# It's Billie Joe McAllister Day!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 3, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899 "2014-06-03T05:43:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/1 "2014-06-03T05:43:01Z")
Sure is hot out here. Is it dinner time yet?
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/2 "2014-06-03T09:05:56Z")
Pass the biscuits, please.
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/3 "2014-06-03T09:47:38Z")
Now as you know, I’m an Aussie (of middling years) but I do remember a movie from my youth when Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie (sp?) bridge.
Was this then based on a true story? My memory from back then is a bit jaded…can someone fill me in? Thanks ever so much!
🙂
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### Author:  [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/4 "2014-06-03T10:06:53Z")
Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense.
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### Author:  [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/5 "2014-06-03T12:13:31Z")
> [@kambuckta](#):
>
> Now as you know, I’m an Aussie (of middling years) but I do remember a movie from my youth when Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie (sp?) bridge.
>
> Was this then based on a true story? My memory from back then is a bit jaded…can someone fill me in? Thanks ever so much!
>
> 🙂
> **[Ode to Billie Joe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_Billie_Joe)**
>
> "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 strin...
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/6 "2014-06-03T12:22:06Z")
Recently a prisoner being transported for mental health evaluation [escaped from the ambulance and jumped off a local bridge](http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/05/25/man-escapes-ambulance-jumps-off-bridge-2/), falling 50 feet into 3 feet of water. My gf was stuck in the traffic created by the event, and returned home to relate what she’d heard.
I told her it was Billie Joe McAllister. She then told several neighbors about what happened and the dude’s name, saying I apparently knew him. Eventually someone told her that was the guy’s name in that song. She slapped me.😃
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/7 "2014-06-03T12:24:38Z")
Is the original seven minute, eleven verse version available anywhere?
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/8 "2014-06-03T12:47:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Is the original seven minute, eleven verse version available anywhere?
I had a brief Google, but couldn’t find those lyrics.
Also Wikipedia says there’s a song by Roger White ‘The Mystery of Tallahatchie Bridge’, which explains more - but I couldn’t find that either. :smack:
It’s a great song, with a strong message about failing to care when others suffer - but I want to find out more!
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/9 "2014-06-03T14:01:06Z")
Baling hay all day, dusty weather–but them that works hard eats hearty! Black-eyed peas, biscuits, pork hocks…
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/10 "2014-06-03T14:02:50Z")
Once upon a time, Dan Rather said that if he heard Nixon use the phrase “lift of a driving dream” in a speech one more time, he would “jump off the Tallahatchie Bridge”. Someone relayed the message to Nixon, who gleefully added it to at least a couple of extra speeches.
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### Author:  [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/11 "2014-06-03T17:37:52Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Recently a prisoner being transported for mental health evaluation [escaped from the ambulance and jumped off a local bridge](http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/05/25/man-escapes-ambulance-jumps-off-bridge-2/), falling 50 feet into 3 feet of water. My gf was stuck in the traffic created by the event, and returned home to relate what she’d heard.
>
> I told her it was Billie Joe McAllister. She then told several neighbors about what happened and the dude’s name, saying I apparently knew him. Eventually someone told her that was the guy’s name in that song. She slapped me.😃
You deserved it. 🆒
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### Author:  [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/12 "2014-06-03T18:35:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Recently a prisoner being transported for mental health evaluation [escaped from the ambulance and jumped off a local bridge](http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/05/25/man-escapes-ambulance-jumps-off-bridge-2/), falling 50 feet into 3 feet of water. My gf was stuck in the traffic created by the event, and returned home to relate what she’d heard.
>
> I told her it was Billie Joe McAllister. She then told several neighbors about what happened and the dude’s name, saying I apparently knew him. Eventually someone told her that was the guy’s name in that song. She slapped me.😃
It’s only at times like this do I think SDMB should have a like button.
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/13 "2014-06-03T19:11:11Z")
I suspect Brother Taylor. “Nice young preacher”, my ass - he’s up to something, you mark my words.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/14 "2014-06-03T19:20:35Z")
I was heading out the field to chop some cotton this morning. And then I remembered I live in New York, I don’t have a field, and I’m not a farmer. So I picked up my mail and went back inside.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/15 "2014-06-03T20:34:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> And then I remembered I live in New York, I don’t have a field, and I’m not a farmer. So I picked up my mail and went back inside.
You miss out on the finer things in life, such as placing a frog down the back of a girl’s dress at the Carroll County picture show.
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### Author:  [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/16 "2014-06-03T20:50:58Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> You miss out on the finer things in life, such as placing a frog down the back of a girl’s dress at the Carroll County picture show.
But it does get him out of plowing the lower forty. 😃
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/17 "2014-06-03T20:55:26Z")
> [@missred](#):
>
> But it does get him out of plowing the lower forty. 😃
“Plowing the lower forty” can be fun, ya know…;);):D:cool:
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/18 "2014-06-03T21:37:57Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> “Plowing the lower forty” can be fun, ya know…;);):D:cool:
You’re a baaad baaad boy! 😃
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/19 "2014-06-03T22:01:22Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> “Plowing the lower forty” can be fun, ya know…;);):D:cool:
In the immortal words of Nigel Tufnel:
Working up a hot sweat
Crouching in your pea patch
Plowing through your bean field
Planting my seed
Sex farm woman, I’m gonna mow you down
Sex farm woman, I’ll rake and hoe you down
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### Author:  [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-billie-joe-mcallister-day/689899/20 "2014-06-03T22:07:35Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I was heading out the field to chop some cotton this morning.
Yeah, I knew you were a Yankee city slicker by the eighth word there. 😃
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