Who doesn’t love a good mystery?
And there’s one unsolved mystery in country music that’s always bothered me: Why did Billie Joe McAllister jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge?
It’s a mystery that’s had country music fans left in the dark and speculating ever since Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” was released over 50 years ago, back in 1967. The dark tune tells the story of a young woman finding out from her family that a local boy committed suicide by jumping off of a bridge. The family seems indifferent as they go on about their small talk, but the narrator has an untold connection to the boy as we learn that she was spotted with him shortly before he jumped, throwing something into the river.
So what was the connection between the narrator and Billie Joe? And what did they throw into the river? And why did he jump?
Over the years, fans have come up with their own theories about what Billie Joe and the young girl threw into the river – everything from flowers to a baby. The most popular theory, though, seems to be that it was a wedding ring, a theory that Gentry herself addressed in 1967, saying only “Suppose it was a wedding ring.”
But Gentry has remained tight-lipped about the mystery, saying only that whatever the couple threw into the river “provides a possible motivation as to why he jumped off the bridge the next day.”
I don’t think we’ll ever really know what Billie Joe threw off the bridge – because I don’t think it’s supposed to matter. As Gentry once said, the song is about “basic indifference, the casualness of people in moments of tragedy.” The family goes on about their dinner and their small talk at the table, unaffected by the tragedy of Billie Joe’s death. They don’t know why he jumped, but they don’t really care either.
There’s only one person in the world who really knows why Billie Joe jumped off the bridge, and what the couple threw into the water. And as the song’s lone writer, Bobbie Gentry may be an even bigger mystery than her hit song. Despite winning three Grammy awards in the 1960’s and being one of the first female singer- songwriters to write and produce her own music, Gentry has all but disappeared since her last public appearance at the ACM Awards in 1982. It’s been almost 40 years since she’s given an interview or performed in public. And people aren’t even sure where she lives. Even Reba can’t get ahold of her.
Reba’s biggest hit, “Fancy,” was originally written and recorded by Gentry in 1969, nearly 20 years before Reba released the version that most people are familiar with today. But Reba recently revealed that she’s never even spoken to Gentry – despite her best efforts.
“I’ve never met her. I’ve never talked to her. I’ve talked to so many people who have gotten to work with her and know her and do stay in communication with her…I would say, ‘Hey, would you tell her that I’d really like to meet her sometime or talk to her or email or text or smoke signals or anything? I don’t care. I’d just really like to communicate with her.'”
It seems like Gentry is content to remain as big of a mystery as Billie Joe McAllister. So we’ll probably never know exactly what he threw off that bridge, or why he jumped in the river. But maybe it doesn’t matter. Gentry told us that the song was about “basic indifference.” A family so focused on their dinner that they don’t even realize how Billie Joe’s death is effecting their own daughter.
And maybe that indifference is darker than what happened to Billie Joe anyway.
