I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Wyoming-based (and Democratic convention delegate) friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead. And the very best to you fathers: a radio station near you that plays any amount of jazz music … will certainly play Horace Silver’s Song for my Father sometime today.
ART NOTES — portraits of wealthy 19th Century Europeans by Franz Winterhalter in an exhibition entitled High Society are at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas through August 14th.
On display in Houston, TXHAIL and FAREWELL to the Northern Irish guitarist who was in Paul McCartney’s band Wings, Henry McCullough — who also performed w/Joe Cocker at Woodstock and on the Jesus Christ Superstar recording — who has died at the age of 72.
YUK for TODAY #1 — The New Yorker analyst Ryan Lizza is always an interesting read ..... but within this essay, Atrios found this rather humorous aside about Governor Bully:
"(Christie) has transformed himself into a sort of manservant, who is constantly with Trump at events. (One Republican told me that a friend of his on the Trump campaign used Snapchat to send him a video of Christie …. fetching Trump’s McDonald’s order)."
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Buddy the Cat— an English kitteh who went missing nine months ago, then was found by the RSPCA in London … 150 miles away … due to his microchip.
Buddy the CatYUK for TODAY #2 — it was announced the other day that 17 months into his presidency at Franklin Pierce University here in New Hampshire: former George W. aide Andrew Card announced he’ll step down before the next school year (citing the meeting of his goals). But whenever I hear his name …….
Former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill, in his memoir, “The Price of Loyalty,” recounts an anecdote that begins with President-elect George W. Bush interrupting O’Neill’s discussion of policy: “‘Where’s lunch?’ They’d ordered cheeseburgers, but after fifteen minutes: they had not arrived. ‘Go get me Andy Card,’ Bush said to one of the Secret Service agents. [Card was] stolid and jovial, a man of solid character.
Bush looked impatiently at Card, hard-eyed. ‘You’re the chief of staff. You think you’re up to getting us some cheeseburgers?’ Card nodded. No one laughed. He all but raced out of the room.”
YUK for TODAY #3 — The Economist magazine's daily morning newsletter notes that a music plagiarism trial began this week in Los Angeles over whether the song Stairway to Heaven (written by the two men shown in the artist’s rendition) took its opening guitar melody from a song by the California band Spirit.
Robert Plant & Jimmy PageWith the title of "The tune will come to you: Led Zeppelin", this news item concluded (considering the possibility of the lawsuit proving to be successful):
"Past royalties, estimated at some $550m, are not up for grabs: but future ones would be ……........ and a new day will dawn, for those who stand long."
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Lucy the Cat— a library kitteh in upstate New York who has become so popular, a book about her has just been published.
Lucy the Library CatGET-WELL to two sixty-seven year-old English rock musicians: the drummer for Deep Purple, Ian Paice— who has never missed a show of theirs since its founding in 1968 — and is now recuperating from a mini-stroke …. as well as one of the two guitarists for Status Quo, Rick Parfitt— who underwent quadruple-bypass surgery twenty years ago — now recuperating from a heart attack.
CHEERS to Bill Luckett, the Democratic mayor of a touchstone city of Delta blues, Clarksdale, Mississippi— and besides helping the city to rise out of poverty, he thinks that Democrats still have a future politically in his state.
PROGRAMMING NOTE — there will not be an Odds & Ends next week, as I will be attending an extended-family reunion in New York (seeing distant relatives for the first time in awhile. See you over the 4th of July weekend.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — film stars Henry Cavill (Man from UNCLE, Superman) and Matt Bomer (The Normal Heart).
Henry Cavill: born in the UK Matt Bomer: born Missouri...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… at the beginning of June each year, music fans of-a-certain-age recollect a #1 hit song … and sometimes wonder what became of the song’s writer and composer? Back in the summer of 1967 (during the height of Vietnam and the death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein) this was a water-cooler song, with people discussing its meaning. In much the way that (a year later), “Harper Valley P.T.A.” would have America talking about the meaning of a country music song, Bobbie Gentry had people talking about her Ode to Billie Joe— who jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge — and they have never quite stopped, with suicide being a much more-discussed topic today. Forty-nine years later …. it may be worth another look.
Born as Roberta Lee Streeter in Mississippi, she grew up without electricity, which gave her some rich material to draw-upon later. After her parents divorced (when she was thirteen) she moved with her mother to Palm Springs, California and later performed at local music clubs. She took the stage name Bobbie Gentry after seeing Jennifer Jones star in the film Ruby Gentry in 1952 and after high school performed in a Las Vegas revue. She then studied at UCLA and her big break came when she sent a demo tape to Capitol Records producer Kelly Gordon.
She went into the studio on July 10, 1967 and recorded a song intended to be the “A” side of her first single, “Mississippi Delta”. Arranger Jimmie Haskell — who had a prolific career before his death this past February at age 89 — decided for Billie Joe to feature only Bobbie Gentry on guitar, backed by a string section. It came in at seven minutes long in its initial form, cut-down to a more manageable four minutes for the 45 … but was not considered a strong tune by Capitol, as noted.
But many DJ’s found the “B” side to be more entertaining: and that was the song that reached #1 in the charts (knocking-off “All You Need is Love” from the top spot) and won Bobbie Gentry three Grammy Awards (including Best New Artist, the first country performer to win that honor).
Interestingly, the wooden bridge — about ten miles north of Greenwood, MS — was destroyed in 1972 by vandals who torched it (although it was subsequently replaced). At the time of the hit single, Rolling Stone reported that there was only a 20-foot drop, making it an unlikely suicide spot (although many recreated the jump, to the annoyance of the local police).
On the Bridge in 1967Bobbie Gentry never had a major hit song again, but during the late 60’s and into the 70’s she headlined in Las Vegas, had duets with Glen Campbell and briefly hosted her own (short-lived) summer replacement musical variety show.
The song’s legacy, though, ensures her own notoriety. The story was made into a 1976 film (with a much-more definitive plotline) for which Bobbie Gentry contributed music for. She donated the handwritten lyrics to the University of Mississippi (alongside papers by William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams) and the song has been recorded by Roseanne Cash (who remarked that “We sat on the bridge for a half an hour and one car went by”). It was also recorded (or performed) by Frank Sinatra, Tammy Wynette, Ray Charles, Tanya Tucker, the 5th Dimension, Sinéad O'Connor and Ike & Tina Turner, among others. Finally, Rolling Stone named it as #47 in its 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time and as #419 in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Bobbie Gentry at her peakYet the song’s appeal are the unanswered questions: (1) What did Billie Joe (and the mystery girl) throw off the bridge, and (2) what caused the suicide of Billie Joe? The lyrics deliberately left an ambiguous story … with one popular theory being, “that they had an out-of-wedlock baby and threw it off the bridge. Billie Joe handled the trauma by killing himself, the female involved handles it by singing this song”.
In interviews back then, Bobbie Gentry seemed amused with the public’s need for definitive answers:
“The song is sort of a study in unconscious cruelty. But everybody seems more concerned with what was thrown off the bridge than they are with the thoughtlessness of the people expressed in the song. What was thrown off the bridge really isn’t that important.
“Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge—flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song (if there must be a message) revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table: a member of the family.”
If you are looking for a more current explanation (or even a more recent photo) you’re out-of-luck … as around 1980 (following her third divorce) … she dropped-out of sight, becoming a recluse. Earlier this month, a Washington Post reporter believes that she lives today (in a gated community) about a two-hour drive from the site of the Tallahatchie Bridge …. and when he dialed her phone number, was told he “had the wrong number”.
So, why not have a listen … and decide for yourself what the song’s meaning is.
It was the third of June: another sleepy, dusty Delta day I was out chopping cotton and my brother was baling hay At dinnertime we stopped, walked back to the house to eat Mama hollered at the door, "Y'all remember to wipe your feet" Then she said “I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge" Today, Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge”
Papa said to Mama as he passed around the black-eyed peas "Well, Billie 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" And Mama said “It was a shame about Billie Joe, anyhow” Seems like nothing ever comes to no-good up on Choctaw Ridge .. And now Billie Joe MacAllister’s jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
And brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show And wasn't I talking to him after church last Sunday night? "I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right" "I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge" And now you tell me Billie Joe jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?" "I've been cooking all morning: 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 like you up on Choctaw Ridge And she & Billie Joe threw something off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news about Billie Joe .. Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it: he died last spring And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything And me: I spend a lot of time picking flowers up on Choctaw Ridge And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
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