Why did Billy Joe jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge....

I just had a thought. Let me double check the lyrics.

Okay... so the preacher stopped by "today" and said he saw a girl that looked like her throwing something off the bridge with Billy. It was also "today" that Billy jumped. *What if* after they threw whatever it was, SHE pushed Billy off? She lost her appetite that same day. I never noticed that before! Could she have been guilty of doing that... it never stated that they were a couple. And now she throws flowers from the bridge.

And Bobbie never *did* tell anyone what she had in mind with the lyrics... not even her Mama.
 

I don't know WHAT they might have thrown off the Tallahatchie bridge that Brother Taylor witnessed, but I do think they threw flowers off the bridge and not a person because the last line of the song she says she still does this. Anybody else would have gone to Billie Joe's grave and left flowers there but she dropped them into the muddy water off the bridge. For this reason, I think picking and dropping flowers off the bridge was a special thing to do because they used to do it together. Just my thoughts. :unsure:
 
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CallMeKate said:
I just had a thought. Let me double check the lyrics.

Okay... so the preacher stopped by "today" and said he saw a girl that looked like her throwing something off the bridge with Billy. It was also "today" that Billy jumped. *What if* after they threw whatever it was, SHE pushed Billy off? She lost her appetite that same day. I never noticed that before! Could she have been guilty of doing that... it never really stated that they were a couple. And now she throws flowers from the bridge.

And Bobbie never *did* tell anyone what she had in mind with the lyrics... not even her Mama.
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I love that angle. I wonder why she would have murdered Billie Joe? Any theories? :unsure:
 

chic said:
I love that angle. I wonder why she would have murdered Billie Joe? Any theories? :unsure:
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She saw him after church Sunday night... maybe he got aggressive. No idea and we'll never know, but I find it interesting that Bobbie G. never once said that they were together or a couple. Just that she was seen with him at the bridge "today" and then came home, worked the field, and didn't have an appetite for supper. Seems like everyone just assumes they were a couple.
 
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CallMeKate said:
She saw him after church Sunday night... maybe he got aggressive. No idea and we'll never know, but I find it interested that Bobbie G. never once said that they were together or a couple. Just that she was seen with him at the bridge "today" and then came home, worked the field, and didn't have an appetite for supper. Seems like everyone just assumes they were a couple.
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That's true. Everyone does just assume they were romantically involved but that has never been made clear at all. We have no clue what they were to each other. I thought when she got so upset listening to her family discuss Billie Joe's suicide during dinner it was because she loved him but she could have murdered him and been sick with no appetite because of the stress of what she'd done. It could happen.
 
Bobbie will turn 81 in a week or so... maybe she'll find us here while Googling her name and give us the real scoop. šŸ¤­ Seriously, though... it's a study in the way people perceive things like she (or someone) said in an interview because just that one little thing about them being seen together at the bridge by the preacher has made everyone think for all these decades that they were a couple. And that Billy "jumped."
 
feywon said:
While Della has a point that most are boring, there's different kinds of 'trouble-making'. Both Baptist and Methodist minister in Ruskin, FL in early 1950s made what the late John Lewis called 'good trouble. The Baptist church got a Cross burned on it's front lawn.
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Yes, a lot of Southern ministers were involved in the Civil Rights movement. My Methodist church in West Virginia had a new minister, transfered from the south, whose family had been attacked because he was volunteering for the movement.
 
I can't get this song off my mind now that I realized a relationship wasn't mentioned. And that the girl had been seen with him at the bridge that day. I think Max Baer could have done a MUCH better job with making it a movie that would give the twist Bobbie Gentry *may* have intended since she's always been so secretive about it. Oh, @Bretrick , look what you've done... I'll probably dream about bridges over muddy waters tonight. šŸ˜
 
CallMeKate said:
I can't get this song off my mind now that I realized a relationship wasn't mentioned. And that the girl had been seen with him at the bridge that day. I think Max Baer could have done a MUCH better job with making it a movie that would give the twist Bobbie Gentry *may* have intended since she's always been so secretive about it. Oh, @Bretrick , look what you've done... I'll probably dream about bridges over muddy waters tonight. šŸ˜
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Also Choctaw Ridge, Carroll County, apple pie and black eyed peas :)
 
CallMeKate said:
I can't get this song off my mind now that I realized a relationship wasn't mentioned. And that the girl had been seen with him at the bridge that day. I think Max Baer could have done a MUCH better job with making it a movie that would give the twist Bobbie Gentry *may* have intended since she's always been so secretive about it. Oh, @Bretrick , look what you've done... I'll probably dream about bridges over muddy waters tonight. šŸ˜
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I can't get this song off my mind either now and love the alternative interpretations offered for the meaning of it.
 
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I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge
And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And mama said to me, child, what's happened to your appetite?
I've been cookin' all morning, and you haven't touched a single bite
That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today
Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way
He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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How does the sawmill figure in to this story? What was he sawing up?
The girl apparently remains silent, has no appetite.
"That nice young preacher?" A bit of matchmaking? Maybe mama knows more than she's letting on.
And I have to wonder why the preacher dropped by to tell her parents that he saw them throwing something off the bridge. Why not the police, if he suspects something?

I think the song is brilliant, partly because of that haunting rhythm that doesn't let up for a second, and you can't get it out of your head... and partly because of the mystery behind the whole thing. Of course Bobby Gentry never explains. That would ruin the song.

I added it to my "favorites" on Alexa. Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful song.
 
Sunny said:
How does the sawmill figure in to this story? What was he sawing up?
The girl apparently remains silent, has no appetite.
"That nice young preacher?" A bit of matchmaking? Maybe mama knows more than she's letting on.
And I have to wonder why the preacher dropped by to tell her parents that he saw them throwing something off the bridge. Why not the police, if he suspects something?

I think the song is brilliant, partly because of that haunting rhythm that doesn't let up for a second, and you can't get it out of your head... and partly because of the mystery behind the whole thing. Of course Bobby Gentry never explains. That would ruin the song.

I added it to my "favorites" on Alexa. Thanks for reminding me of this wonderful song.
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.. and in the video, Gentry's own haunting beauty played into the drama as well.
 
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