Bobbie Gentry needs to give us some answers

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and we walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered at the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

The Tallahatchee Bridge connects Money, Mississippi with Greenwood. Money, population of 95, is the hometown of singer, Bobbie Gentry. The river has historical significance due to the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year old African-American youth from Chicago, who was visiting his uncle, Moses Wright. Emmett was brutally murdered by white men in Money, MS for allegedly being impolite to a white woman. He was beaten, shot, and sunk in the river with a cotton gin fan tied around his neck by barbed wire. This event is mentioned in the song, "Freedom Highway" by The Staple Singers. An all white jury acquitted the eight men in 67 minutes.

Bobbie Gentry said that the question she was most often asked was why Billie jumped. Several theories also floated around about what he and the narrator threw off the bridge: Less tragic options included drugs, flowers, an engagement ring, or a draft card. Instead, she points to other themes in the song, such as the small-town community, referenced by the church, the picture show, and the sawmill. Soon after the song’s chart success, the Tallahatchie Bridge saw an increase in those willing to jump off of it. Since the bridge height is only 20 feet , death or injury was unlikely. To curb the trend, the Leflore County Board enacted a law fining jumpers $100.

Bobbie Lee throws flowers off the bridge for Billy Joe, just like in the song. Despite cinematic details in the song’s lyric, we still don’t know exactly what happened up there on Choctaw Ridge on June 3, 1953. That bridge collapsed in June 1972 after being burned by vandals and has since been replaced. Bobbie Gentry went into hiding 35 years ago.

"You want answers?" "I want the Truth."

Paul Murphy

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