"Ode to Billy Joe" chords?
- Thread starter Artie
- Start date
JOLLY
Super Simonologist
Re: "Ode to Billy Joe" chords?
I found it in the key of F and in the key of G
"Ode to Billy Joe"
Key of F, Common Time "With a beat"
Words and music by Bobbie Gentry
F7
It was the third of June,
Cm7 F7
Another sleepy, dusty,
F7
I was out choppin' cotton
Cm7 F7
And my brother was bailin' hay
Bb7
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
F7
And Mama hollered at the back door,
Cm7 F7
"Y'all remember to wipe your feet."
Bb7
Then she said,
"I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
F7
Today Billy Joe McAllister
Eb7 F
Jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge."
I found it in the key of F and in the key of G
"Ode to Billy Joe"
Key of F, Common Time "With a beat"
Words and music by Bobbie Gentry
F7
It was the third of June,
Cm7 F7
Another sleepy, dusty,
F7
I was out choppin' cotton
Cm7 F7
And my brother was bailin' hay
Bb7
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
F7
And Mama hollered at the back door,
Cm7 F7
"Y'all remember to wipe your feet."
Bb7
Then she said,
"I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
F7
Today Billy Joe McAllister
Eb7 F
Jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge."
JOLLY
Super Simonologist
Re: "Ode to Billy Joe" chords?
found this in the key of G on some Forum:
It was the [G]third of June, another [Dm7]sleepy, dusty Delta [G]day
I was [G]out choppin' cotton and my [Dm7]brother was balin' [G]hay
And at [C7]dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama [G]hollered out the back door "y'all re[Dm7]member to wipe your [G]feet"
And then she [C7]said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today [G]Billy Joe MacAllister jumped [Bb7]off the Talla[C7]hatchie [G]Bridge"
CHORDS USED:
G=320003; Dm7=X57565; C7=X32310 (alt. with 3X2310); Bb7=X13131; C7=X35353
Notice there are three forms of the C7 there. The first two (alt. that bass-note) are used in "And at [C7]dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat" and "And then she [C7]said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge". The last form is used here: "...jumped [Bb7]off the Talla[C7]hatchie [G]Bridge."
(I think the original recording was in the key of F, which was probably actually done capoed on the first fret and then played "as if" in E.)
found this in the key of G on some Forum:
It was the [G]third of June, another [Dm7]sleepy, dusty Delta [G]day
I was [G]out choppin' cotton and my [Dm7]brother was balin' [G]hay
And at [C7]dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama [G]hollered out the back door "y'all re[Dm7]member to wipe your [G]feet"
And then she [C7]said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today [G]Billy Joe MacAllister jumped [Bb7]off the Talla[C7]hatchie [G]Bridge"
CHORDS USED:
G=320003; Dm7=X57565; C7=X32310 (alt. with 3X2310); Bb7=X13131; C7=X35353
Notice there are three forms of the C7 there. The first two (alt. that bass-note) are used in "And at [C7]dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat" and "And then she [C7]said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge". The last form is used here: "...jumped [Bb7]off the Talla[C7]hatchie [G]Bridge."
(I think the original recording was in the key of F, which was probably actually done capoed on the first fret and then played "as if" in E.)
JOLLY
Super Simonologist
Re: "Ode to Billy Joe" chords?
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and we walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered at the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it just don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billy Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and we walked back to the house to eat
And mama hollered at the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said she got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Papa said to mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billy Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it just don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billy Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
F
Falstaff
Guest
Re: "Ode to Billy Joe" chords?
Perhaps for another thread, but I still can't figure out WTF happened in that movie. Did they have a baby, or did Billy Joe get touched by that dude? I have had more than a few alcohol-related arguments on that one.
Perhaps for another thread, but I still can't figure out WTF happened in that movie. Did they have a baby, or did Billy Joe get touched by that dude? I have had more than a few alcohol-related arguments on that one.
Artie
Peaveyologist
Re: "Ode to Billy Joe" chords?
Remember . . . the movie was made from the song, not vice-versa. Hollywood just had to . . . "dramatize" it. I imagine that the song had no correlation to the movie whatsoever.
The song was originally the "B" side of Bobby Gentry's song, "Mississippi Delta". The producers liked "Ode to Billy Joe", and decided to air it. Problem was, it was seven minutes long. That wouldn't work in 1967 radio. So they "editted" it.
The "truth" is in the original song, that went into far more detail. But nobody seems to have a copy, and Bobby ain't talking.
Remember . . . the movie was made from the song, not vice-versa. Hollywood just had to . . . "dramatize" it. I imagine that the song had no correlation to the movie whatsoever.
The song was originally the "B" side of Bobby Gentry's song, "Mississippi Delta". The producers liked "Ode to Billy Joe", and decided to air it. Problem was, it was seven minutes long. That wouldn't work in 1967 radio. So they "editted" it.
The "truth" is in the original song, that went into far more detail. But nobody seems to have a copy, and Bobby ain't talking.
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