95 Songs of Summer, #84 - "Harper Valley PTA" (1968)

It's probably unwise of me to admit that until I looked Jeannie C. Riley up on Wikipedia, I never realized that "Harper Valley P.T.A." was written by Tom T. Hall.  But it makes perfect sense, because I'm not sure I've ever heard a Hall song that wasn't clever and/or well-written.  I can't say that I'm entirely familiar with his catalog; aside from this one the song I'm most familiar with is "Mama Bake a Pie (Daddy Kill a Chicken)," as memorably covered by the Drive-By Truckers.

Though this was Jeannie C. Riley's biggest day in the sun, if you're going to have one huge hit it might as well be as good as "Harper Valley P.T.A."  It's one of those songs that, if you let it worm its way into your brain, you're going to have a hard time getting it out.  And in this case, that's not a bad thing.

Jeannie C. Riley, "Harper Valley P.T.A.," from the summer of 1968.