Another sleepy, dusty Delta day…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
Where were you when you got the news? It was 1967 and ever since I heard I’ve wondered just what happened.
Bobbie Gentry, who wrote and performed the song, said regarding what happened at Choctaw Ridge: “I left it open so the listener could draw his own conclusion.”
The song was #3 on the Billboard Charts for 1967 which explains why it is ingrained in our brains; it’s a good song, but disc jockeys must have been playing on a loop to win out over songs like Light my Fire, Groovin’, Soul Man, and even Respect! Bobbie Gentry quit performing in the 70s, so we could consider her a 1-hit wonder, unless you give her this loophole: She wrote “Fancy”, copied by Reba McIntyre in 1990, which has brought her millions in royalties over the years — more than she made off of the Ode.
Just thought you’d want to give a thought to Billie Joe McAllister today…
I’m still watching The Royals, the Party goes on!
Peace
Blather & Balderdash 
That song takes me back to many a time. From the moment I heard it, I was her fan. Then she and Glen Campbell teamed up and then I was “their fan.” I was in high school in 1967, worried about being drafted and going to Viet Nam. That song, and then Galveston, along with a handful of rock hits seemed to sum up the times. The music world is a better place because of Bobbie Gentry and her kissin cousin Glen.
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Thanks, Phil! That year I graduated 8th grade and we moved a thousand miles away and I was as miserable as an adolescent can be — pretty sad! My boyfriend and I were writing steamy letters back and forth almost daily (for a while), so the #2 song that year– The Letter by the Boxtops — would be my theme for 1967, along with the Mamas and Papas “Dedicated to the One I Love”… My teenage dramas had good soundtracks…
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Yep, the 60s were made for drama.
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