Ode to Billy Joe

The above painting of the River Teifi sold last week actually the photo image looks a bit too yellow for some reason?

The other evening we went to a jazz night at The Cawdor in Llandeilo as part of the Music Festival. I am not a Jazz buff but enjoy all sorts of music. I was thinking about my favourite tracks and one that I have kept playing over the years is "Ode to Billy Joe" by Bobby Gentry. I guess I like it because the lyrics tell a story that actually takes you there (if that makes any sense). You can picture the whole thing. Its sad but spellbinding. I try to work out which is my favourite line in the song but having made up my mind then look at another one oh well. For me it is just a great song.

 According to Wikipedia who put it so much better :

The song is a first-person narrative that reveals a Southern Gothic tale in its verses by including the dialog of the narrator's family at dinnertime on the day that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge." Throughout the song, the suicide and other tragedies are contrasted against the banality of everyday routine and polite conversation.

The song begins with the narrator and her brother returning, after morning chores, to the family house for dinner (on June 3). After cautioning them about tracking in dirt, "Mama" says that she "got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge" that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge," apparently to his death.

Anyway here is a link to the song Ode to Billie Joe