Turner began her career with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm in 1957. Under the name Little Ann, she appeared on her first record, "Boxtop", in 1958. In 1960, she debuted as Tina Turner with the hit duet single "A Fool in Love". The duo Ike & Tina Turner became "one of the most formidable live acts in history". They released hits such as "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", "River Deep – Mountain High", "Proud Mary", and "Nutbush City Limits" before disbanding in 1976.
In the 1980s, Turner launched "one of the greatest comebacks in music history". Her 1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer contained the hit song "What's Love Got to Do with It", which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her first and only number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. At age 44, she was the oldest female solo artist to top the Hot 100. Her chart success continued with "Better Be Good to Me", "Private Dancer", "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)", "Typical Male", "The Best", "I Don't Wanna Fight", and "GoldenEye". During her Break Every Rule World Tour in 1988, she set a then-Guinness World Record for the largest paying audience (180,000) for a solo performer.
Turner also acted in the films Tommy (1975), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and Last Action Hero (1993). In 1993, What's Love Got to Do with It, a biographical film adapted from her autobiography I, Tina: My Life Story, was released. In 2009, Turner retired after completing her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour, which is the 15th highest-grossing tour of the 2000s. In 2018, she became the subject of the jukebox musical Tina.
Having sold over 100 million records worldwide, Turner became one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. She received 12 Grammy Awards, which include eight competitive awards, three Grammy Hall of Fame awards, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She was the first black artist, and first woman, to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Ike Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021. She was a 2005 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and Women of the Year award.
In 2020, she came out of retirement to collaborate with Norwegian producer Kygo on a remix of "What's Love Got to Do with It". With this release, she became the first artist to have a top 40 hit in seven consecutive decades in the UK.
Studio albums
Tina Turns the Country On! (1974)
Acid Queen (1975)
Rough (1978)
Love Explosion (1979)
Private Dancer (1984)
Break Every Rule (1986)
Foreign Affair (1989)
Wildest Dreams (1996)
Twenty Four Seven (1999)
Ode to Billy Joe
Tina Turner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
'n' Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
'n' 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's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
'n' 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 talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece-a apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
'n' 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
'n' 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
The song "Ode to Billie Joe" by Tina Turner tells a story that begins with the singer and her brother working on a farm in the Delta. Their mother has received news that Billy Joe MacAllister had jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. The family and their guests discuss the news while sharing a meal. The song then jumps ahead a year, revealing that the singer's father has passed away and their mother is not as active as she once was. The singer has taken to picking flowers and dropping them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
The lyrics of this song raise many unanswered questions, leaving listeners to speculate about its meaning. The singer speaks of the news of Billy Joe's death with a sense of detachment, as if she is more interested in telling us what happened in the aftermath of the event. It is never revealed why Billy Joe jumped off the bridge, what he threw off of it with the girl, or how the girl might have been connected to the singer.
Line by Line Meaning
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
On a typical hot summer day in the Mississippi delta, the sun beat down on the hardworking people carrying out their daily routines.
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
I, alongside my brother, were working tirelessly to pick cotton on the farm, making bales of hay and trying to make ends meet.
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
In the middle of the day, we took a break from farming to head back to the house and have some food.
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
As we walked back into the house, Mama reminded us to clean our feet before entering her clean home.
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge
Mama had some important information to share with us that she heard this morning from the locals at Choctaw Ridge.
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
She informed us of the tragic event that occurred earlier that day, that Billy Joe MacAllister had jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
'n' Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
Papa attempting to lighten the mood passed around the black eyed peas and made a passing comment to Mama.
"Well Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
Papa, being tactless, shared his opinion that Billy Joe was not very intelligent while passing biscuits around to everyone.
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
Papa continued to talk about his workload on the farm, mentioning that he has to plow the five acres in the lower forty soon.
'n' Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Mama expressed her sorrow for Billy Joe's tragic event and noted what a shame it was.
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
Mama lamented the general bad luck that seems to befall the people from Choctaw Ridge.
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Mama reiterated the tragic event that Billy Joe had taken his own life by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
'n' Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
My brother chimed in with some memories of him, Tom, and Billy Joe together in the past.
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
They all had a laugh at the time when the three of them played a prank on me, putting a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show.
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
I recalled speaking to Billy Joe after church last Sunday night, reminding everyone that they had just seen him recently.
"I'll have another piece-a apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
I asked for another piece of apple pie, seemingly not perturbed enough by the news to have lost my appetite.
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
Brother recalled seeing Billy Joe the day before at the sawmill on Choctaw Ridge.
"And now ya tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
It was a shock for us, especially for Brother when Mama confirmed that it was indeed true that Billy Joe had jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.
'n' Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
Mama noticed that I still wasn't eating much and questioned me about it, trying to understand why I wasn't responding to her cooking.
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
Mama shared her disappointment that I hadn't touched my food, despite her best efforts at cooking it all morning.
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
Mama revealed that the nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, had visited our house that day.
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
She told us how the preacher had invited himself to dinner on Sunday, adding it casually as an afterthought.
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
Brother Taylor mentioned that he saw a girl resembling me up on Choctaw Ridge with Billy Joe, throwing something into the Tallahatchie Bridge.
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
The preacher recounted to Mama that he had seen me and Billy Joe together throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge, implying a possible connection between us.
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
A year has passed since we first learned of Billy Joe's shocking event.
'n' Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
Brother married Becky Thompson during the intervening year and they bought a store together in Tupelo.
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
Unfortunately, Papa caught a virus that was going around and passed away last spring.
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
Mama has been quite depressed since Papa passed away and doesn't seem to want to do much anymore.
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
I spend most of my time these days on Choctaw Ridge, picking flowers and possibly contemplating the tragedy that took place there.
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge
I take the flowers that I have picked and drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge, perhaps memorializing Billy Joe and our connection to him.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MOZART
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind