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Back To The Tallahatchie Bridge: Kritzerland Reissues Bobbie Gentry, Michel Legrand's "Ode to Billy Joe"

May 1, 2017 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

BUY NOW FROM KRITZERLAND

Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge and right into the hearts and minds of listeners as the subject of Bobbie Gentry's gothic mystery in song, "Ode to Billie Joe."  The 1967 single from the country songstress - recorded far from Chickasaw County, Mississippi, in Hollywood, California - went to No. 1 on the U.S. Hot 100 while also charting on the Easy Listening, Country, and R&B (!) surveys.  It topped the charts in Canada, and made an impressive No. 13 showing in the United Kingdom, and picked up four Grammy Awards out of eight nominations.  It's no wonder that, almost a decade later, Hollywood set out to answer the question of why Billie Joe took his fatal plunge.  In 1976, director/producer Max Baer, Jr. (The Beverly Hillbillies' Jethro) and screenwriter Herman Raucher (Summer of '42) spun off Bobbie Gentry's four minutes of drama into a 105-minute motion picture.  The soundtrack to that film, penned by the great Michel Legrand and incorporating Bobbie Gentry's classic song, is receiving its first CD release from Kritzerland.

Robby Benson (Beauty and the Beast) starred as the subtly re-spelled Billy Joe in Ode to Billy Joe, opposite Glynnis O'Connor as his love interest, Bobbie Lee Hartley.  James Best had a key role as the sawmill boss whose secret shared with Billy Joe figures into his untimely demise.  The movie opened on June 4, 1976, as close as possible to the "third of June" date in the song.

To score the drama, Baer turned to Michel Legrand, an Oscar winner for his score to Raucher's Summer of '42.  The versatile Frenchman proved an ideal match for this Mississippi story (partially shot on location), and his short score - largely consisting of variations on his central, beautiful theme - was issued on LP by Warner Bros. Records.  Gentry re-recorded her seminal song to open the movie, and it was issued as a single by Warner Bros.  Capitol, wanting a piece of the action, reissued Gentry's original recording, stifling the new version's chances as it climbed the charts.  Bobbie Gentry would only record one more single - 1978's "Steal Away" b/w "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right" - before retreating three years later into a self-imposed retirement that continues to this day.

Kritzerland's CD premiere of Ode to Billy Joe features Legrand's score as well as the Gentry re-recording and some country-and-western source cues.  It's been remastered from the original tapes and is limited to 1,000 units only.  Ode to Billy Joe will ship by the third week of June (close enough to the third day!) but pre-orders directly from Kritzerland typically arrive three to five weeks early.  You can pre-order this chronicle of this not-so-sleepy, dusty Delta day at the link below!

Michel Legrand and Bobbie Gentry, Ode to Billy Joe: Soundtrack From Max Baer's Film (Warner Bros. BS 2947, 1976 - reissued Kritzerland, 2017)

  1. Ode to Billy Joe (Main Title) - Bobbie Gentry (New Recording)
  2. By the Pond
  3. On the Bridge
  4. Night
  5. Reflections
  6. Morning Stillness
  7. There'll Be Time (Love Theme)
  8. Magnolia Turn-Around (Thurman Box)
  9. Rattle Snake Daddy (Hoyt Ming)
  10. Standing Pine Breakdown (Morgan Gilmer)
  11. Memphis Thelma (Sherrill Parks)
  12. Ode to Billy Joe - End Title (Instrumental Version)

Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Country, Soundtracks Tags: Bobbie Gentry, Michel Legrand

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. dishy says

    May 1, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    Amazing how thing like this get released when there are still so many amazing things waiting for rerelease. I happen to own this but it's a one spin record.

    Reply
  2. Zubb says

    May 1, 2017 at 8:23 pm

    If you want it order it asap.

    Reply
  3. Fletch says

    May 3, 2017 at 5:04 am

    Never having heard about the movie, I just looked it up on Wiki. What a horrible film!

    Reply
  4. Brad says

    April 9, 2019 at 4:14 pm

    The movie was less than memorable BUT the soundtrack from Michel LeGrand is wonderful

    Reply

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