Why did billy joe McAllister jump off the tallahachee bridge?

Answer 1

Billy Joe confesses his love to the lovely Bobbi Lee only to cover his growing fear that he may, in fact, be homosexual. One night, at a barn dance, he gets a little drunk and rather than going with the hired prostitutes, gives into his desires and sexual relations with an unnamed man. The guilt causes him to run away, hide in the woods and eventually confess everything to Bobbi Lee who doesn't want to believe him only because she was enjoying the forbidden nature of their love. In the end, he cannot accept his sexuality nor can he hide behind Bobbi Lee and that's why he throws himself off the Tallahachee bridge.

Answer 2

Him- or herself! the song seems to directly imply -there may have been suppressed lyrics that the gender-ambiguous ( could have been Wilhelmina Jo) character commited suicide by jumping off the oddly-named Tallahatchee ( not Tallahassee, which is the capital of Florida) bridge. Song is about a bridge suicide- off-disc.

Answer 3

It was a baby they through off that's why he killed himself he couldn't handle the grief

...oh please. where did you come up with that answer? It was the girls rag doll he threw off, then he committed suicide because he was afraid he was gay and couldn't live with "The Great Southern Shame." What, you're thinking that a girl in the '50s south would have a baby then be out choppin' cotton and eating with the family after murdering it?

Another answer:

Nobody but the songwriter knows what he threw off the bridge, and Bobbie Gentry refuses to reveal this.

The most common guesses by fans include a ring, flowers, a draft card, LSD pills, and an aborted fetus. Based on some comments made by Gentry, there is good reason to think it was a ring.

In the Herman Raucher novel and screenplay, it was a rag doll as mentioned above, and the motive for the suicide was shame after having had drunken sex with another man.

Answer 4

It is by no means clear in the song lyric that the suicide is a male. Billy Jo Mcallister could very well have been Wilhelmina Josephine Mcallister. It is a tragedy-ridden and depressing song. everybody in the song except the narrator dies over the course of the story. It is one of the more depressing popular songs of its type- and the motive for the suicide, if any is never explained. it is obvious the Delta town ( not an airline depot) is on the far side of well, backwater, run down).and appears to be culturally isolated. Still the song gives no clues why the title character commited suicide. when one looks at current and recent events- Murder-suicides making the news frequently, maybe songs like this should be banned.

Answer 5

Billy Joe got the girl pregnant. They later aborted the baby. Billy could not let go of the grief, so he killed himself by jumping off of the Tallahatchie bridge.