After buying a ticket to the high school dance (along with a chance to win a Stray Cats album), Mrs. Johnson decides to attend, only this time she wears a full-length dress. It's all about that fateful day when "my momma socked it to the Harper Valley PTA! You'll need a capo on the second to play along w/h the song or play it in A but remember it goes a a step throughout. "Harper Valley P.T.A." From shop VanillagirlsDesign. She is known for her major 1968 hit Harper Valley PTA that made her the… read more View full artist profile If you know me, you know I love Chris Stapleton so I hope you like my cover of his song Either Way. ", a very popular catch-phrase frequently used in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. The song tells the story of Mrs. Johnson, a widowed mother of a teenage girl, who becomes outraged when one afternoon her daughter brings home a note from her junior high school's PTA decrying Mrs. Johnson's supposedly scandalous behavior by small-town standards. Cover versions of the song appear on albums by virtually every female country singer of the period; including, This page was last edited on 14 March 2021, at 02:39. It was also Riley's only Top 40 pop hit. Riley's record sold over six million copies as a single. Hall reportedly first offered the song to Skeeter Davis, who declined. It was signed by the secretary, Harper Valley P.T.A. Related Videos. That day my Mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA That day my Mama socked it to 'em at the Harper Valley PTA Submit Corrections. In subsequent years, she had moderate chart success with country music, but never again duplicated the success of "Harper Valley PTA". In response, Mrs. Johnson attends the next PTA meeting (being held that same afternoon), wearing a miniskirt, to the surprise of the PTA members. #SaturdaySongDay #ChrisStapleton #EitherWay. was released. The nicest guy in town (Ronny Cox) convinces Stella the best revenge is running for President of the PTA, and possibly mayor of Harper Valley! Lyrics. [6] The single's jump from 81 to 7 in its second week on the Billboard Hot 100 in late August 1968 is the decade's highest climb into that chart's Top Ten. Well the note said, "Mrs. Johnson, you're wearing your dresses way too high. Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.t.a. "Poor Stella Johnson (Barbara Eden of "I Dream of Jeannie") and her 13-year-old daughter Dee (Susan Swift) seem to have been overlooked by the Harper Valley welcome wagon. For other uses, see, Though Singleton did not mention his then wife's name, it apparently was not, "Billboard Hot 100 Charts – The Sixties/The Seventies", Record Research Inc, 1990, [ Flavour of New Zealand, 8 November 1968], Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives, http://www.cmt.com/news/1506920/in-the-words-of-tom-t-hall/, "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 14, 1968", The Irish Charts – Search Results – Harper Valley PTA", "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada", "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1968", Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harper_Valley_PTA&oldid=1012010175, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. She remarks how some people in Harper Valley changed for the better: At the dance, Mrs. Johnson notices the band's drummer using cocaine and an adult man selling marijuana in the parking lot, but then when she sees the students' uninhibited behavior she initially becomes so disgusted she storms home to get a gun, but once there she decides to pray for them instead. Riley sings a story about Mrs. Johnson, a "Harper Valley widowed wife" whose teenage daughter, a student at the junior high school, comes home one day with a note for her mother signed by the PTA secretary, in which they scold her for "wearing your dresses way too high", for reports about her drinking and running around with multiple men, and that she shouldn't be raising her daughter that way. She then exposes vario… In the 1970s, Riley became a born-again Christian, and though she briefly distanced herself from the song when she began singing gospel music, she never excluded it from her concerts, and it was always her most requested and popular number. To the PTA's surprise, Mrs. Johnson, again wearing a miniskirt, walks in and addresses the meeting, exposing a long list of indiscretions on the part of the members, most of whom were in attendance: Mrs. Johnson then rebukes them for having the audacity to declare her an unfit mother, referring to the town as "a little Peyton Place" and labeling the PTA a bunch of hypocrites.[1]. According to the PTA she is setting a bad example for her daughter. Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio a…, The Only Dolly Parton Album You'll Ever Need, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. When he wrote the song, he changed the name of the people involved in it to protect them. Pleasant Valley Sunday- The Monkees Like x 4; Apr 15, 2021 at 3:16 PM #2003. Go directly to shout page. Lyrics I wanna tell you all the story bout the Harper Valley widow wife Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High Well her daughter came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946 in Sevierville, Tennessee, U.S.) is an American country singer, songwriter, composer, producer, entrepreneur, author and actress. on Discogs. FLfan VIP Member. In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) It's My Time. A new version of Last.fm is available, to keep everything running smoothly, please reload the site. Hot Country Singles charts with the same song (but not at the same time), a feat that would not be repe… Country singer Margie Singleton had asked Tom T. Hall to write her a song similar to Bobbie Gentry's Grammy-winning hit "Ode to Billie Joe", which Gentry wrote and recorded in 1967, and which Singleton had covered that year. [2], The final line of the song ("..the day my mama 'socked it to' the Harper Valley PTA") was a reference to "Sock it to me! Widow Jones and an unnamed young man were killed in a car crash when she "missed a curve on