Ode To Billie Joe

I too, like at least one other commenter here, think the spelling of “Billie Joe” is a hint to the meaning of this song. It is the female spelling and yet the same spelling doesn’t appear in the song. (Here I assume that the song lyrics were transcribed from the original source and reflect the intended spelling) Also , I believe it is clear that the girl telling the story had a relationship with Billy Joe (the boy who jumped off the bridge). She is, after all, very upset by the news. As well, it seems clear that her family has no idea that she had a relationship with Billy Joe as they discuss his death so callously and when she reacts they don’t seem to have any idea why. The big mystery is, of course, what did they throw off the bridge? I suggest that the girl had a miscarriage and that something about it made Billy Joe feel very guilty–perhaps it was induced in some way, either by word or deed–thus his tragic suicide and her regret. Oh yes, and the of course the fetus was girl prematurely named Billie Joe, after the father. A sad, sad tale indeed.

I always wondered if she actually pushed Billy Joe off the bridge...but the chorus keeps repeating that Billy Joe jumped. That means he willingly jumped of his own accord. It could be considered that Billie Joe and the young girl had a child outside of wedlock. It could even be that they drowned the child in order for them not to be reviled by everyone they know. Having a child out of wedlock a mortal sin back before everything became all the more liberal. All in all, this is one the best story songs ever written.

The bad movie had nothing to do with the original song (think Godfather III). In the time the song seems to be taking place, there were no Oprah’s or Dr.Phil’s. People just didn’t delve into the “meaning of life”at the table. Adults talked about adult things and kids were not to talk about adult subjects.When Bobbie Gentry was asked about the meaning of the song, she pretty much said it is what it is.(Not unlike Dylan said about HIS lyrics.In the Deep South, farm life was harsh. People were divided into useful (Brother Taylor), and useless (Billy Joe). There was no place for in between, no reason to spend a lot of time on the “useless”. When this song first came out, there was an immediate association with Hamlet’s Ophelia with references to water and flowers. (Were people more literate in ’67?) Ophelia was driven mad with the empty love of Hamlet and the death of her father. Ophelia’s Flower speech from Hamlet: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that's for thoughts," said Ophelia to her brother Laertes. "There's fennel [empty fulfillment] for you, and columbines [foolishness]. There's rue [bitterness] for you, and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays. O, you must wear your rue with a difference. There's a daisy. I would give you some violets [humility] , but they withered all when my father died." To me the song is about the quiet pain in the human heart, and how little it means to those around us.

I think the meaning of it has to do with the fact that Billy Joe was her boyfriend, but the family was clueless about that fact. The girl obviously didn't want them to know, either. That was obvious by the mom mentioning her being seen with Billy Joe, as if it was a surprise that she would have been with him?Could be cause she knew her father and brother didn't really care for him, so didn't want the hassle, maybe too young, the old south, or whatever. They start to make it seem like her cover is blown, due to the fact that Brother Taylor "said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on choctaw ridge". The other irony is the indifference the other family members express toward a young man in their community committing suicide, as if it is so insignificant. The father and brother couldn't resist throwing a dig at Billy Joe. The Mom, of course is portrayed as a typical caring mother who felt bad and had the maternal instincts and some compasssion. Of course, the girl is suffering, but doesn't want to blow the cover, so she stays quiet. It's certainly not about an abortion, misscarriage, baby being thrown off.

My thought is that this was a self-administered abortion. A couple clues that lead me to this thought:

the father disapproves of Billy Jo - while not iron-clad, it reveals a reason for the singer to keep the relationship quiet

the singer is visibly upset to hear the news - again, not a hard reason for abortion, but it implicates her directly in the reason

the item they throw, while possibly a token of love, probably isn't -- Brother Taylor says he saw the singer AND Billy Jo thowing something. If it was a token of love, why would Billy Jo be throwing it, too? More likely he and Billy Jo are throwing something that they SHARE. Otherwise, the phrasing would be different. Something about the singer threw something off the bridge, and Billy Jo got upset, or some other phrasing.

Lastly, the flowers. Flowers represent a lot of things, but in this context, they've got to represent life. She picks flowers - in essence, killing them - and then throws them into the river. The symbolism can't be missed. The life of the fetus, snuffed out in the same fashion, the life of Billy Jo, also ended prematurely --- and both they, and the flowers, go into the river. Notice, she drops the flowers - she doesn't throw them. If she threw them, you could maybe see that as being connected to the throwing, pushing, or killing of Billy Jo. Instead, she's simply dropping them. Adding their terminated lives to the terminated lives of Billy Jo and the baby.

Just heard this song after many years, and there's not a doubt in my mind that what they were throwing was something innocuous, probably flowers, marking the hopelessness of their love.

This song causes the listener to visualize the story and fill in the details about their relationship and what is thrown off the bridge. And everyone writes in their own story - which is great!

But I think the point of the song is in nature of the conversation over dinner. The news devastates the narrator (she can't eat) while the family goes on eating and talking. Everyone is so wrapped up in their own lives.

[Edit: Typo]

Ozquonk is right. Having lived through the original songs release, it was wildly popular, with everyone wanting to know what they threw off the bridge. Capitalizing on this popularity, the artist (Bobby Gentry) said in several interviews that she hadn't thought that part out yet. End of story. The original HAD no specific meaning. BUT, people wanted more, and there was money to be made, so the TV movie was made with then "modern" themes of forbidden love and young teen boy confused sexuality resulting in a homosexual tryst he immediately felt so shamed about, that it (in the TV movie version) ultimately led to his arguing with his girlfriend on the bridge (of his being "I am so unworthy" sort) that in anger, despair, confusion, and self-loathing, he grabs her doll and throws it off the bridge (This plot device simply to give the answer everyone wanted to regarding what was thrown off the bridge). Later, he kills himself. REALLY END OF STORY. However, the cool thing about trying to figure out song, poem, novel meanings, etc. is how we can interpret the artists vision. I especially think that the pregnancy, stillbirth, abortion, etc. visions are as good an interpretation of what it could be about, whether by artist design or not, as any other.

It doesn't totally follow the lyrics at the end, maybe, I always thought it was about someone faking their death (ie. what they chucked off was a mannequin or even more grisly another body) - so Billie Joe and her pretended he'd jumped off the bridge and he got out of town - or hid on Choctaw Ridge.

Better than the homopanic story, I think ;-)

Quite an inventive interpretation! However, it is way too much of a stretch. As the other reply pointed out, it does not fit with the other lyrics. For another example, the line referring to the "frog down my dress", seems like exactly what a boy might to do to tease a girl, not anther boy. Another boy would likely not be repulsed by the frog, like a girl usually would be.

The much more likely story, is some sort of love affair between the narrator ( WHO IS FEMALE!), and Billy Joe. For some reason they feel compelled to keep the relationship a secret. That is the great mystery, along with why he killed himself. The abortion theory, makes some sense. However, why did they keep the relationship such a secret? Was he so much of an outcast ( wrong side of the tracks syndrome), that she could not have an open friendship? Was he just depressed like many teenagers?