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.
Mississippi Delta
Bobbie Gentry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
M I double S I double S I double P I
Right in the middle of the cotton belt
Down in the Mississippi Delta
Wearin' last years possum belt
Smack dab in the Mississippi Delta
A little bit of that apple pan dowdy
Pickin them scuppernon's off that vine
Chigger bite, it's goin' to beat howdy
Ate me a bucket of Muscadine
Sit on the riverbank after dark
Drop my line down a crawdad hole
Do him in with a scaly bark
One-ree-o-ree-ee-reeanni
Fidderliss-farce-nickory-john-queery-quan
M I double S I double S I double P I
M I double S I double S I double P I
Right in the middle of the cotton belt
Down in the Mississippi Delta
Wearin last years possum belt
Smack dab in the Mississippi Delta
Sittin and scratchin' mosquito bites
Old fox done give him the slip
Watchin' the mornin' glories grow
In Biloxi on an overnight trip
I bet five dollars to win two bits
Eat a peppermint stick on Sunday
Ain't no use in'a hurrying up
Can't leave till a week from Monday
One-ree-o-ree-ee-reeanni
Fidderliss-farce-nickory-john-queery-quan
In the Mississippi Delta
Miss-iss-siss-ippi Delta
Bobbie Gentry's "Mississippi Delta" paints a vivid picture of life in the Mississippi Delta. The chorus of the song, which consists entirely of spelling out "Mississippi," becomes almost hypnotic in its repetition, as the singer describes the joys of life in the Delta. From eating Johnny cake and Muscadine grapes to fishing for crawdads with a "scaly bark," the singer revels in the simple pleasures of her rural surroundings. Despite the mosquito bites and the constant presence of chiggers, there's a sense of contentment and pride that comes through in the way she sings about the Delta.
One of the most striking things about the song is the way it uses phonetic spelling to create a sense of place. The chorus in particular is a masterful use of repetition to drive home the name of the region where the singer lives. The lyrics also use colloquialisms and regional slang to convey a sense of what life is like in the Delta. For example, "last year's possum belt" is a reference to a type of fur coat that was popular in the region at the time the song was written.
Overall, "Mississippi Delta" is a celebration of a place and a way of life that is often overlooked in popular culture. By focusing on the small details of everyday life, Bobbie Gentry creates a rich and evocative portrait of a region that is full of its own unique beauty and charm.
Line by Line Meaning
M I double S I double S I double P I
Mississippi spelled out using the military phonetic alphabet.
Right in the middle of the cotton belt
The song is set in the heart of an area in the southern United States where cotton farming is prevalent.
Down in the Mississippi Delta
The song's location is in the Mississippi Delta - a region located in the western part of Mississippi where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
Wearin' last years possum belt
The song's subject is wearing an out of fashion accessory, in this case a belt made of possum skin.
Smack dab in the Mississippi Delta
Reiterating the song's setting in the Mississippi Delta.
Have me a little that Johnny cake
The subject is eating some Johnny cake, which is a traditional southern cornmeal pancake or bread.
A little bit of that apple pan dowdy
The song's subject is also partaking in a dessert called apple pan dowdy which is made with spiced apples baked in a crust.
Pickin them scuppernon's off that vine
Scuppernongs refer to a type of grape found in the southeastern United States, and the subject is picking them from vines.
Chigger bite, it's goin' to beat howdy
The subject is suffering from an itchy chigger bite - a type of mite commonly found in the southern United States.
Ate me a bucket of Muscadine
Muscadine is another type of grape found in the southern United States, and the song's subject has eaten a whole bucket of them.
Sit on the riverbank after dark
The song's subject is sitting on the bank of a river during the nighttime.
Drop my line down a crawdad hole
The subject is fishing by dropping a line into a hole where crawdads or crayfish reside.
Do him in with a scaly bark
The song's subject catches the crawdad by using a piece of bark with scales to lure him out of the hole.
One-ree-o-ree-ee-reeanni
A nonsensical phrase that may be used to elicit a response from the listener, like a chant or a call-and-response.
Fidderliss-farce-nickory-john-queery-quan
Another nonsensical phrase that follows the same function as the previous line.
Sittin and scratchin' mosquito bites
The subject is sitting while scratching itchy mosquito bites, which are common in the southern United States.
Old fox done give him the slip
The subject is no longer chasing after a fox that got away.
Watchin' the mornin' glories grow
The song's subject is observing morning glories, which are a type of flowering plant and a symbol of affection in the American South.
In Biloxi on an overnight trip
The song's subject is in Biloxi, which is a coastal city in Mississippi, for a short overnight stay.
I bet five dollars to win two bits
The song's subject is placing a bet on something and risking five dollars to potentially win only twenty-five cents (two bits).
Eat a peppermint stick on Sunday
The subject has a standing plan to enjoy a peppermint stick candy every Sunday.
Ain't no use in'a hurrying up
There's no reason to rush or hurry, suggesting a laid-back attitude towards life.
Can't leave till a week from Monday
The song's subject won't be departing until at least a week after the coming Monday.
Miss-iss-siss-ippi Delta
The song reminds the listener of the exact location of the Mississippi Delta and reiterates the song's theme.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BOBBIE GENTRY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind