# Ode to Billie Joe question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 29, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493 "2007-01-29T03:03:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493/41 "2007-05-25T22:12:38Z")

</div>

It was one of those those little things with the sort of raffia work base that has an attachment …  
I love that link, **Sunrazor**. 🙂 And, yes, I was quite willing to believe it all till the very end. :smack:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493/42 "2007-05-26T03:20:35Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=if6was9]  
Yeah, that song ROCKS. I love the guitar, and the downward string flourish at the end. Like as if a flower were dropped off the bridge, flutters down, and then sets on the surface of the river.  
[/QUOTE]  
No kidding–that song gives me the chills, to this day.

To try and answer the question, only Bobbie knows for sure. The original song was a lot longer, but if I recall correctly, the producer cut it down somewhat, making it more mysterious. Good choice, in my opinion. And “unconscious cruelty” and nochalance–exactly!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493/43 "2007-05-26T13:07:02Z")

</div>

Moderator notes: there were two threads going on this same topic, so I have merged them. One was started by **Sgt Schwartz** back in January 2007, the new one was started by **curlyshawe4** yesterday. Since **curlyshawe4** is a guest and can’t search, it was perfectly fine to start a new thread. However, in the interests of having all responses in one place, I’ve merged the two threads. That probably causes some hiccups in the smooth reading of the thread, but them’s the breaks.

Carry on.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2007, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493/44 "2007-05-26T14:53:40Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven]  
That probably causes some hiccups in the smooth reading of the thread, but them’s the breaks.

[/QUOTE]

Whew, what a relief. I thought it was the Alzheimer’s finally kicking in. 🙂

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ode-to-billie-joe-question/405493.md?page=2)