Lover's Lane". Ring tone uploaded by jari1053. After driving past a school called Harpeth Valley Elementary School in Bellevue, Tennessee, he noted the name and wrote "Harper Valley P.T.A." "Harper Valley P.T.A." The song makes two references to short hemlines ("you're wearing your dresses way too high"; "wore her miniskirt into the room") in reference to the miniskirt and the minidress, which had been gaining popularity in the four years since they were first introduced. Harper Valley PTA is a classic story song of a type which used to be much more common in country music than it is now. The expression "This is just a little Peyton Place" is a reference to the Peyton Place television show based on the earlier novel and film of the same name where a small town hides scandal and moral hypocrisy behind a tranquil facade. Jeannie C. Riley (born Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson on October 19, 1945) is an American country and gospel music singer. The film starred Barbara Eden, Nanette Fabray, Ronny Cox, Louis Nye and Susan Swift, directed by Richard Bennett and Ralph Senensky (who left the production during filming, and was replaced by Bennett), and primarily released to drive-in theatersthroughout the summer of 1978. "Mom I got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA." Riley's record sold over six million copies as a single. Intro: A A I want to tell you all a story 'bout a Harper Valley widowed wife D Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High A Well her daughter came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play D E A She said, "Mom, I got a note here from the Harper Valley P.T.A." In 2005, Hall noted that he had witnessed a similar scenario when he was a child in Olive Hill, Kentucky, in the mid-1940s; the mother of one of Hall's classmates had drawn the ire of local school board members for her modern ways, and the school was taking out their frustrations on her daughter. Javascript is required to view shouts on this page. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. In 1984 Riley recorded a sequel song, "Return to Harper Valley", which was also written by Tom T. Hall, but failed to chart. The film has a cult following in fans of the … The melody is essentially the same as that of the Gentry song, but Gentry seemingly was never informed or given any credit by Hall. Jeannie C. Riley I wanna tell you all a story 'bout a Harper Valley widowed wife, Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High, Well her daughter came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play, And she said. Growing up in … I love this song and it’s so fun to sing! This article is about the song. 6,224 745 248. In the final stanza of the song, Riley states that the story is true, and in the final line identifies herself as the daughter of Mrs. Johnson when she sings, "...the day my mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA". At age 12 she was appearing on Knoxville TV, and at 13, she was recording on a small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Watch the video for Harper Valley PTA from Dolly Parton's The Only Dolly Parton Album … search engine by freefind: advanced: Type in an artist's name or song title in the space above for a quick search of Classic Country Music lyrics website. He heard the story of the woman (similar to the song) who stood up for herself because people judged her by the way she is. Do you know any background info about this track? The mission of the California State PTA is to positively impact the lives of all children and families. Hope y’all enjoy! Starting with gymnastics, and quick sense of humor (a defense mechanism), I quickly made my way from community theatre to the sets of TV shows like Chips and Harper Valley PTA. Riley's version was an immediate smash; Capitol Records did release Spears' version the same week, but it failed to chart. lyrics and chords are intended for your personal use only, this is an excellent country song written by Tom T. Hall and recorded by Jeannie C. Riley. Hot Country Singles charts with the same song (but not at the same time), a feat that would not be repeated until Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" 13 years later in 1981. Outraged, Mrs. Johnson decides to pay an unannounced visit to the PTA, who happened to be holding a meeting that afternoon. Scrobbling is when Last.fm tracks the music you listen to and automatically adds it to your music profile. 5 out of 5 stars (3) 3 reviews $ 24.00. The song later inspired an eponymous 1978 motion picture and short-lived 1981 television series, both starring Barbara Eden playing the heroine of the story, Mrs. Johnson, who now had a first name, Stella. The formerly adulterous and abusive Bobby Taylor was now fully devoted to his wife; Mr. Harper and Shirley Thompson both quit drinking and married one another; Mr. Baker and his erstwhile secretary also married; A Mr. Kelly (mentioned in the original song as a bar owner) died of. Like “Ode To Billie Joe,” “Harper Valley P.T.A.” is a finely observed story about small-town life, and about the ways in which people can be unthinking assholes to one another. When she graduated from high school in 1964 she moved to Nashville, taking many traditional elements of folklore and popular music from East Tennessee with her. In the mid 1970's she became a born-again Christian and began recording gospel music during the late 1970s. Parton's initi…, Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946 in Sevierville, Tennessee, U.S.) is an American country singer, songwriter, composer, producer, entrepreneur, author and actress. Listen to Harper Valley PTA by Joan Harris on Apple Music. The movie isn't deep, but with Barbara Eden, Nannette Fabray, Ronny Cox, movie battle ax Audra Christie, and such TV favorites as John Fiedler and Ron Masak, it provides some comfortable entertainment. The show, then in the top 20 of Nielsen ratings, was in its fourth season when "Harper Valley P.T.A." Singleton released it as a track on her album Margie Singleton's Harper Valley PTA, but it was not released as a single. [7] Riley's