One of the first films I can remember seeing at a drive-in movie theater was the goofy ass comedy starring Barbara Eden that was inspired by the title track from this album. I was going through some old records and decided to post it here....
Interesting side note: I can remember one of the reasons why my parents went to see this flick was that during it's production, my hometown of
West Union, Ohio was in the running to be the principle filming location, but lost out at the last minute to
Jackson, Ohio, town about an hour east, that also later served as some of the filming locations for some of the Eric Roberts-starring
Best of the Best karate fight movies...
From Wikipedia:
"Harper Valley PTA" is a country music song written by Tom T. Hall. It was a major hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley in 1968, and crossed over to the pop charts as well, eventually selling over six million copies as a single, making Riley the first woman ever to top the U.S. pop and country singles charts with the same song. (Her accomplishment would not be repeated until 1981, when Dolly Parton topped the country and pop singles charts with "9 to 5".)
The song tells the story of a junior high student who is sent home with a note to her widowed single mother from the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the school decrying her scandalous behavior by small-town standards. The mother decides to speak to a meeting of the PTA where she addresses various episodes of misbehavior on the part of several of its members, concluding, "This is just a little Peyton Place / And you're all Harper Valley hypocrites."
In an interview, Hall admitted his inspiration for the song was passing by the Harpeth Valley Elementary School in Bellevue, Tennessee, not far from his then-home in Franklin. He liked the sound of the name and decided to write a song using a similar place name. He also reportedly wrote the song about Olive Hill, Kentucky where Hall grew up.
The song was later the inspiration for a 1978 motion picture and a 1981 television series, both starring Barbara Eden, playing the heroine of the song, Stella Johnson.
Other songs on the album tell more about some of the people who are members of the Harper Valley P.T.A., including Mayor Harper and Widow Jones.
Jeannie C. Riley's recording of the song won her a Grammy for the Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.
Track Listing:
1. Harper Valley P.T.A.
2. Widow Jones
3. No Brass Band
4. Mr. Harper
5. Run Jeannie Run
6. Shed Me No Tears
7. The Cotton Patch
8. Sippin' Shirley Thompson9. The Little Town Square
10. The Ballad of Louise
11. Satan Place
Download Link
Track Listing:
