Number 9 - Satellite of Love oh oh oh oh....

Howdy again,

Just finished Lou Reed painting last week. "Satellite Of Love". Here tis'. The Rough and the final painting.

SATELLITE OF LOVE – Lou Reed

Satellite's gone
Up to the skies
Thing like that drive me
Out of my mind

I watched it for a little while
I like to watch things on TV

Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of

Satellite's gone
Way up to Mars
Soon it will be filled
With parking cars

I watch it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV

Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of

I've been told that you've been bold
With Harry, Mark and John
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to Thursday
With Harry, Mark and John

Satellite's gone
Up to the skies
Thing like that drive me
Out of my mind

I watched it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV

Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of love
Satellite of love

 Started Bobbie Gentry painting this week. "Ode To Billie Joe". First Number 1 I've done I think (July 1967 - 47 years ago this month!). The song was originally intended to be the B-side of "Mississippi Delta", but as was still happening at the time on FM radio the disc jockeys actually chose what they thought was the strongest track and the stripped back "Ode to Billie Joe" took the preference. There was alotta debate at the time of the meaning of the song (see lyrics below). What did Billie Joe and the narrator throw of the Tallahatchie Bridge?

ODE TO BILLIE JOE - Bobbie Gentry

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billie Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billie Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billie Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billie Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billie Joe
And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge

And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Bobby Gentry on the Smothers Brothers show - Ode To Billie Joe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc

I'll post both the rough and the finished piece hopefully next week.

Next I'm workin' on a portrait of some brothers from different mothers, the masters of the ancient form of weaving, Ronnie and Keef.

And then, number 11. Joan Baez or Memphis Minnie, both are getting honored (if you can call it that...). Been narrowing down the final 5. The Boss, Jimi, the Man in Black, Petty, the Big O and Jimmy Reed are all in the running. Pretty hard to pick...