MoGrubb Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 There was never any doubt in my mind that she was white, beings I'm white an' all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 There was never any doubt in my mind that she was white, beings I'm white an' all. Does that mean that you have "whitedar"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Damn. It don't do no good to discuss a song's lyrics without posting the damn lyrics... 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 walked back to the house to eat And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet" And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge" "Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge" And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas "Well, Billy 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" And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night? "I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right" "I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge" "And now you 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" A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge Yeah, I see no relationship with Emmet Til either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 It's even better to read that than to hear the Gentry recording, in my view. Thanks. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 There was never any doubt in my mind that she was white, beings I'm white an' all. Yes, when the song first broke, many assumed she was a black singer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted October 2, 2007 Report Share Posted October 2, 2007 Her family was pretty clueless, weren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoGrubb Posted October 3, 2007 Report Share Posted October 3, 2007 There was never any doubt in my mind that she was white, beings I'm white an' all. Yes, when the song first broke, many assumed she was a black singer. That's because they probably didn't have any relatives, (poor) farming people, that lived in the lifestyle of the ones in the song, e.g. like mine ; not to say black folks didn't live the same way. Plus, Gentry sounded white to my ears. Wow, those lyrics sound like a conversation like my grandparents might have had sitting around the kitchen table. Thanks for posting them, RDK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I agree with you, McGrubb; I can see how Yankees might assume she was black though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 This is definitely a song that divides...personally, I think it's fantastic. Always went with the aborted baby theory myself, but I'm not sure. I must admit, a connection with Emmet Till never occurred to me. And still doesn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 The first one or two times I heard the song back in 1967, it sounded ok - nothing more. It became so popular and so ubiquitous in a very short time, that I came to despise it. Never had any interest in what was thrown off the bridge - bringing up that subject almost seemed to me like a ploy to make the song even more popular than it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoGrubb Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I agree with you, MoGrubb; I can see how Yankees might assume she was black though... fixed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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