Chords for JEANNIE C. RILEY - The Story of Harper Valley P.T.A.
Tempo:
124.7 bpm
Chords used:
A
E
Eb
B
Bb
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
I wanna tell you all a story about a Harper Valley widowed wife.
The true story of a spirited [Db] woman and her fight with the Harper [A] Valley PTA
was a most unlikely subject for a hit pop record during the hard [E] rock in late 60s.
But in [A] 1968, a [E] struggling young Texas-born [A] singer named Jeannie C.
Riley,
who'd been living [Ab] in Nashville working as a [A] secretary on Music Row,
was urged by a friend and his wife to record a new song written by Tom T.
Hall
titled Harper Valley PTA.
And [D] it was signed by the secretary [E]
Harper Valley [A] PTA.
I [Bb] was coaxed by this friend who was a [Bb] songwriter for the same company that
eventually put out this record, Harper Valley PTA.
He and his wife, who was my best friend, they twisted [A] my arm,
said if you don't have the sense to do it for yourself, [F] do it for us.
[Bb] Well, it happened that the PTA was gonna meet that very afternoon.
[Eb] Every wish is a bride for Mrs.
Johnson, wore her miniskirt and threw the blue.
Three days later, she [Bb] reluctantly took the song to a recording session
and in her words, very angrily blurted out the words to Harper Valley PTA.
She [Eb] said I'd like to address this meeting [F] of the Harper Valley [Bb] PTA.
I was told I was gonna have a number one pop record and I thought I'm gonna lose
my country identity before I ever gain it.
And with all this anger inside, it sounded like I was really into the [D] song.
But [A] later, when she finally heard the finished song, all that anger she blurted out during
the recording session became [D] sweet music to her ears.
When I heard the playback, [E] all negative thoughts that [Am] I had about it flew out the window.
[Eb] I got goose [B] bumps all over and everybody else did, too.
You say we did Harper Valley in 15 minutes, the finished cut.
Nothing was added, no [Bb] overdubs or anything and nothing subtracted.
It was the finished product the world would hear in 15 minutes.
Harper Valley PTA zoomed to the top of the pop charts and that number one rating seems
even more incredible when you consider [Eb] that 1968 was the height of the [Eb] psychedelic rock era.
[B] This was like a psychedelic era we were going through with the cream and [N] sunshine of your love
and a psychedelic reaction and [Gb] psychotic five [F] and all these things [Db] that were on the radio.
[Eb] And along comes this little simple country [Gbm] song by Jeannie C.
[B] Riley,
who had never really done anything up to that [G] point.
And it just, I think, [Eb] was unique enough to catch all of our [B] attention.
The success of Harper Valley PTA garnered the Grammy for the best female [E] country vocal
performance for Riley and the [Gb] fame generated by that [B] mega hit has followed Jeannie around
nearly 20 years after it was released.
It amazes me when I'll have people come up with this big stack of records and pictures
that collected through the years, want me to sign all of them.
[E] I can't imagine why they zeroed [B] in on me that I meant that much to them,
but I sure appreciate that fact.
[E] [B]
The true story of a spirited [Db] woman and her fight with the Harper [A] Valley PTA
was a most unlikely subject for a hit pop record during the hard [E] rock in late 60s.
But in [A] 1968, a [E] struggling young Texas-born [A] singer named Jeannie C.
Riley,
who'd been living [Ab] in Nashville working as a [A] secretary on Music Row,
was urged by a friend and his wife to record a new song written by Tom T.
Hall
titled Harper Valley PTA.
And [D] it was signed by the secretary [E]
Harper Valley [A] PTA.
I [Bb] was coaxed by this friend who was a [Bb] songwriter for the same company that
eventually put out this record, Harper Valley PTA.
He and his wife, who was my best friend, they twisted [A] my arm,
said if you don't have the sense to do it for yourself, [F] do it for us.
[Bb] Well, it happened that the PTA was gonna meet that very afternoon.
