Sing me a story

I was flipping through the channels the other night, and found a station running this movie, which was based on a book, which was based on a song. I never saw the movie all the way through, I think I read the book when I was in middle school, although I don't fully remember, but I'm ashamed to say that I can sing along with the whole song. And seriously, don't we all stay awake nights wondering why Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahachee Bridge? "Ode to Billy Joe" is just one of a number of story songs that have wormed their way into our brains. The 50's were full of them ("Teen Angel", "Leader of the Pack") and many have become part of pop culture ("Copacabana" will live on forever.) One of my favorites is "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia." It's an awful song, but my dad used to sign it to Nic and me before we went to sleep. Come to think of it, that may explain alot of why we are the way we are. Nothing like a lullaby full of back-woods killin' and a corrupt judicial system to warp you for life. My biggest issue with story songs is that they are so full of holes, though. If the only thing Daddy had left her brother was a gun, where did she get her gun? From Mama? And did Andy have a death wish? He only had a few friends, so he decided to alienate the one he had my confessing about the affair? What's up with that? And why did the sister care so much? Instead of filling her big bro in on what was going on between his wife and buddy, she just killed them? Whaa? And in "Ode to Billy Joe," what kind of mother just drops the information of a suicide at the dinner table like that? And no one is really all that surprised by it, except the girl. On top of that, no one can figure out why she's acting squirrelly. I mean, if bridge jumping that common out on Choctaw Ridge that people take it in stride? Maybe all of my over-thinking of these songs is an indication that I need a life. One that won't be chronicled on the radio.