Ode to Billie Joe

Gentry is the sole credited writer. She pitched Capitol with two self-sung demos, "Mississippi Delta" and "Ode to Billie Joe"; Capitol favored the former and planned "Ode" as the B-side. Her own demo, cheaper than hiring a singer, was used, and the producer Kelly Gordon had strings overdubbed. Wikipedia places the recording in Capitol Studios in Hollywood in early 1967, while Performing Songwriter says July 10, 1967, which is the release date, so we leave the date open. Jimmie Haskell scored a string sextet of four violins and two cellos like a film cue. The released version runs about 4:15; reports say the demo ran seven or eight minutes, and she cut verses for commercial impact. Bobby Paris received a co-producer credit on the single.

The song has a girl at a family dinner as the table discusses Billie Joe McAllister's jump from the Tallahatchee Bridge. Gentry called it a study in unconscious cruelty, said the point was the family's apathy, and never revealed what was thrown off the bridge, saying in 1969 that it was something symbolic. It reached number 1 on the Hot 100 for four weeks, number 1 in Canada and on Cash Box, 13 in the UK, 8 on the R&B chart and 17 on the country chart, and was third on the 1967 year-end chart; it sold over three million. At the 10th Grammys it won Best Vocal Performance Female, Best Contemporary Female Solo Vocal Performance and Best New Artist, and Haskell won Best Arrangement. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2023, and Rolling Stone ranked it 419 on its 500 greatest songs.

The 1976 film Ode to Billy Joe, directed by Max Baer Jr., used a re-recording by Gentry. Covers include King Curtis's instrumental (Hot 100 28), Ray Bryant (89), Margie Singleton (country 40), Joe Dassin's French "Marie-Jeanne", Sinead O'Connor (1995), Lorrie Morgan (2016) and Lucinda Williams with Mercury Rev (2019); Bob Dylan's "Clothes Line Saga" was recorded in 1967 as a parody. Kevin Whitehead counted dozens of jazz versions, including Willis Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich and Jaco Pastorius. Tony Joe White said it inspired "Polk Salad Annie". She performed it on the BBC in 1968 and on the Ed Sullivan Show on March 29, 1970. We could not tell which version our upload is.