Is there any reference in the song to suggest that the story behind it takes place in 1953 Songwriter Bobbie Gentry would have been ten years old at the time and probably not romantically interested in boys in same the way the main character in the ballad is apparently interested in Billy Joe The actress who played Bobbie Lee in the movie Glynnis O Connor was nineteen at the time The song furthermore says nothing about her leaving home after Billy Joe s death As far as I can determine the date originated in Herman Raucher s screenplay Raucher had also written Summer of 42 a few years before Ode to Billy Joe His novelization of the story was published in March 1976 during the height of the 1950s nostalgia craze in the United States and the movie was released nationwide the following June The song has a 1960s sensibility about it I was only a child myself when the song was released but I always imagined Billy Joe to be appreciably older than the balladeer and consequently that he committed suicide because he feared he d crossed an age barrier with her