# It's Billie Joe McAllister Day 2018 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344 "2018-06-03T05:22:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/21 "2018-06-03T22:45:52Z")
I had two Bobbie Gentry albums on 8 track. She had some good material. But nothing close to Ode to Billy Jo. I can’t imagine how anyone wrote such an amazing song. She totally captured the speech patterns and relationships within rural southern familys. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/22 "2018-06-03T23:10:31Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Singin’ this will be the day I get thrown off the Talahatchie Bridge. > mmm Followed by Stairway to Free Bird, and closing with Amazing Grace sung to the melody of House of the Rising Sun\* - being me, and since it’s about a bordelo, I am often tempted to call it House of the Rising Son. But I don’t. Usually. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/23 "2018-06-04T00:02:31Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Followed by Stairway to Free Bird, and closing with Amazing Grace sung to the melody of House of the Rising Sun\* > > - being me, and since it’s about a bordelo, I am often tempted to call it House of the Rising Son. But I don’t. Usually. Interesting comment. A few weeks ago, I happened to see the Blind Boys of Alabama, and (one of) their signature songs is Amazing Grace. Sang to the tempo of House of the Rising Sun. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/24 "2018-06-04T16:55:39Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Interesting comment. A few weeks ago, I happened to see the Blind Boys of Alabama, and (one of) their signature songs is Amazing Grace. Sang to the tempo of House of the Rising Sun. That was the inspiration for the comment. I saw part of a documentary about them doing that song years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/25 "2018-06-04T17:05:58Z")
It’s been so long, and so much has happened, that it was inevitable it would start to come out. I hear there’s a 48 Hours in work outlining how the narrator was involved in a devil-worshipping child sex ring since as long as she could remember, that involved Billie Joe, her father, that nice Brother Taylor, and half of Carroll County. But not her brother, or Becky Thompson - they got out. They moved away, and forgot about the horror they grew up in. You can’t keep a secret forever. Not even in Mississippi. The truth will come out - Billie Joe was murdered. Sponsored by Pillsbury Poppin’ Fresh Biscuits. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/26 "2018-06-05T13:49:53Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Brother is now sister. Changed his clothes, his hair, his face? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/27 "2018-06-05T14:08:33Z")
And it did not please me. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/28 "2018-06-05T16:21:18Z")
What happened to that poor frog? Is that what he dropped off the bridge? ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/29 "2018-06-05T16:37:21Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > What happened to that poor frog? Is that what he dropped off the bridge? Made a splash as a florist, after discovering a steady source of pre-cut flowers. Lived hoppily ever after. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344/30 "2018-06-05T16:42:58Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > IIRC, [Jimmie Haskel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Haskell) wrote the string sweetening tracks and Sid Sharp’s strings recorded it. I don’t know what studio did it, but I’ll bet it was somewhere in Los Angeles. > > From [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Billie_Joe): That’s somewhat of a Haskel signature lick. > > I was lucky to work for Haskel in the 1970’s for at least one album (Cashman & West), although I wasn’t his regular copyist. I remember calling him up in the middle of the night (the session was planned for 9AM and I got the charts to copy sometime after midnight), and asking him about some musical shorthand he had written for the violins. I realized that if I had to write out every note of a chromatic sweep, it would take a lot of time, but Haskel told me to copy his shorthand and “the players will figure it out.” Damned if they did, the next morning. > > I also asked him why he wrote such complete harmony for a string section, since everyone knows that the final outcome will be on a tinny transistor radio, where you won’t hear the cellos or violas. He said he did that because the recording musicians liked to sound good together even if they weren’t ever heard by the public. This is awesome! I hope people here realize that a guy who was actually involved in this recording is _posting here_! Thank you for the interesting info. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day-2018/815344.md?page=1)