Posted by Mike Riccio on September 07, 2008 at 11:23:52:
This week in 1967..."Ode to Billie Joe", one of Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", was right in the middle of a four week run at #1. It would go on to have over 22 cover versions right through this year.
Thanks to friend o'board Tony Marzocco in Florida, here's a great LIVE video of Bobbie Gentry doing her hit. It's amazing how close to the recording this LIVE vocal is! Thanks for sending it, Tony.
And by the way, has it ever been definitively established by writer Gentry exactly WHAT was thrown off the Tallahatchie Bridge? From all I've read, Gentry has never revealed the answer, and the doll thrown off the bridge in the film adaptation was strictly the screenwriter's poetic license.
Mike