The True Story of 'Harper Valley PTA' by Jeannie C. Riley
- edgarstreetbooks
- Jan 22
- 2 min read
‘100 Greatest 60s Pop Songs’ Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
“Harper Valley PTA” was Jeannie C. Riley’s only pop hit but it made her the first woman to reach №1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts with the same song.
The tune about a sassy single mother who stands up to the hypocritical Parent-Teacher Association after it makes her a social pariah was written by country singer Tom T. Hall.
“The story is a true story,” Hall told The Boot. “I didn’t make the story up; I chose the story to make a statement, but I changed the names to protect the innocent.
“I was just hanging around downtown when I was about nine years old and heard the story and got to know this lady. I was fascinated by her grit.
“To see this very insignificant, socially disenfranchised lady — a single mother — who was willing to march down to the local aristocracy and read them the riot act, so to speak, was fascinating.
“I wrote the song 30 years later; that song was my novel. I had been reading Sinclair Lewis. As a young man, I read Lewis’ novels Babbitt and Elmer Gantry, which is about hypocrisy; Babbitt is, of course, about the social structure of the small town.
“So, being a big Sinclair Lewis fan, when I wrote ‘Harper Valley,’ I incorporated elements of Elmer Gantry into the song.”
“Harper Valley PTA” inspired a 1978 film and 1981 TV series both starring Barbara Eden as the song’s heroine, Mrs. Johnson.
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest 60s Pop Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
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