shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
That's spot on, I think. And after all, she wrote the song.
"It was the third of June..another sleepy..
- Thread starter Xfuzz
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That's spot on, I think. And after all, she wrote the song.
I dunno. When that song first came out, my mom told me that in many little burgs in the deep south, when a couple became betrothed, engaged, went steady, or whatever, they often exchanged rings. When, by chance, they happened to break up, the custom was to toss the rings off the local bridge into the river.
Mom also went on to tell me that years later, people have found several old rings at the bottom of rural rivers or creeks.
I don't know how long that custom existed, or if it even did for that matter. I was a young teenager at the time and Mom's story sounded pretty good to me. Mom knew a lot about old stuff like that.
Mom also went on to tell me that years later, people have found several old rings at the bottom of rural rivers or creeks.
I don't know how long that custom existed, or if it even did for that matter. I was a young teenager at the time and Mom's story sounded pretty good to me. Mom knew a lot about old stuff like that.
The Neil Diamond song Desiree also happens on the 3rd of June.
Watchdog
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The dinner time ambivalence (as Bobby Gentry described it) of the family to Billy Joe's suicide was similar, but not even remotely equal to the ambivalence of my friends and I when we first started hearing "Ode to Billy Joe".
It was 1967. The music scene was in flux, changing every day, transitioning into whole new genres. The whole world was changing and not always for the better. Kids my age were being thrown wholesale into a war we'd never win...a war that chewed kids up, spit them out, and demanded more. Barry McGuire was three years in the past, but we still had "The Eve of Destruction" hanging over our heads.
We wanted to rock and roll. We wanted The Stones and The Doors...Jefferson Airplane and Procol Harum and The Grass Roots ("Live for Today"!). We needed Buffalo Springfield and Van Morrison. The last thing we wanted to hear on the car radio while we were home on leave and out with our girl was some mournful dirge about a lovesick hillbilly throwing himself off a bridge.
It was 1967. The music scene was in flux, changing every day, transitioning into whole new genres. The whole world was changing and not always for the better. Kids my age were being thrown wholesale into a war we'd never win...a war that chewed kids up, spit them out, and demanded more. Barry McGuire was three years in the past, but we still had "The Eve of Destruction" hanging over our heads.
We wanted to rock and roll. We wanted The Stones and The Doors...Jefferson Airplane and Procol Harum and The Grass Roots ("Live for Today"!). We needed Buffalo Springfield and Van Morrison. The last thing we wanted to hear on the car radio while we were home on leave and out with our girl was some mournful dirge about a lovesick hillbilly throwing himself off a bridge.
Walter Rego
Member
I'm with you Watchdog. Ode To Billy Joe was one of the most annoying songs of that generation. I despised it by about the 3rd time I heard it.
Ole Joe Clark
Absent Comrade
The first ring I ever bought for a lady, she still has, but she wears the set I bought her for our 24th anniversary.
Have a blessed day,
Leon
Have a blessed day,
Leon
carpriver
US Veteran
I always liked the song, Billy Joe didn't have a lick of sense, he just got his draft notice and could not bear the thought of leaving his girl behind. the ring thing I heard about it and it makes sense.
Sometimes when I go to the doctors office or some place I will ask the person behind the desk if they heard the news about Billie Joe, I sometime get bazaar looks and sometimes they say no. its fun.
Sometimes when I go to the doctors office or some place I will ask the person behind the desk if they heard the news about Billie Joe, I sometime get bazaar looks and sometimes they say no. its fun.
Bakebfr480
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Stupid movie!
Enjoy Crank it up. 
[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZ_ViDADOE[/ame]
Crank it up. [ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZ_ViDADOE[/ame]
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Ivan the Butcher
Member
This thread got me remembering back around 1969 or 70, my oldest cousin was ask by a young man from High School to marry her. She refused, so he threw himself from an overpass onto I-71, in front of a passing semi! I was about 12 or 13, sitting in the farmhouse kitchen with aunts and uncles, as her dad said "The Dumb A, kilt hisself, by getting run over by the "Big O"" I remember the look on her face, a few minutes later she said she was walking home. (about 5 miles in the dark at 10:30 at night) My brother was the same age as her, he grabbed somebody's truck keys and drove her home. That is 49 or 50 years ago this summer, and I don't think I've heard her say 10 words to anybody but her sisters and my brother since then!
It is strange about some family members, if they don't like someone, they don't care who the offend or hurt expressing a negative comment! I believe that was the point about the song.
Ivan
It is strange about some family members, if they don't like someone, they don't care who the offend or hurt expressing a negative comment! I believe that was the point about the song.
Ivan
That song played endlessly when it came out. My dad always said Billy-Joe jumped after he heard it 10-15 times in one day!
Watchdog
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The song was musical flypaper. The harder you tried to get away from it, the "stucker" you got.
Maybe I have an morbid mind but I have always thought it was her miscarried or aborted, out of wedlock, baby that was dropped off the bridge.
Steve W
Steve W
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Me too.
Watchdog
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Just like the song. Anyway, what else would you expect of a film directed by the guy who played Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies?
Not a chance without everyone and their dog in that small backwoods town knowin' about it. First off, they would've never thrown anything like that off the bridge into the river for fear it would've gotten caught up in some ol' boy's trotline downstream.
Second, having lived in small towns most of my life, trust me...if Billy Joe had even gotten little Emma Sue pregnant in the first place, the whole dang town would've known just a few minutes after conception.
There aren't too many methods of communication that can beat the speed of small town gossip.
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BLACKHAWKNJ
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"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."
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge."
Steve K
Member
In my younger days I thought they were getting rid of an aborted fetus. Mellowing out in my senior years I'm certain they were enjoying each other's company throwing flowers off the bridge.
kthom
Member
Similar experience for me, Old Joe! In my case, that first ring I bought turned my lady's finger green. Bless her heart, she wore it like a trooper and with a smile. She still has it too! And she is still wearing her original wedding band, as am I. Those didn't cost much, but boy, have they been tough! Still look as good as they did when new.
I've bought her a couple or three other rings in the time we've been together and thankfully none of them turned her finger green. Next month, that lady will have tolerated me for fifty years since our wedding date, and I am humbly grateful for the blessings she has bestowed upon me. She is still a trooper, and the light of my life!
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