty of gumption to sleep with a young boy and he could of very well of been having an affair with the preacher after Billy Joel disappeared he was being highly Watched. He even ran from being watched the next morning he was dead although the whole town says he jumped off the bridge that could have very well been a cop out because the ones watching him for a very well been involved they probably thought he was telling Bobby Joe everything and there would have been a scandal
