Click on the song titles above for lyrics and songwriting credits

Surprisingly Bobbie’s recording career began with rockabilly legend Jody Reynolds: Famed for his 1958 hit Endless Sleep which inspired a trend of ‘teen tragedy’ songs, Jody was making a comeback after a three year break and had released a 7” on the Titan label in January 1966. Sometime after that whilst attending a concert of his at a club in Palm Springs, Bobbie asked if she could sit in on a song, and this led to her being invited to join the band on an add hoc basis at gigs over the spring and summer of 1966. In August she cut three songs with him at Living Sound in Arcadia, and two of these Stranger In The Mirror and Requiem for Love came out under the soubriquet Jody & Bobbie on a Titan 7” in September 1966. The single didn’t go very far, but did get some airplay.

After the success of Ode To Billie Joe the following year Titan re-released the single in October ’67 with the artist credit updated to Bobbie Gentry & Jodie Reynolds, later pressings went even further renaming Requiem for Love as Ode To Love and putting it on the A-side. There has been some confusion as to the date of this single with some sources putting the original release as far back as 1963, but ARSA reports airplay in September and October 1966. A Cash Box review of the re-issue also mentions that the sides had originally come out ‘over a year ago’.