The Louisiana singer/songwriter Tony Joe White grew up in Oak Grove, Louisiana near the Mississippi River, and wrote what he called "swamp songs" about the folks from the area. "Annie, she could have been one of maybe three or four girls along that river there because all the girls were kinda tomboys.They loved to fish, climb trees shoot rifles. That kind of stuff. So Annie could have been anybody. It's just like 'Old Man Willis,' 'Roosevelt and Ira Lee.' All those were real people that I grew up with."
In a January 17, 2014 interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, Tony Joe White explained the thought process behind the writing of "Polk Salad Annie" and "Rainy Night in Georgia." I heard "Ode to Billie Joe" on the radio and I thought, man, how real, because I am Billie Joe, I know that life. I've been in the cotton fields. So I thought if I ever tried to write, I'm going to write about something I know about. At that time I was doing a lot of Elvis and John Lee Hooker onstage with my drummer. No original songs and I hadn't really thought about it. But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought … well I know about polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about.
This being the late '60s, many listeners thought that "polk salad" was code for marijuana. White explained: "The early days on the tour we was out and it was a big hit, a lot of the hippie festivals, flower children and everybody, they would bring deep bags of grass back to the dressing room or back in my tent. And they said, 'We brought you a little polk.' They all thought polk salad was marijuana. And I was, like, 'That's not the kind I'm talking about.' Anyway, everybody got it after a while."
The Louisiana singer/songwriter Tony Joe White grew up in Oak Grove, Louisiana near the Mississippi River, and wrote what he called "swamp songs" about the folks from the area. "Annie, she could have been one of maybe three or four girls along that river there because all the girls were kinda tomboys.They loved to fish, climb trees shoot rifles. That kind of stuff. So Annie could have been anybody. It's just like 'Old Man Willis,' 'Roosevelt and Ira Lee.' All those were real people that I grew up with."
In a January 17, 2014 interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, Tony Joe White explained the thought process behind the writing of "Polk Salad Annie" and "Rainy Night in Georgia." I heard "Ode to Billie Joe" on the radio and I thought, man, how real, because I am Billie Joe, I know that life. I've been in the cotton fields. So I thought if I ever tried to write, I'm going to write about something I know about. At that time I was doing a lot of Elvis and John Lee Hooker onstage with my drummer. No original songs and I hadn't really thought about it. But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought … well I know about polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about.
This being the late '60s, many listeners thought that "polk salad" was code for marijuana. White explained: "The early days on the tour we was out and it was a big hit, a lot of the hippie festivals, flower children and everybody, they would bring deep bags of grass back to the dressing room or back in my tent. And they said, 'We brought you a little polk.' They all thought polk salad was marijuana. And I was, like, 'That's not the kind I'm talking about.' Anyway, everybody got it after a while."
The Louisiana singer/songwriter Tony Joe White grew up in Oak Grove, Louisiana near the Mississippi River, and wrote what he called "swamp songs" about the folks from the area. "Annie, she could have been one of maybe three or four girls along that river there because all the girls were kinda tomboys.They loved to fish, climb trees shoot rifles. That kind of stuff. So Annie could have been anybody. It's just like 'Old Man Willis,' 'Roosevelt and Ira Lee.' All those were real people that I grew up with."
In a January 17, 2014 interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, Tony Joe White explained the thought process behind the writing of "Polk Salad Annie" and "Rainy Night in Georgia." I heard "Ode to Billie Joe" on the radio and I thought, man, how real, because I am Billie Joe, I know that life. I've been in the cotton fields. So I thought if I ever tried to write, I'm going to write about something I know about. At that time I was doing a lot of Elvis and John Lee Hooker onstage with my drummer. No original songs and I hadn't really thought about it. But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought … well I know about polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about.
This being the late '60s, many listeners thought that "polk salad" was code for marijuana. White explained: "The early days on the tour we was out and it was a big hit, a lot of the hippie festivals, flower children and everybody, they would bring deep bags of grass back to the dressing room or back in my tent. And they said, 'We brought you a little polk.' They all thought polk salad was marijuana. And I was, like, 'That's not the kind I'm talking about.' Anyway, everybody got it after a while."