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I remember when this song came out in the 70s and I'd heard then that it was about a real event. What is that event?
-------------------- Leashes?! We don't need no stinking leashes!! Posts: 4771 | From: The Berkeley of the East Coast: Montgomery County MD | Registered: Mar 2003
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The late Harry 20
The Red and the Green Stamps
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I always thought the song was written for the soundtrack of the movie!
Here's an explanation of sorts from someone with a lot of time on their hands:
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Very interesting. I remember when the movie came out. I think my brother saw it, and the story of Billie's being violated by a man was the reason for the suicide. At least that's what he told me. I very clealy remember the ad for it: the last scene in the TV ad showed something or someone in mid jump/fall.
-------------------- Leashes?! We don't need no stinking leashes!! Posts: 4771 | From: The Berkeley of the East Coast: Montgomery County MD | Registered: Mar 2003
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It's my understanding that Bobbie Gentry (whatever became of HER, pray tell?) recorded "Ode to Billy Joe" in 1967, which became a #1 hit.
It's my understanding that the bridge in question was over the Tallahatchee River in the Mississippi Delta region (Tallahatchee County, IIBC), and that the song revolved around events on 3 June 1953. (The original bridge in question was since demolished, IIUC.)
-------------------- "Nie lees die hoofopskrifte--lees die daagliks phosdex in plaas ..." Posts: 1316 | From: Winona, MN | Registered: Mar 2000
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I tried to figure it out once and came up with the idea what Billie Joe and the girl went for an illegal abortion and threw the baby/fetus off the bridge, and then he killed himself out of grief. I rationalized that, if the girl was going to lay flowers anywhere, it'd be at the place where Billie was buried, not at the place where he killed himself; sure, people put flowers on the roadside where accidents occurred, but how often do people go to the scene of a suicide to celebrate a person's life? So I figured that the girl wasn't throwing the flowers into the river for Billie, but instead for the dead child whose body never would've been uncovered.
Posts: 2711 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2002
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I always thought that the girl in the song was forcing Billy Joe to throw the frog he had put down her blouse back into the river.
-------------------- "No hard feelin's and HOPpy New Year!"--Walt Kelly Hear what you're missing: ARTC podcasts! http://artcpodcast.org/ Posts: 7581 | From: Gainesville, Georgia | Registered: Jun 2000
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