APARTMENT 21

Listen to APARTMENT 21 by Bobbie Gentry.

Apartment 21 was just about Bobbie Gentry's last charting single before she went all Salinger. It was so good it didn't even chart on the country side! Seriously, though it's obviously much less well known than Ode To Billie Joe, it's a great song--easily my favorite of hers. She sounds so mellow and in control. Also, the production on the record is so fine. A little conga, a little fuzz guitar (stolen from the Carpenters?), a little flutey keyboard, plus the strings are so tasteful (must be why it bombed in Nashville). Many times I've floated down the street with her la-lala, la-lala, lala-la-las on my mind.

Even so, as the single only hit #81 on the pop charts, no matter how classic it is it's probably not on many jukeboxes. That's a shame isn't it?

Photo: 17th Street (2).