Translations
In 1967 American/French singer-songwriter Joe Dassin had much success with a French translation of the song titled "Marie-Jeanne", that tells exactly the same story almost word for word, only with the characters reversed. The narrator is one of the sons of the household, and the character who committed suicide is a girl named Marie-Jeanne Guillaume.
A quick overview of the translated names and places:
| Bobbie Gentry | Joe Dassin |
| 3 June | 4 June |
| Billie Joe McAllister | Marie-Jeanne Guillaume |
| Tallahatchie Bridge | Pont de la Garonne |
| Choctaw Ridge | Bourg-les-Essonnes |
| Brother Taylor | unnamed: just "the sister of that young priest" |
| Tom | Le Grand Nicolas |
| Becky Thompson | unnamed |
| Tupelo | unnamed |
Besides the change in character names and locations, there are also obvious changes to various environments like the food, the crops, etc. For example, instead of "Choppin' cotton", the narrator took care of the vineyards. The setting is a fictitious small town in southwest France. The River Garonne, however, is real.
In 1967, a Swedish translation by Olle Adolphson titled "Jon Andreas visa" was recorded by Siw Malmkvist. It is faithful to the story in "Ode to Billie Joe", but has changed the setting to rural Sweden. The name of Billie Joe has been changed to the Swedish name Jon Andreas.
A German translation titled "Billy Joe McAllister" was released in 1978 by Wencke Myhre.
Read more about this topic: Ode To Billie Joe
Famous quotes containing the word translations:
“Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes!”
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 18:7.
Other translations use “temptations.”