“Harper Valley PTA” is the holder of at least two records, one at least that has never been duplicated. Jeannie C Riley is the first woman to hit the top of the pop charts and the country charts with the same song. This didn’t happen again until Dolly Parton recorded “9 to 5” in 1980. Also, this song had the highest leap within the pop charts of any song before it and, as far as I know, this has never been duplicated. “Harper Valley PTA” entered the charts on August 24, 1968 at number 81. The next week it jumped to number seven, which is a change of 74 points. No other song has ever done that.

The song was written by Tom T Hall, who was hitting the country charts himself and who quickly became known as “The Storyteller.” Almost all of Hall’s song tell some kind of story and “Harper Valley PTA” is no exception. It’s the story of a single mother who gets called out by the PTA because she’s wearing her skirts a little too high. So, Mom goes to the PTA meeting and shows them just what hypocrites they are. If you’re going to accuse someone of something, make sure your own backyard is clean before you do. The song is, reportedly, based on a true story.

Jeannie Carolyn Stephenson was born in 1945 in Stamford, Texas. She married young, in her teens, to Micky Riley and so used her married name professionally. She tried to break into the country music business in the mid-Sixties but didn’t have much luck until a fellow named Shelby Singleton, Jr. (the man who bought Sun Records from Sam Phillips) heard a demo record from her. He liked it and brought her into the studio to record “Harper Valley PTA.” The song had been recorded by other singers, but Singleton didn’t think any of their voices were right until he heard Jeannie.

When they recorded the song, the original words right at the end were written as “the day my Mama put down the Harper Valley PTA.” But Jeanne must have been a fan of the old Rowan and Martin show on which they were fond of saying “Sock it to me.” So, the lyrics were changed to “the day my Mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA.”

This was a case where a person has such a big hit that it’s hard to break away from that. Like being typecast as an actor. Jeannie C Riley was never able to shake the fame of “Harper Valley PTA.” She never again hit the pop charts, which was alright with her, because she wanted to be a country singer. But, she never really did great on the country charts, either. She did have five more Top 10 hits, but by 1976, she was off the charts.

“Harper Valley PTA’ had a longer life, however. Jeannie hosted a musical/variety hour on television in 1969. They made a movie based on the song which starred Barbara Eden and aired on television in 1980. That was so popular that they spun off a TV series, also starring Eden which premiered in 1981. It ran for two seasons.

“Harper Valley PTA” debuted on the pop charts on August 31, 1968 and spent one week at number one. The song spent three weeks at the top of the country charts.