Harper Valley PTA

"Harper Valley PTA" is a country music song written by Tom T. Hall. It was a major hit single for country songstress 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.

Cover versions

• Country Music singer Margie Singleton is the original singer to record "Harper Valley PTA".
• Lynn Anderson recorded the song for the album "Songs That Made Country Girls Famous" (1970).
• Cover versions of the song appear on albums by virtually every female country singer of the period including Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Norma Jean, Billie Jo Spears and Dottie West. It has been performed by Lorrie Morgan in concert and was also covered by Billy Ray Cyrus.
• "Harper Valley PTA" was translated into Norwegian and performed by Norwegian singer Inger Lise Rypdal. The story of the song is the same although the setting is more Norwegian; the PTA is replaced by the Board for High Morale and is part of the church.
• Country singer Martina McBride covered it for the Desperate Housewives soundtrack.
• Radio personality Fez Whatley is often heard singing his own cover version on the Ron and Fez show, a version he used to sing for his family as a child.

Succession

See also

• Harper Valley PTA (TV series)