[Eb] Every wish is a bride for Mrs.
Johnson, wore her miniskirt and threw the blue.
Three days later, she [Bb] reluctantly took the song to a recording session
and in her words, very angrily blurted out the words to Harper Valley PTA.
She [Eb] said I'd like to address this meeting [F] of the Harper Valley [Bb] PTA.
I was told I was gonna have a number one pop record and I thought I'm gonna lose
my country identity before I ever gain it.
And with all this anger inside, it sounded like I was really into the [D] song.
But [A] later, when she finally heard the finished song, all that anger she blurted out during
the recording session became [D] sweet music to her ears.
When I heard the playback, [E] all negative thoughts that [Am] I had about it flew out the window.
[Eb] I got goose [B] bumps all over and everybody else did, too.
You say we did Harper Valley in 15 minutes, the finished cut.
Nothing was added, no [Bb] overdubs or anything and nothing subtracted.
It was the finished product the world would hear in 15 minutes.
Harper Valley PTA zoomed to the top of the pop charts and that number one rating seems
even more incredible when you consider [Eb] that 1968 was the height of the [Eb] psychedelic rock era.
[B] This was like a psychedelic era we were going through with the cream and [N] sunshine of your love
and a psychedelic reaction and [Gb] psychotic five [F] and all these things [Db] that were on the radio.
[Eb] And along comes this little simple country [Gbm] song by Jeannie C.
[B] Riley,
who had never really done anything up to that [G] point.
And it just, I think, [Eb] was unique enough to catch all of our [B] attention.
The success of Harper Valley PTA garnered the Grammy for the best female [E] country vocal
performance for Riley and the [Gb] fame generated by that [B] mega hit has followed Jeannie around
nearly 20 years after it was released.
It amazes me when I'll have people come up with this big stack of records and pictures
that collected through the years, want me to sign all of them.
[E] I can't imagine why they zeroed [B] in on me that I meant that much to them,
but I sure appreciate that fact.
[E] [B]
Key:
A
E
Eb
B
Bb
A
E
Eb
I wanna tell you all a story about a Harper Valley widowed wife.
_ The true story of a spirited [Db] woman and her fight with the Harper [A] Valley PTA
was a most unlikely subject for a hit pop record during the hard [E] rock in late 60s.
But in [A] 1968, a [E] struggling young Texas-born [A] singer named Jeannie C.
Riley,
who'd been living [Ab] in Nashville working as a [A] secretary on Music Row,
was urged by a friend and his wife to record a new song written by Tom T.
Hall
titled Harper Valley PTA.
And [D] it was signed by the secretary [E]
Harper Valley [A] PTA.
_ I [Bb] was coaxed by this friend who was a [Bb] songwriter for the same company that
eventually put out this record, Harper Valley PTA.
_ _ He and his wife, who was my best friend, they twisted [A] my arm,
said if you don't have the sense to do it for yourself, [F] do it for us.
[Bb] Well, it happened that the PTA was gonna meet that very afternoon. _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] Every wish is a bride for Mrs.
Johnson, wore her miniskirt and threw the blue. _
Three days later, she [Bb] reluctantly took the song to a recording session
and in her words, very angrily blurted out the words to Harper Valley PTA.
She [Eb] said I'd like to address this meeting [F] of the Harper Valley [Bb] PTA. _
I was told I was gonna have a number one pop record and I thought I'm gonna lose
my country identity before I ever gain it.
And with all this anger inside, it sounded like I was really into the [D] song.
But [A] later, when she finally heard the finished song, all that anger she blurted out during
the recording session became [D] sweet music to her ears.
When I heard the playback, _ [E] all negative thoughts that [Am] I had about it flew out the window.
[Eb] I got goose [B] bumps all over and everybody else did, too.
You say we did Harper Valley in 15 minutes, the finished cut.
Nothing was added, no [Bb] overdubs or anything and nothing subtracted.
