Richy and I went to a pub quiz last Thursday with Juliet, her partner and some of their young mates. It was hilariously competitive and we rubbed along with a mix of patchy knowledge, a rare flash of genius and knowing fuck all. It ended, hours later, with a music round.

“Who did Bobbie Gentry write an ode to?”
“Oooh…” said Richy and I.  “Yeah! Yeah! I know! That song, you know, the one about the bridge…Yeah! Billy or something!”

Blank looks around the table.

“You know!!! He jumped off the Talla-something bridge!!!”
“Nah,” said Juliet shrugging.
“You MUST know, it was really famous!!”

Shrug.

‘It went like this… ‘It was the third of June another sleepy dusty delta day…'” we both warbled…“Da da da he jumped off the Talla da da bridge… Ooohhh Ooooh Oooh.”

More blank looks.

“Er, nope. Dunno. Never heard of it.”

So, for all you lovely young pups born after the 1970’s, here it is; An Ode to Billy Joe.