Bobbie Gentry “Ode To Billie Joe” LP (1967)

Details: “Ode to Billie Joe” is the debut studio album by Bobbie Gentry. It was released on August 21, 1967, by Capitol Records. Light scuffs and scratches —cover is aged, but near mint, graded conservatively—record wear does not affect play-through.

Description: “In August 1967, Lyndon Johnson announced that he was sending 45,000 more troops to Vietnam. Black power advocate Stokely Carmichael called for revolution in the streets. Beatles manager Brian Epstein died from an overdose of sleeping pills. But around water coolers, the hot topic was what Billie Joe McAllister and his girlfriend threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

The mystery created by Bobbie Gentry in her debut single “Ode To Billie Joe” cast a spell over the entire country. Set to a backing of spare acoustic guitar chords and atmospheric strings, Gentry’s sensual, Southern-fried voice relates the story of two Mississippi teenage lovers who share a dark secret that eventually leads to the boy’s suicide. And over 40 years later, despite cinematic details in the song’s lyric, we still don’t know exactly what happened up there on Choctaw Ridge. …

“Ode” was recorded on July 10, 1967 at Studio C in the Capitol tower. Accompanying herself on guitar, Bobbie nailed a keeper take in 40 minutes. Arranger Jimmie Haskell told MOJO, “I asked Kelly, ‘What do you want me to do?’ He said, ‘Just put some strings on it so we won’t be embarrassed. No one will ever hear it anyway.’ The song sounded to me like a movie—those wonderful lyrics. I had a small group of strings—two cellos and four violins to fit her guitar-playing. I was branching out in my own head for the first time, creating something that I liked because we thought no one was ever gonna hear it.”

Grade: VG+ (Cover/Record)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

A1. Lazy Willie
A2. Sunday Best
A3. Papa, Won’t You Take Me To Town With You
A4. Chickasaw County Child
A5. Mississippi Delta

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

B1. Ode To Billie Joe
B2. An Angel Died
B3. Hurry Tuesday Child
B4. Niki Hoeky 
B5. Bugs