『Ode to Billy Joe』는 1967년 7월 미국의 여성 싱어 송 라이터
「Bobbie Gentry」의 데뷔 곡으로 그해 8월 26일 Billboard 싱글
차트 1위 곡으로 4 주 동안 정상에 올렸으며 '킹 핀스'와 '조니
미첼'이 '리메이크' 해서 큰 인기를 끌기도 했습니다.
『Ode to Billy Joe』는 1952년 6월 3일 "빌리 조 마카리스터"라는
청년이 'Tallahatchie Bridge'에서 투신 자살한 사실에 의해
노래가 만들어졌다고 합니다. 또한 이 곡은 1977년 맥스 베어
감독의 영화 "빌리 조의 사랑의 다리"의 사운드 트랙으로 사용
되었습니다.
「Bobbie Gentry」(1944년생)는 1960년대 팝 적인 컨츄리와
소울적인 분위기가 적절히 혼합된 사운드로 꽤 인기를 얻던 여성
싱어였으며, 무척 관능적인 외모여서 더욱 주목 받기도 했습니다.
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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 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'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 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 B
illie 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 Billie Joe was throwing
somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come 'n' 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
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