OMG IS THIS A TRUE STORY? BOBBIE GENTRY - ODE TO BILLIE JOE (REACTION) 

I wonder how much Flannery O'Connor's southern gothic style of her 60's short stories had an influence on her... She was an educated woman... A philosopher actually.

During Michael McDonald's GREAT CHRISTMAS Song, House Full of Love Michael shows his Southern side when he sings, sit down Right Cheer..

@@gwenvenable6481 I’m sure those stories did have an influence in addition to the fact that she lived in that culture!

@@TheDivayenta Bobby said thus song was an exercise in unconscious mental abuse

My goodness "Southern Gothic". You hit the nail the head.

Yes, it was scandalous

She married casino and club owner Phil Harrah. He was a powerful guy, and when they divorced, he supposedly got her black balled.

@@Gromit801 That’s terrible.

@@Gromit801 that’s garbage. Not true. You can’t “blackball” songwriting and millions of fans. Stop believing crap some hack wrote.

didn't disappear. she just left the industry, lost interest. she shows up every now and then.

My understanding was that she left because of music industry business. They used her and wanted to control her songwriting and music, her looks, etc. She put up with it for a short while, then walked away from it as soon as she got the chance. Said she didn’t need that. I have always had such a respect for her. And I think her vanishing at the height of her career, just made her more famous and more desirable. She doesn’t even do interviews or anything. I loved her song writing and music and she is so beautiful. But I have the most respect for her for not putting up with the music business crookedness of that time.

Spontaneity is the spark that ignites the adventure of life...

True. Some of the best vacations I've ever had took me to destinations I had no idea about and turned out to be really interesting.

Very cool !

@@vaughnmichael5114 it was amazing. It's a pretty small room filled with dinner tables and a bar. And it was absolutely packed. Shoulder to shoulder. It was 50/50 white and black folks. And everybody was talking and laughing and dancing with each other. The house hand was just unbelievable. Morgan walked around like a normal person. Nobody treated him like a celebrity so I suppressed my inner fanboy. What's funny is, me and the wife had a little argument in Tunica because I wanted to stop there. She reminded me not only was she driving, it was my idea for her to drive. And as always, I was forced to eat crow as she looked on in amusement.

Pretty awesome

I’ve always wondered!

wow

That's another story in itself, how she's so deeply involved with him and no one in her family seems to know.

Watch the 1976 movie🎉🎉then ull get it!!!

​@lightningbug2watch tne 1976 movie..then ull get it!76

I remember very well when it came out... you are right, mysterious, captivating and sad. I would through in hypnotic too (it pulled me in). My friends and I couldn't stop thinking about this song and what it meant. Gentry was for a time a philosophy major in college I think. I haven't thought about this song in awhile. Forgot how good it was.

There's a book that tells this story and later a movie. I read the book in jr.high. Great book.

Miley Cyrus could sing this and so could Dolly . They both can tell a tale

It sure does.

The movie had the reason why he jumped off the bridge

Watch the movie he was raped by the preacher an

@@pennyrollings267 the song was written first. The movie made up that scenario, not the song writer. That was not the point of the song. The point was the indifference of the family about the death. And that they didn't even realize that their own daughter was involved with Billy Joe, and how affected she was by the announcement of his suicide.

@@pennyrollings267 ...Hollywood

That's what I thought too.

@@cathysorge8433 the mother in the song even asks her what's happened to her apatite, but is either too stupid to put two and two together or doesn't care that the news has made her physically ill.

I was just thinking about the mystery of his death, right before making this comment.

They throw their dead baby over the bridge

A miscarriage in the first trimester otherwise everybody would have seen girls baby bump

@@keithj6251 ..no Keith, not necessarily. You can google, there have been many young women who have given birth and no one knew they were pregnant. There was a young girl who gave birth at her senior prom in the bathroom and put the poor baby in the trash can. No one knew she was with child. Sad beyond words.