version won her a Grammy for the Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. Bridget Hanley-Wikipedia Harper Valley PTA Lyrics: I wanna tell you all the story 'bout / A Harper Valley widowed wife / Who had a teenage daughter / Who attended Harper Valley Junior High / Well her daughter came home one After driving past a school called Harpeth Valley Elementary School in Bellevue, Tennessee, not far from his then-home in Franklin, Hall noted the name, altering it to "Harper Valley" when he wrote the song. Riley, who was working as a secretary in Nashville for Jerry Chesnut, got to hear the song and recorded it herself and it became a massive hit for her. was gonna meet that very afternoon They were sure surprised when Mrs. Johnson wore her mini-skirt into the room And as she walked up to the blackboard, I can still recall the words she had to say #SaturdaySongDay #HarperValleyPTA #CountryMusic. In the sequel, Riley sings as Mrs. Johnson herself instead of her daughter, who now has two children of her own. is a country song written by Tom T. Hall which in 1968 became a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley. Harper Valley P.T.A. Harper Valley PTA was an early 1980s American television sitcom based on the 1978 film Harper Valley PTA, which was in turn based on the 1968 song recorded by country music singer Jeannie C. Riley, written by Tom T. Hall. It's writer, Tom T Hall, made a career out of story songs (and every true country fan should have some of his music). It was Riley's debut hit and only chart topper, making her the first woman to top both the Billboard Hot 100and the U.S. Plantation Records, the label on which Riley recorded the song, rush-released the single when they learned that both Billie Jo Spears and Margie Singleton had just recorded the song as well. It was Riley's debut hit and only chart topper, making her the first woman to top both the Billboard Hot 100 and the U.S. Now looking back with regret on her own misspent youth, Mrs. Johnson decides to attend the next PTA meeting the following afternoon and voice her concerns. AZLyrics. Parton began p…, Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946 in Sevierville, Tennessee, U.S.) is an American country singer, songwriter, composer, producer, entrepreneur, author and actress. Download free Harper Valley PTA ringtone or send it at no cost to your cell phone. 4:08. Stream songs including "Harper Valley PTA", "Might As Well Go Now" and more. The song was originally recorded by Margie Singleton, on Ashley Records A 5000 in July, 1968. She titled her 1980 autobiography From Harper Valley to the Mountain Top, and released a gospel album in 1981 with the same title. is a country song written by Tom T. Hall which in 1968 became a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1968 Vinyl release of "Harper Valley P.T.A." about a fictional confrontation between a young widow Stella Johnson and a local PTA group who objected to her manner of dress, social drinking, and friendliness with town's men folk. The inspiration of Hall came to him when he was nine years old. Bobby Taylor, who, aroused by her mini-skirt, had asked Mrs. Johnson for a date seven times (Mrs. Johnson also mentions Bobby's wife, who "seems to use a lot of ice" in his absence, the implication being that she is entertaining her own lover while her husband is out); Mr. Baker, whose secretary had to leave town for an undisclosed reason (the implication being that she was pregnant with his child); Widow Jones, who leaves her window blinds wide open and little to onlookers' imaginations; Mr. Harper, who was absent from the meeting because "he stayed too long at Kelly's Bar again"; and, Shirley Thompson, who also has a drinking problem, as evidenced by. A The note said, "Mrs. Johnson, you're wearing your dresses way too high D It's reported … D. Dolly Parton Lyrics. He's A Go Getter. The song was originally recorded by Margie Singleton, on Ashley Records A 5000 in July, 1968. Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie C. Riley. album: "In The Good Old Days" (1969) Don't Let It Trouble Your Mind. Harper Valley PTA by Jeanie C. Riley! Her recording was also nominated for "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year" in the pop field. The mother gave a verbal tongue-lashing at the school, an iconoclastic move that was unheard of at the time.[5]. Harper Valley PTA is a 1978 American comedy film inspired by the popular 1968 country song "Harper Valley PTA" written by Tom T. Hall and performed by country singer Jeannie C. Riley. According to Shelby Singleton, producer of Riley's record, this line was changed at the last minute, at the suggestion of his "wife at the time".[3][4]. Start the wiki, I want to tell you all a story 'bout a harper valley widow wifeWho had a teenage daughter that attended harper valley junior highWell her daughter…. Well, it happened that the P.T.A. Harper Valley PTA,Country Music Shirt, Vintage Country Music, Country Women, Vintage Shirt, Country Festival, Country Music VanillagirlsDesign. Writer(s): Tom T. Hall. May 9, 2007. Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio and television in East Tennessee. Connect your Spotify account to your Last.fm account and scrobble everything you listen to, from any Spotify app on any device or platform. “Harper Valley PTA” was based on a true story in Hall’s life. Harper Valley PTA was the #47 song in 1968 in the Pop charts.The song was performed by Jeannie C. Riley.Comment below with facts and trivia about the song and we may include it in our song facts! Chris Stapleton so I hope you like my cover of his song Either Way release Spears ' version same! Song was originally recorded by Margie Singleton, on Ashley Records a 5000 in July, 1968 available, keep! But it was not released as a child, singing on local radio and television in Tennessee... Trouble your Mind involved in it to protect them the Music you listen to, from any Spotify on! Protect them PTA that made her the… read more view full artist profile Harper Valley to the Mountain,! 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