It Was The Third Of June....Or Was It?

This Wednesday is somewhat of a historic day-----just how historic it is might be shrouded in mystery, however. Let me start off this post by saying that one of the most time-honored traditions in Country Music has been the story song……"The Carroll County Accident," "El Paso," "Coat Of Many Colors," there have been many songs over the years that have played with the mind and struck a chord in the imagination. The song I am writing about this week is one of those, and maybe the best example of a story song in Country Music history.

Wednesday is June 3. Some believe that in 1953, a death took place in Northern Mississippi, even though there has never been any actual proof of that fact. However, fourteen years later, you couldn't get away from a song that started like this:

"It was the third of June, another hot and dusty Delta day…."

You probably know the song, "Ode To Billy Joe," which was written by Bobbie Gentry. Whatever station you listened to back in 1967, Country or Pop, it was one of the most-played records in the United States. The song told the story of the death of Billy Joe McCallister, who jumped off the infamous Tallahatchie Bridge.

The Capitol Records release featured one of the most haunting melodies and string sections ever to be used on a song, and some forty-two years later, there has never been a definitive answer to the question of what Billy Joe and the song's narrator were seen throwing off the bridge before the character took his life.

You might say that it would make a good movie, but Hollywood tried that…..and failed miserably. In 1975, eight years after the release of the song, Max Baer, Jr. ("Jethro" himself) produced a movie that starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor that I don't think did the Gentry hit justice. The song was cutting edge, haunting, and featured a sizzling vocal by a lady that I don't think ever got her due for being a sensual writer and performer. Having heard some of her other story songs over her career, I think you could compare her writing to that of another great name of the South, William Faulkner. Simply put, the lady had an imagination!

The movie, on the other hand, was filled with as many Southern clichés as you could count, and some very fake southern accents that lost me about three minutes into the film. (Even though, as I have been told, my parents didn't get that far into the movie at the Pink Cadillac Drive-In in Centerville, TN……There was some baby crying nearby!)

Just as the song has conjured up many theories over the years as to what happened in the lyrics, the same could be said of Bobbie Gentry as well. She has pretty much faded from the entertainment business since the early 1980s, and in researching the song, I found little interview information about her. Just like the story of Billy Joe, there is a vein of secrecy about her, as well.

In the end, maybe that's a good thing. Now, don't get me wrong. I love Southern Gothic tales like this one and Walking Tall (the 1973 original is an underrated classic) as much as anybody, and if Hollywood chose to re-tell the story….I'd be the first in line. I've even got a few ideas of how you could freshen up the story somewhat. Some things are better left alone…..but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. What do you think the mystery of this record was? E-Mail me at spinthehitz74@gmail.com........

What might surprise you is that Bobbie Gentry (or Capitol Records) probably never intended for there to be such interest in this story. "Ode To Billy Joe" was actually released as the "B-Side" of "Mississippi Delta," which should have been a hit, as well….but then again…we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?

While we may never know the true meaning of the song…..I think history has proven this song is a true classic. In closing, let's turn back the hands of time to 1967….imagine a seductive, raspy voice and strings galore in the background….and the story of "Ode To Billy Joe."

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 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"

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 '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.

(Ode To Billy Joe---written by Bobbie Gentry / Universal Music Publishing)