If it's "unconscscious".......and it's behavior that comes from that "unconsciousness".......so your not even aware of it......then how the hell can you fix it in yourself if you don't/can't see it, but it presents itself in your behavior.........but it's "unconscious" I'm not speacialist by no means.......but that's just plain stupid. Made up terms for made up shit people have no explination for the behavior. That's a label that will have no end. Unconscious racism...unconscious patriarchy unconscious failure unconscious whatever. That's a deep evil slippery slope.......and the weapon of accusation will be "your doing it....but it's "unconscious" (you have zero defense) What a mind fuck. It seems to me, life was extremely hard in those days. Seems to me this song was after WW2 time period. The father wasn't indifferent to the tragity. He just didn't have the "luxury" of grieving....because he had a family to take care of and a lot of hard work still left to do. It's not unconscious cruelty......it's called mind survival.......no matter the tragedy.....real life is.....I got to feed my family. Unless it touched your home personally.......you couldn't let yourself grieve but for a split second. And let's brutally honest........if it's a stranger or someone that's not close to us and we hear tragic news about them....sure...you have feelings of empathy and hurt for their situation or whatever......but I gaurantee....at bedtime...you fall fast asleep. It's not the same as a family member spouse or child that affects you personally. If I'm wrong in my veiw....forgive me.....it's not my fault....I'm wrong "unconsciously" an I don't even know it.

It's not a dead baby. Bobbie said in an interview once that she thinks it might have been rings. But she leaves it open.

Yes I agree she does a much better job than Reba.

This was based on a Best Selling Novel written by Herman Raucher who also Wrote Summer Of '42 and Class '44 who many folks thought was one of the best books about growing up. Choctaw Ridge may have been a Land owned by Native Americans. It was "Pass The Biscuits Please". Also they were sweethearts and a very cruel thing happened to him. He apparently had "Relations" with a Man and in the 1950's it was a sin especially in The South. He apparently took his own life because he felt so ashamed & guilty. Folks thought she was Black like Dusty Springfield.

I know, huh. When you went to the drive-in with your boyfriend, you didn’t see much of the movie.

Yeah, that is one of many theories...

@@jdsguam i know it's just a theory, but what else rises to the level that would make him jump? Just MHO.

@@joannasunday That theory makes the most sense.

That's what I want to know. I also want to know what happened to the kid in "Imposter", as well as what really happened to Teresa Halbach.

She's never told anyone. Not even singer Jim Stafford, her husband.

I thought they threw their baby into the water...and the Billy joe got caught taking money from a man to have sex with him...that's what I remember from the movie

A baby

In the movie, it was the bloody clothes from where he was raped, and then he was worried he was gay now so he killed himself..in the movie she disappeared for almost a year so people would think he had impregnated her and she went off to have the baby..if you have a chance watch the show..it will break your heart.

oh how i loved that movie

I just saw the movie... my Lord. It brought me back. 😢

@@dana-dane Now you have me wanting to rewatch it.

Fancy was written, and first recorded, by Bobbi Gentry❤️

@@leannmiller7153 The night the lights went out in Georgia, first recorded by Vicki Lawrence, yes Carol Burnett's cohort and Mama on Mama's Family TV show

@@frankphillips5660 Vicki’s is the one I listen to. I’ve heard Reba’s covers of both songs.

SKIP reba and listen to the REAL FOLKS!

@@frankphillips5660 The originals beat the crap out of reba'a remakes, especially Bobby's performance on the Rick Hall Produced, eerie song Called Fancy!

I did not know that!!!

seven spanish angels by ray charles and willie nelson

He was raped and thought he might be gay

Daaaaaaang. I just listened to it. That's messed up. I didn't see that coming. Thanks for recommending the song. I'm glad that I discovered it. I saved that song. Have you heard Johnny Cash's cover of "I Hung My Head", by Sting?

Three chords and the TRUTH.

And what's worse is that the woman that accused Emmitt admitted years later that she had lied. Last I heard, she was still alive. Side note, I have fished the Tallahatchie River many, many times. My late father in law had one of the decorative cast iron spheres from the top of the original bridge. It's been closed for many years now. ✌️

I just looked him up; he was hanged.

Yeah, the lady he supposedly offended lied about it. She said so before she died. Poor kid.

@@RayfordRaySiegel Yes don’t always believe the geniuses who post comments here on RU-vid 👍😂

I don’t know how the heck that song is anything at ALL like the tragedy with Emmett. Even if it was only an “inspiration”. That’s just a weird story.

Some of the early theories was that it was their baby. I don’t want to spoil the movie for you 🙂 check it out.

I thought it was a baby also