It was the finished product the world would hear in 15 minutes.
Harper Valley PTA zoomed to the top of the pop charts and that number one rating seems
even more incredible when you consider [Eb] that 1968 was the height of the [Eb] psychedelic rock era.
[B] This was like a psychedelic era we were going through with the cream and [N] sunshine of your love
and a psychedelic reaction and [Gb] psychotic five [F] and all these things [Db] that were on the radio.
[Eb] And along comes this little simple country [Gbm] song by Jeannie C.
[B] Riley,
who had never really done anything up to that [G] point.
And it just, I think, [Eb] was unique enough to catch all of our [B] attention.
The success of Harper Valley PTA garnered the Grammy for the best female [E] country vocal
performance for Riley and the [Gb] fame generated by that [B] mega hit has followed Jeannie around
nearly 20 years after it was released.
It amazes me when I'll have people come up with this big stack of records and pictures
that collected through the years, want me to sign all of them.
[E] _ I can't imagine why they zeroed [B] in on me that I meant that much to them,
but I sure appreciate that fact.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ The true story of a spirited [Db] woman and her fight with the Harper [A] Valley PTA
was a most unlikely subject for a hit pop record during the hard [E] rock in late 60s.
But in [A] 1968, a [E] struggling young Texas-born [A] singer named Jeannie C.
Riley,
who'd been living [Ab] in Nashville working as a [A] secretary on Music Row,
was urged by a friend and his wife to record a new song written by Tom T.
Hall
titled Harper Valley PTA.
And [D] it was signed by the secretary [E]
Harper Valley [A] PTA.
_ I [Bb] was coaxed by this friend who was a [Bb] songwriter for the same company that
eventually put out this record, Harper Valley PTA.
_ _ He and his wife, who was my best friend, they twisted [A] my arm,
said if you don't have the sense to do it for yourself, [F] do it for us.
[Bb] Well, it happened that the PTA was gonna meet that very afternoon. _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] Every wish is a bride for Mrs.
Johnson, wore her miniskirt and threw the blue. _
Three days later, she [Bb] reluctantly took the song to a recording session
and in her words, very angrily blurted out the words to Harper Valley PTA.
She [Eb] said I'd like to address this meeting [F] of the Harper Valley [Bb] PTA. _
I was told I was gonna have a number one pop record and I thought I'm gonna lose
my country identity before I ever gain it.
And with all this anger inside, it sounded like I was really into the [D] song.
But [A] later, when she finally heard the finished song, all that anger she blurted out during
the recording session became [D] sweet music to her ears.
When I heard the playback, _ [E] all negative thoughts that [Am] I had about it flew out the window.
[Eb] I got goose [B] bumps all over and everybody else did, too.
You say we did Harper Valley in 15 minutes, the finished cut.
Nothing was added, no [Bb] overdubs or anything and nothing subtracted.
It was the finished product the world would hear in 15 minutes.
Harper Valley PTA zoomed to the top of the pop charts and that number one rating seems
even more incredible when you consider [Eb] that 1968 was the height of the [Eb] psychedelic rock era.
[B] This was like a psychedelic era we were going through with the cream and [N] sunshine of your love
and a psychedelic reaction and [Gb] psychotic five [F] and all these things [Db] that were on the radio.
[Eb] And along comes this little simple country [Gbm] song by Jeannie C.
[B] Riley,
who had never really done anything up to that [G] point.
And it just, I think, [Eb] was unique enough to catch all of our [B] attention.
The success of Harper Valley PTA garnered the Grammy for the best female [E] country vocal
performance for Riley and the [Gb] fame generated by that [B] mega hit has followed Jeannie around
nearly 20 years after it was released.
It amazes me when I'll have people come up with this big stack of records and pictures
that collected through the years, want me to sign all of them.
[E] _ I can't imagine why they zeroed [B] in on me that I meant that much to them,
but I sure appreciate that fact.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _