First song I heard today was Ode to Billy Joe

[Marthe48]

Definitely an enigmatic song. There's always been lots of speculation about what they threw off the bridge. But as I listened this morning, I had to wonder, did Billy Joe jump? Or was he pushed?

[True Dough]

1. Just because Billy Joe jumped off a bridge

it doesn't mean you have to, Marthe!

[Marthe48]

2. I might jump off the couch

But I'm nowhere near a bridge. I'm enjoying the mental exercise. Cookin up a fascinating whodunit that explains all.

[marble falls]

3. Been a year or two since we got the news about Billy Joe ......

[Paladin]

4. I'll never forget listening to that song with my father, when I was young.

I remember him smiling, and saying that it reminded him of the songs the field hands sang, while they worked on his family's farm in south Texas. Funny how details like that stay with you, over many years...

[Fla Dem]

5. Was always a sad song to listen to. Reflected the indifference her family paid to Billie Joe's suicide.

"Ode to Billie Joe" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry released by Capitol Records in July 1967, and later used as the title-track of her debut album. Five weeks after its release, the song topped Billboard's Pop singles chart. It also appeared in the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary and Hot R&B singles charts, and in the top 20 of the Hot Country Songs list.

The song takes the form of a first-person narrative performed over sparse acoustic guitar accompaniment with strings in the background. It tells of a rural Mississippi family's reaction to the news of the suicide of Billie Joe McAllister, a local boy to whom the daughter (and narrator) is (unknown by the rest of the family) connected. The song received widespread attention, leaving its audience intrigued as to what the narrator and Billie Joe threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Gentry later clarified that she intended the song to portray the family's indifference to the suicide in what she deemed "a study in unconscious cruelty," while she remarked the object thrown was not relevant to the message.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Billie_Joe#:~:text=Gentry%20remarked%20that%20the%20song's,his%20suicide%20the%20next%20day%22.

[Marthe48]

6. It could be darker

Maybe, unknown to the singer, one of her family members threw Billie Joe off the bridge, because the family member knew about the relationship between Billie Joe and the singer. Maybe the family was acting offhand to protect the killer. In a year or two, Dad was dead and brother had moved away. Maybe it wasn't the flu? And maybe Brother got out before he was next?

Every time I have heard the song, from my teens forward, I wondered what they threw off the bridge. This morning, my imagination went a different way, and I keep thinking of the song as a crime scene. I'm reading way too many mysteries

[wyn borkins]

7. Maybe, It Could Be Darker

And I (may have) heard Marthe48(Columbo) exclaim as she crossed over that durn bridge in the dark of night: "just one more thing" (...and the mystery continues...)

[Marthe48]

8. More like Inspector Clouseau

[wyn borkins]

9. Okay Then, Inspector Clouseau...

...but not as a bumbler, rather (I see you) as a genius detective.

[Fla Dem]

10. Anything speculative could be darker.

[True Dough]

11. 24 years of Marthe on the DU!

Congrats!

So you signed up here when you were around 6 years old???

[Marthe48]

12. Thank you for noticing!

I was older than 6, even if I didn't act like it