<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> file </Li> <Li> help </Li> </Ul> <P> "Ode to Billie Joe" is a 1967 song written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry, a singer - songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi . The single, released in late July, was a number - one hit in the United States, and became a big international seller . Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song for 1967 (the other two were #2 "The Letter" by the Box Tops and #1 "To Sir With Love" by Lulu). The song is ranked #412 on Rolling Stone's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and at #144 in Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 1960s . The recording of "Ode to Billie Joe" generated eight Grammy nominations, resulting in three wins for Gentry and one win for arranger Jimmie Haskell . Rolling Stone also ranked the song #47 on its list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time in June 2014 . </P> <P> The song takes the form of a first - person narrative with "sparse" musical accompaniment, that reveals a tale about a family's dysfunctional, and overtly indifferent, reactions to the shocking news of a local boy's suicide . He is suggested as connected in some way to the young female narrator . The song concludes by expressing the malaise, death of her father, and depression affecting the narrator and her own family over the following year . According to Gentry its theme is indifference and the emotional gaps between people . </P>

Who sang the song ode to billy joe