I always took the “ice” line as having the ice delivery man coming around for more than an ice delivery. No drug reference. I love y’all’s channel. Thanks for all the smiles and memories!!
@@peetwine4018 , that depends on the area. In a small country town, there might not have been a lot of homes that had new freezers, so they still relied on ice deliveries.
You need to understand that Peyton Place she's talking about is a widely watched soap opera at the time. The whole story is a soap opera. She was a rebellious woman who called out hypocrites.
Before the TV show, it was a controversial novel in the mid 1950s. Banned book in many places (back then) because of the un-vague references to recreational sex.
Peyton Place, a literary reference to a town whose quaint charm masks a complicated web of extramarital affairs, shady business deals, scandals, even murder.
As a kid back in the mid 60s, I remember this being played at least every half an hour on the radio. It was a cross-over hit on both Rock/pop, and Country Western radio. Thanks
Mama was pointing out what a bunch of busybody, judgmental hypocrites everyone in that town was, then to have the audacity to point her out as an unfit mother..She let them have it. Love this song. It reminds me so much of the little hamlet I lived the first 12 years of my life in. Sounds like the very same folks.
This truly happened a lot back in the '60s and '70s! My mom divorced my stepdad when my sister and I were 10 and 11, my mom was asked to take us out of Girl Scouts! They didn't want to sex crazy divorced mother to be involved or their children in their honorable institutions!
@@allisonoconnor8055 so sorry to your mom, Allison! That’s just crazy! Yes, though, it was like that for my mother, too, and I bet your mom was really pretty? My mom was, and it was so hard for her to have married friends and be a young widow. I can imagine it was much worse for a young, divorced woman. The thought was that a divorcee or a widow had to be on the make because they don’t have a man. They’ll try to take mine! Ridiculous!
Guys remember the year…….you use a lot of ice in drinks, especially when you are “ entertaining “ someone, while your husband is away. This was a real crossover hit between country and pop. Everyone knew the words, and would sing along whenever it came on the radio or tv. Thanks for playing it!
It's actually referring to her cheating on her husband. Back then, there was an ice truck that would come door to door to deliver blocks of ice. Her mother was insinuating that the board member was sleeping with the ice delivery driver while her husband was out of town, so she would order more ice than usual, or maybe even more than she actually needed just to, well, you know.
@@nickbangs2140 always a scam. Even when people put links to other videos in the comments it's always best to never click them just in case to keep your information safe.
I always took that the ice guy was making an unusual amount of ice "deliveries," implying the ice guy was having an affair with Mrs. (I forgot the name)
That guitar played horizontally with a slide is called a dobro. It is used mostly in country and blues. There is a song called "Curtis Lowe" that is about a dobro player.
Technically it’s a lap steel guitar, dobro was a brand name with a certain shape and originally not electrified as I recall. People tend to use dobro nowadays to avoid confusion with the pedal steel guitar
@@BST-lm4po I think "National" was to first make a "resonator" guitar. Eventually Dobro and National became one company. I want to also say that National made the first steel body resonator guitar.
@@BST-lm4po A dobro is not a steel guitar. Steel guitars come in two types, lap steels and pedal steels.a dobro is played similarly but it is not the same thing.
@@ziggystardog I have been a guitarist for 50 years and my father had a lap steel and it is very different from a dobro. They are played the same (mot sure if the tuning is the same or not) but they are distinctly different instruments.
in certain parts of the country (in the 1970s) people would recieve deliveries of ice at their doorstep. Same as milk. Using alot of ice would suggest that the woman was recieving romantic comfort when her husband was out of town. There is a song by the Kentucky Headhunters called My Daddys the milkman that you should check out also.
I didn't realize Tom T Hall wrote this song. This was well before my time, but I am familiar with this song and Tom. Thanks for the info. From the little I do know he wrote some good ones.
One of the best "story-telling" songwriters of all time. "Old Dogs and Children", "The Day That Clayton Delaney Died", etc. In my home state of Washington there's a highway called the North Cascade Highway that connects Western and Eastern Washington. The winds its way through a lot of wilderness. As I was driving it one summer day in the 1970s I saw a large bolder on the side of the road. Someone, using spray paint, had written on the bolder, "Tom T. Hall was here." I have no idea if he actually wrote it but it made me smile.
This was 70's am radio fodder, KBYG am hits. And then I heard Black Sabbath War Pigs at my friends house, on his brothers Stero and I was blown away, got a job to buy a stereo and bought my first album Black Sabbath Paranoid.
