Early years
Gentry spent her childhood living with her father in Greenwood, Mississippi, where she attended elementary school and began teaching herself to play the guitar, the bass guitar, and the banjo. In her early teens, she moved to Palm Springs, California, to live with her mother, Ruby Bullington Streeter, graduating from Palm Springs High School in 1962. It was during this time that the teenage Roberta settled on the stage name "Bobbie Gentry," and began performing at local country clubs, encouraged by no less a Palm Springs celebrity than Bob Hope.
After a short career as a Las Vegas showgirl, Gentry moved to Los Angeles, attended UCLA (where she was a philosophy major) and worked clerical jobs while occasionally performing in local nightclubs. She later transferred to the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to hone her composition and performing skills.
Rise to fame
In 1967, Gentry recorded a demo and submitted it to Capitol Records executive Kelly Gordon, who quickly signed her to a recording contract and produced her first album. A 45 rpm "single" of two of her songs—"Mississippi Delta" and "Ode to Billie Joe"—was the first issue from this first effort, and even though "Mississippi Delta" was chosen for the "A" side, radio stations were quickly enamored with the quirky tale of Billie Joe McAllister and the mystery of his fate, as hauntingly performed and recorded on the "B" side. Bobbie Gentry had a monster hit on her hands, and Capitol Records had its newest superstar. Gentry went on to win three Grammy Awards that year, including "Best Vocal Performance by a Female", and "Best New Artist."
Gentry's follow-up albums, The Delta Sweete and Local Gentry, both produced by Gordon, were issued in 1968. Though critically acclaimed, neither album garnered the kinds of sales figures that were realized with Gentry's debut effort. The year 1968 also saw the release of an album of duets that paired Gentry with fellow Capitol alumnus Glen Campbell. Gentry and Campbell's harmonies resulted in a gold record and three hit singles, including a cover of the Everly Brothers hit "All I Have to Do Is Dream", which rose to No. 6 on the country charts in the winter of 1969.
Gentry toured briefly with Campbell and performed on a number of U.S. television programs and specials in the late 1960s. Her other notable singles include Doug Kershaw's composition "Louisiana Man" as well as a mellow version of a Burt Bacharach-Hal David song, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again". The latter went to No. 1 in Great Britain in 1970, a year after Dionne Warwick had a hit with it in the United States. 1970 also saw the release of another U.S. hit with the self-penned "Fancy," which rose to No. 26 on the Country chart and 31 on the Pop chart. (This enduring tale would later be covered with major success by Reba McEntire in 1991.)
Gentry would go on to record three more albums, while having earlier albums reissued under different titles. These last three albums, Touch 'Em with Love, Fancy, and the ambitious and highly regarded Patchwork, which consisted of all original material, were greeted enthusiastically by critics but, with the exception of the aforementioned title track to Fancy, failed to resonate with the public (though Gentry did generate a significant fan base in the United Kingdom).
Undaunted by declining record sales, Gentry sought other outlets for her creativity. She continued to write and perform, touring Europe and headlining a Las Vegas review in which she produced, choreographed, and wrote and arranged the music. In 1974, Gentry hosted a short-lived summer replacement variety show, The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour on CBS. The show, which served as her own version of Campbell's hit series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, also on CBS, was not picked up for a full season. That same year, Gentry wrote and performed "Another Place, Another Time" for writer-director (and Beverly Hillbillies actor) Max Baer, Jr.'s film, Macon County Line. Baer would go on to direct a feature film take on Ode To Billy Joe, starring Robbie Benson, in which the mystery of Billie Joe's suicide is revealed as a part of the conflict between his love for Bobbie Lee Hartley and his emerging homosexuality.
By the middle 1970s, Gentry's sellability had waned significantly, and Capitol did not renew her contract. After some behind-the-scenes work in television production failed to hold her interests, Gentry decided to retire from show business. Her last public appearance as a performer was on Christmas night 1978, as a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She has deliberately remained out of the limelight ever since.
Personal life
She was married twice. The first, to casino magnate William F. Harrah in 1969, when she was 27 and he was 58, lasted only three months, a victim of her fame. The second, to novelty singer-songwriter Jim Stafford, ended in 1979, after only eleven months of marriage and the birth of a son, Tyler. The details of Gentry's personal life after her retirement are little known, but it is generally believed that she has settled into a happy life, and enjoys being a private citizen, unhindered by the scrutiny that fame brings. As of January 2003, she was living in Los Angeles County, California.
Fool On The Hill
Bobbie Gentry Lyrics
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The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer.
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
Well on the way, head in a cloud,
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice.
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
And nobody seems to like him,
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings.
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
He never listens to them,
He knows that they're the fools
They don't like him. The fool on the hill sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
The song "The Fool On the Hill" by Bobbie Gentry tells the story of a man who is isolated and misunderstood by society. He is lonely, but never expresses his feelings to anyone, and people view him as a fool because of his simple, carefree appearance. The first verse sets the scene of the man sitting alone on a hill, with no one wanting to know him. While he never offers an answer, the chorus describes how he sees the world in a unique way. He views the sunset, and the spinning world, which reveals his thoughtful perspective on life.
The second verse brings attention to the man's eccentricities, including his tendency to talk loudly with a thousand voices, yet no one ever seeming to hear him. He appears to be in his own world, unaware of those around him. The chorus repeats, highlighting his unique view and the world that surrounds him. The final verse talks about how no one likes him because he doesn't behave like they do or express himself like them. However, the man sees through their foolishness and listens to his own intuition. He still sees the beauty in the world, as it spins around him.
Line by Line Meaning
Day after day, alone on a hill,
Every day, this man sits atop a hill by himself.
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
He maintains a still, foolish expression on his face.
But nobody wants to know him,
No one cares about him or his presence there.
They can see he's just a fool
Others can recognize that he is a foolish person.
And he never gives an answer.
He won't respond to anyone who might call out to him.
But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down
The foolish man on the hill still sees the sunset despite his isolation.
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
He's still conscious and aware of the world turning around him.
Well on the way, head in a cloud,
He's lost in thought and not paying attention to his surroundings.
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud.
He speaks at a loud volume with many different voices.
But nobody ever hears him
Despite his loudness, no one listens to him.
Or the sound he appears to make
No one acknowledges the sounds he produces.
And he never seems to notice.
He doesn't seem to mind that no one is paying attention to him.
And nobody seems to like him,
No one wants to associate with him.
They can tell what he wants to do
Others can read his intentions easily.
And he never shows his feelings.
He doesn't express his emotions openly.
He never listens to them,
He ignores the opinions of others.
He knows that they're the fools
He thinks he's wiser than everyone else.
They don't like him. The fool on the hill sees the sun going down
The man is still isolated, but he is still filled with wonder as he watches the sunset.
And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
He remains aware of the world that moves around him.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind