Why did Billy Joe jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge? (VIDEO)

[RandySF]

[JenniferJuniper]

1. He was going to be drafted.

He threw his ripped up card over before he jumped.

That's my belief and I'm sticking to it.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. Interesting. ♡

[Laffy Kat]

2. This seems to come up in the Lounge every so often.

Because they threw his baby off?

[Laffy Kat]

3. While we're at it:

What happened to Timothy in that mine?

[JenniferJuniper]

4. No question there. He was the main course.

[Laffy Kat]

5. But what WAS he? A donkey, a guy?

Answer me that!

[JenniferJuniper]

7. A guy. Maybe one would have a donkey named Timothy, but

would you refer to him as "Tim"? Or hesitate to eat him as soon as the hunger pangs got bad? Or agonize eating him? "God, what did we do!"

Doubtful. Even for a vegan.

[Laffy Kat]

8. .....

[littlemissmartypants]

12. Wow, what story is this?

Sounds juicy.


Sorry couldn't resist.

Food related pun.

Really though, what story is it?

[Laffy Kat]

13. This one:

[littlemissmartypants]

14. Thanks ♡

[lastlib]

22. Song was written by (then-) 23-year-old Rupert Holmes....

...who several years later, no longer with The Buoys, went on to write "The Pina Colada Song".

How would you like to have those two songs on your resume...?

[littlemissmartypants]

23. They are So different.

It doesn't make sense. The Timothy song gave me a bad earworm. The contrast between the catchy tune and the grotesque subject matter is disturbing.

I'm watching 70's Soul Superstars on PBS right now. Trying to stay awake for SNL.

[Wolf Frankula]

6. Because Billy Joe McHatchie jumped off the Tallahallister Bridge

And he had to top him.

Wolf

[democratisphere]

9. Billy Joe always wanted to try bungee jumping.

[Bucky]

17. "Try Splode" PSA

[gratuitous]

32. His last words were . . .

"Hold my beer."

[littlemissmartypants]

10. Thanks, RandySF. I love this. ♡

I just got a call from my best friend and part of our conversation was about unconscious cruelty.

That's the bad news.

Good News is she's getting married!!!

Now about Billy Joe...

My guess is, that because of the lack of available birthcontrol or lack of knowledge of sexual health, the girlfriend got pregnant.

The baby may have been premature, died in delivery or was born dead. I'm hoping. I don't want this to be a murder story. No doubt their youth and naivete play a part in the tragedy.

The child could have been male. Exacerbating his father's grief. Supposedly, most spontaneous terminations are male. I am not sure about that but... she was pregnant, I feel sure.

There was a very private funeral.

Time passes.

In the fervent religious culture of the day and the isolation of the delta, taboo takes on a physical form. Rises out of the darkest mud, in the mist on the water.

Billy Joe, endures being beaten down, to near death by some crazed Primitive Baptist, snake handling preacher entrusted with his holy salvation.*

The beating, most likely is psychologically and physically damaging.

He may just have been tormented by his own mental machenations, isolated, without the loving support of safe spaces. Billy Joe, commits suicide, because of his guilty conscious, weakened psychological state and the lack of meaningful, community support.

Nobody else had really noticed or cared about the young lovers and because of the unconscious cruelty, three souls were lost.

---------------
No sarcasm except this* could be the "funny part" if it weren't so damn likely.

I have not seen the movie. How did I do?

Thanks again for the post. I truly love her voice and the song. ♡

[Bucky]

19. I always assumed what they dropped off the bridge was an abortion

Miscarriage works in the song too, but there were lots of shot gun weddings back in the 50s & 60s

[blogslut]

15. Am I the only person in the Lounge that saw the movie?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Billy_Joe_(film)

[TexasBushwhacker]

24. I saw it. Robby Benson played Billy Joe. n/t

[fNord]

16. Because she loved her baby so much....

She couldn't let it grow up into a world where 45 could be president.....then, she decided to join the child and escape this tortures future.....

if I didn't have shit to do.........

Thanks, love this song and haven't heard it in a wile.

This is my favorite version, the visual poetry of the statues is so beautifully complementary to to the nonchalant sadness of the song......



https://m.

[littlemissmartypants]

18. ♡

[femmocrat]

20. Oh gosh... I read that as "Billy Joel"

[Mendocino]

38. ...

...then Billy Joel and Jennifer Anniston got the mumps from Melissa Ethridge...

[Worried senior]

21. I always wondered

what it was.

[rurallib]

25. It appears this was the moment Billie Joe learned he could not fly

[Squinch]

26. I always assumed it was a live birth and the singer and Billy Joe killed it, times being

what they were, and threw it off the bridge. Then Billy Joe killed himself out of guilt.

[delisen]

27. Sounds very plausible.n/t

[littlemissmartypants]

30. I thought about that too.

I just didn't want it to be a murder, in my version.

But very plausible.

[montana_hazeleyes]

28. Billy took a big liking to smoking pot. His girlfriend grew tired of his

non stop weed binges and threatened to break up if he didn't stop.

He agreed and to prove it they went up to the bridge and Billie Joe threw his big gallon baggie of Maui Wowee off. Then girlfriend left to go and work with her brother and Billie said to himself "'Hell with this" and jumped in trying to retrieve his huge stash, but, sadly the current was to swift and Billie perished.

So, it wasn't suicide after all.

[Big_K]

29. Gawd, I love her voice

and I'd heard the "wasn't going to be drafted" story too.

[alarimer]

31. The movie implied that Billy Joe was gay.

I don't know how closely that hews to the songwriter's vision.

[TexasBushwhacker]

36. Bobbie Gentry said there really was a young man who jumped

but she didn't know why. He actually jumped from the Yazoo bridge, but that didn't have the ring that "Tallahatchie" did. The Tallahatchie bridge is only about 20' above the water.

They used the bridge over the Yazoo for the movie, but jumping off the Tallahatchie bridge became so popular after the song was a hit that they had to pass an ordinance against it and fine people $200. Authorities were tired of having to rescue folks with broken bones from jumping.

So anyway, the filmmaker had the freedom to make up whatever story they wan't. So they got Billy Joe drunk and he "accidentally" had sex with a man. That story line was actually pretty bold for a movie in 1976.

Trivia #1 - the movie was produced and directed by Max Baer Jr - aka Jethro Bodine of The Beverly Hillbillies.

Trivia #2 - Emitt Till's body was found in the Tallahatchie river.

[March 4th]

33. He had a Vision that Trump would be President

[fNord]

34. Ok, this is going to seem kind of silly.....

I always thought Billy Joe was Bobby's best friend, and a girl. I thought......
Bobby and Billy Joe had gone and done the kind of shadow hour shit only a couple of "sisters" might have done for each other.

I wasn't sure if the baby was Bobby's or Billy Joe's.......

After reading all the posts sober and talking abut it to my boyfriend he said "Yeah man, Billy Joe's a dude! That's wa....what the hell song were you listening to?"

Well, it's only been 4 decades since I first heard that track

I did wonder why "she" was at the sawmill, I just thought "she" was flirting......
But that's the only gender reference I caught....

You learn something new every day

[Blue_Tires]

35. Because he was high as fuck

[DFW]

37. He forgot that bungee jumping hadn't been invented yet n/t