Using a lot of ice while he was away: Ice used to be delivered back in the day she was hooking up with the delivery driver. Having the window shades down: widow Jones was keeping her shades up while changing clothes in order to allow people to peek in on her. The Secretary has to leave because she got pregnant by her boss.
This song marked the arrival of women's lib in country music. A complete change in tone from the songs women sang up to that point. The guitar was a resonater.
Back then ice was actually just ice, as in you got blocks of ice delivered to put in the "ice box" which is what people used to call the refrigerator. The innuendo is the woman was having a lot of ice delivered, so she must be having an affair with the ice delivery man. People used to say so and so "ran off with the milk man or the mail man". For housewives that stayed home, that's who they saw every week along with the occasional traveling salesman. This song was the number one song on both the country and pop charts back in 1968 and was hugely popular around the world. It was the first country song to ever crossover to top Billboard's pop charts!
@@TimBee100 I was born in 1963 and the first 3 houses we lived in did not have electricity and we had an "outhouse" and chamber pots. My mom and grandma made soap outside in a big pot over a fire, and I remember when they got there hands on a wringer washing machine (which I promptly tried to put my hand through and still bear the scar, lol) after we got electricity and they were very happy to have it. I think it depends on where a person lived. What else could it possibly mean? I know we kept calling refrigerators "ice boxes" for a long time. My friend recently showed me the ice box that belonged to his mom when he was very young. I live in Appalachia. I'm really beginning to understand that people don't know very much about our culture. And the way we are portrayed in the media is horrendously inaccurate.
@@TimBee100 There are still areas of the USA that have no electricity, or even land line phone service. The last place to have land line service made available was in rural Louisiana AFTER cell phones had become the norm around the world.
"Peyton Place" was a very popular soap opera that Mia Farrow starred in when she was young. I think the woman was using a lot of ice because she was having a lot of drinks on the rocks. It's country.
The lyric that says "This is just a little Payton Place and you're all just Harper Valley hiepocrits" is a reference to a wildly controversial best-selling novel called Payton Place about an upscale suburban community in which all sorts of corruption and marital indiscretions and even murder were taking place. When this song was released EVERYBODY understood that lyric because the novel had made such a huge social impact.
The ice was just ice. It meant she drinks a lot and has company when her husband is away. It is country. It was written by hall of Fame songwriter Tom T Hall. Great story teller. The instrument is a dobro. It is also called a resonator guitar. Dobro was a brand name of resonators but has become synonymous with the term resonator guitar. It is played with figer picks and a weighted slide like one might use on a steel guitar. You should check out Tom T Hall, maybe either "Old Dogs and Children" or "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died". There are many great songs by Tom T.
This one goes back to the era when all genres of music could be heard together on top 40 radio. Radio today is much to specific for such a thing to happen. Can you even imagine a radio segment with the Rolling Stones, followed by The Four Tops, followed by Johnny Cash, followed by Creedence? I miss it.
Absolutely true - and it was a great discovery mechanism for finding out that, actually, you didn't hate all xxxx music. True music lovers find something to like in multiple genres. Far too many people now say they only like one kind of music and use heavily stovepiped radio or streaming to shut out everything else. But, such people are more like fashion victims than true music lovers.
@@alanmusicman3385 Strangely the thing that taught me to like all different sorts of music was Dr. Demento. He played music from all genres, as long as it was funny. It snuck in under the radar, and as a result I ended up being able to listen to and really enjoy virtually every genre of music.
The guitar is a Dobro or resonator guitar. They were designed to be louder to be heard over the piano etc. before electric guitars. The strings sit on sort of a metal spider-web that transfers the vibrations to what looks like an aluminum speaker inside. The distinctive tone is favored by slide players.
Yes, this is a Country Ballad. The guitarist is playing a Dobro with a slide. The metal piece in the center is called a Resonator. It's usually played in your lap while sitting.
She was using a lot of ice because the men she was having over like to have their drinks on the rocks, i.e. ice cubes in the glass of alcohol. Also, for those who don't know, _'Peyton Place'_ was a soap opera television show. Check out the movie they made when this song became popular. It starred Barbara Eden as the mother who socks it to the Harley Valley P.T.A.
“Sock it to me!” was a huge catchphrase back in the day. Made famous on the ground-breaking TV show “Laugh-In”, it was a silly, nebulous, racy, sexually-charged phrase that meant whatever you wanted it to mean.
The line about the ice implies that she makes a lot of mixed drinks when he is not around.... saying she sure drinks alot when she is alone... laying it between the lines of the lyrics....Tom T. Hall was a MASTER story song writer... you should check out his live video of Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine... he tells the inspiration for the song....
It sounds like Harper Valley was a small town, and many people, possibly including the Taylors may not have gotten an electric refrigerator yet, so like many homes, would get regular deliveries of large blocks of ice for their ice-box. Implied is that the delivery driver was probably a strong, probably young man, making more frequent visits to the home when the husband's away. It sounds to me like both of the Taylors were either getting sexual action outside the marriage, or persistently trying to do so.
The guitar is what is called a resonator guitar. The are used a lot in delta blues music. The metal on the front is basically a speaker cone that makes the instrument sound louder, they were designed to be loud enough to be heard with a full band in the days before amplification
I love this song. I think it is a favorite for so many, because we all dream of doing that - just casually walking in and spilling the tea about everyone whose been judging our actions.
It's a resonator guitar also known as a "Dobro". John Dopyera invented the resonator guitar, his company and brand name became DoBro (short for Dopyera Brothers).
No, they didn't have Heisenberg's "Blue Ice" back then. To get amphetamines all you had to do was ask your doctor for a prescription for "pep" pills, which were one of "Mother's Little Helper," like the Rolling Stones song. The "ice" was a visit from the "ice man" who brought blocks of ice to the house before electric refrigerators were common.
Mrs. Thompson uses 'eyes' which means she flirts alot. The phrase "Sock it to me" became popular from the comedy show Laugh-In. Judy Carne was the sock it to me girl. The show also featured a usually bikini clad and air-headed Goldie Hawn. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnal's.
Love that dobro playing- he's amazing! And Jeannie's voice is awesome and fits so well with the instrumentation. The story may be the focal point of the song, but it's all good!
I remember when this song came out ... My Parents loved it ... They were calling her out ... and she turned around and gave it back to them.. with receipts !!
That was a resonator guitar, an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones, instead of to the guitar's sounding board. (wiki). And the ice was literal, for the ice in the alcoholic drinks.
Ice is ice to put in icebox like a refrigerator. It would be delivered by a delivery man who possible hung around for a little something extra. The instrument he playing is called a dobro guitar or just dobro
There was actually a short lived TV series based on this song. Stella Johnson (Mama) was played by Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeanie). It was a short lived show but I recall liking it when I was a kid. It's a good story song.
Yeah, she aired ALL of the dirty laundry. Years later, as a devout Christian, she sang "Return to Harper Valley" about her grandchildren. Her daughter (from the song) has kids of her own now, in high school. I liked it
Hey y'all, I remember when this came out! They were kinda ''pushing the limits'' then but yes Lex is right! She was calling them out for their hypocrisy! The instrument is a ''Steel Guitar'' and was very popular back in the day and is still used in Country music! Great reaction!
Definitely a Country song, with the guy playing a National Guitar. BTW, I think the "ice" reference was that the PTA Board Member's wife had a black eye when he left town. She was getting beat up, a common issue back in the day, if not now. Or maybe she was getting drunk a lot, either way, as they say people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Tom T. Hall was a Nashville legend, both as songwriter and singer. I got to hear him play at a reception in Fayetteville, Arkansas, hosted by the University of Arkansas Press, which was run by the poet Miller Williams (father of Lucinda), who was a gentleman in every sense of the word. Williams and his Press had just published Tom T. Hall's collection of short stories, and Mr. Hall gladly signed everyone's copy.
Wouldn't surprise me one little bit is the ice was for an ice box, the forerunner of the refrigerator, and the woman was buying extra so that she could get it delivered when her husband left. Ice from frozen lakes, etc., used to be exported all over the world from USA and Canada. (It's not always drugs, Brad.)
This song is all country. The late great Tom T. Hall wrote and produced this song. The song went all the way to hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Country charts back in 1968.
yes, it was certainly a crossover hit. jeannie c. riley's a country star, but this became popular on the pop and rock stations, too. it's from my era (because i'm in my '60's), and the reference back then to ice was talking about using lots of those cold cubes in mixed drinks, cocktails, and such. also, a made-for-t.v. movie came out after this song became popular. this song was the theme song for the movie, it starred barbara eden ('i dream of jeanie' fame), and it detailed what was going on in the town of harper valley and in the lives of the p.t.a. board members, too, so if you're interested in doing a review of a cute, funny, t.v. movie from way back, that one would answer any questions you may have abt this song.
Oh man y'all taking me back to my childhood.....loved this song especially when she spilt the beans on them 😁. They actually made this into a movie...y'all should check it out. Btw Brad that is a steel guitar used in most country music. And this was based loosely on a true story 🕊️💗
.....that guitar he's playing is called a resonator guitar. It 's made for slide guitar playing which is what he is doing with his fretting hand. It has a metal tube that he uses to make the notes and it has a unique 'sliding' sound, A maker of these guitars is the Dobro company which also is another name these type of guitars are known by. There's even an all-metal acoustic guitar called the Nashville that is used for sliding, too.....
I always took the “ice” line as having the ice delivery man coming around for more than an ice delivery. No drug reference. I love y’all’s channel. Thanks for all the smiles and memories!!
I've taken it that she uses a lot of ice because she is entertaining
She was using a lot of ice because the men she was having over like to have their drinks on the rocks, i.e. ice cubes in the glass of alcohol.
Sherri Brock; spot on. A fling with the ice man.
This is from '68, long after the "ice man" was just a distant memory. It just means that she and her "guests" were doing a lot of boozing
@@peetwine4018 , that depends on the area. In a small country town, there might not have been a lot of homes that had new freezers, so they still relied on ice deliveries.
You need to understand that Peyton Place she's talking about is a widely watched soap opera at the time. The whole story is a soap opera. She was a rebellious woman who called out hypocrites.
Before the TV show, it was a controversial novel in the mid 1950s. Banned book in many places (back then) because of the un-vague references to recreational sex.
This was one of the first crossover hits, Jeanie is country, but this was so popular EVERYONE loved it. ❤️🔥
Written by the great Tom T Hall.
Sigh. Must be a generational thing.
@@Amaberean actual artistry strikes a chord even beyond the artist's generation.
@@user-gt2uf8cq9y sneaky snake goes dancin
Peyton Place, a literary reference to a town whose quaint charm masks a complicated web of extramarital affairs, shady business deals, scandals, even murder.
As a kid back in the mid 60s, I remember this being played at least every half an hour on the radio. It was a cross-over hit on both Rock/pop, and Country Western radio.
Thanks
Born in 1960, and yes I remember this song always being played.
This one and Ode to Billie Joe.
Mama was pointing out what a bunch of busybody, judgmental hypocrites everyone in that town was, then to have the audacity to point her out as an unfit mother..She let them have it. Love this song. It reminds me so much of the little hamlet I lived the first 12 years of my life in. Sounds like the very same folks.
You just described the democrats. Now Jeannie C. Riley is a Terrorist.
This truly happened a lot back in the '60s and '70s! My mom divorced my stepdad when my sister and I were 10 and 11, my mom was asked to take us out of Girl Scouts! They didn't want to sex crazy divorced mother to be involved or their children in their honorable institutions!
@@allisonoconnor8055 so sorry to your mom, Allison! That’s just crazy! Yes, though, it was like that for my mother, too, and I bet your mom was really pretty? My mom was, and it was so hard for her to have married friends and be a young widow. I can imagine it was much worse for a young, divorced woman. The thought was that a divorcee or a widow had to be on the make because they don’t have a man. They’ll try to take mine! Ridiculous!
They still sold big blocks of ice door to door. Today they'd talk about getting more Amazon deliveries than usual.
Guys remember the year…….you use a lot of ice in drinks, especially when you are “ entertaining “ someone, while your husband is away. This was a real crossover hit between country and pop. Everyone knew the words, and would sing along whenever it came on the radio or tv. Thanks for playing it!
I got the same reply, do you know what this is? Is it even real or is it a scam?
It's actually referring to her cheating on her husband. Back then, there was an ice truck that would come door to door to deliver blocks of ice. Her mother was insinuating that the board member was sleeping with the ice delivery driver while her husband was out of town, so she would order more ice than usual, or maybe even more than she actually needed just to, well, you know.
@@nickbangs2140 Definitely a scam. They're doing it in the comments on all the channels that I watch.
@@nickbangs2140 always a scam. Even when people put links to other videos in the comments it's always best to never click them just in case to keep your information safe.
Eyes, eyes, she was always eyeing other men.
Back then ice was delivered
In 1968 most homes had a freezer. Ice could be delivered, but it wasn't very common
The ice was literal frozen water ice because they drank so much.This was also made into a movie if you want to review it.
Not sure where people get ice, she say has alot of EYE when his away. In otherwords she screws around when he is gone
I always took that the ice guy was making an unusual amount of ice "deliveries," implying the ice guy was having an affair with Mrs. (I forgot the name)
not ice but eyes, another way of flirting
@@fredspicker9403 "....And Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lotta ice
Whenever he's away."
(The actual lyric)
And after the movie, it was made into a [short-lived] TV series with Barbara Eden reprising her starring role.
That guitar played horizontally with a slide is called a dobro. It is used mostly in country and blues. There is a song called "Curtis Lowe" that is about a dobro player.
Generically it's refered to as a "steel guitar". Very common in country and blue grass music back in the day.
Technically it’s a lap steel guitar, dobro was a brand name with a certain shape and originally not electrified as I recall. People tend to use dobro nowadays to avoid confusion with the pedal steel guitar
@@BST-lm4po I think "National" was to first make a "resonator" guitar. Eventually Dobro and National became one company.
I want to also say that National made the first steel body resonator guitar.
@@BST-lm4po A dobro is not a steel guitar. Steel guitars come in two types, lap steels and pedal steels.a dobro is played similarly but it is not the same thing.
@@ziggystardog I have been a guitarist for 50 years and my father had a lap steel and it is very different from a dobro. They are played the same (mot sure if the tuning is the same or not) but they are distinctly different instruments.
in certain parts of the country (in the 1970s) people would recieve deliveries of ice at their doorstep. Same as milk. Using alot of ice would suggest that the woman was recieving romantic comfort when her husband was out of town. There is a song by the Kentucky Headhunters called My Daddys the milkman that you should check out also.
Kentucky Headhunters.
It’s been a minute since I heard that name.
The extra ice might also indicate lots of extra cocktails because she's sad/depressed/an alcoholic and her husband is catting around.
EYES, not ice, no one had ice delivered anymore in the late 60s or 70s
Maybe she was having an affair with the ice delivery man.
@@humpy936 thank you. That's exactly what she said.
That guitar is a resonator guitar, instead of a single hole in the middle, it has multiple holes with slotted resonator panels, basically.
This was definitely country. It just crossed over very well in popularity.
Written by the late, great Tom T Hall.
I didn't realize Tom T Hall wrote this song. This was well before my time, but I am familiar with this song and Tom. Thanks for the info. From the little I do know he wrote some good ones.
One of the best "story-telling" songwriters of all time. "Old Dogs and Children", "The Day That Clayton Delaney Died", etc. In my home state of Washington there's a highway called the North Cascade Highway that connects Western and Eastern Washington. The winds its way through a lot of wilderness. As I was driving it one summer day in the 1970s I saw a large bolder on the side of the road. Someone, using spray paint, had written on the bolder, "Tom T. Hall was here." I have no idea if he actually wrote it but it made me smile.
Tom T. Hall doesn't get enough respect thrown on his name.
Good on you for giving him a mention.
Back in the stone age everyone was deep into everyone shit. Especially in small towns lol.
This was 70's am radio fodder, KBYG am hits. And then I heard Black Sabbath War Pigs at my friends house, on his brothers Stero and I was blown away, got a job to buy a stereo and bought my first album Black Sabbath Paranoid.
They also made a tv movie based on this song staring Barbara Eden.
there was also a tv series as well.
Barbara Eden was hot! 😜
It was in theaters first.
Yes, Harper Valley PTA is a country song. Its from 1968.
I loved this song when it came out. Country music is such a great story-telling genre.
I love the way she sang The A with 2 syllables
Tom T. Hall wrote this about an incident that happened in his hometown. Jeannie just sang it.
Using a lot of ice while he was away: Ice used to be delivered back in the day she was hooking up with the delivery driver. Having the window shades down: widow Jones was keeping her shades up while changing clothes in order to allow people to peek in on her. The Secretary has to leave because she got pregnant by her boss.
This was after ice delivery days. It was about her partying and drinking a lot.
This song marked the arrival of women's lib in country music. A complete change in tone from the songs women sang up to that point. The guitar was a resonater.
She also apologized for the song and did a follow up, check it out!
Back then ice was actually just ice, as in you got blocks of ice delivered to put in the "ice box" which is what people used to call the refrigerator. The innuendo is the woman was having a lot of ice delivered, so she must be having an affair with the ice delivery man. People used to say so and so "ran off with the milk man or the mail man". For housewives that stayed home, that's who they saw every week along with the occasional traveling salesman. This song was the number one song on both the country and pop charts back in 1968 and was hugely popular around the world. It was the first country song to ever crossover to top Billboard's pop charts!
Ice boxes in the 1960s?
@@TimBee100 I was born in 1963 and the first 3 houses we lived in did not have electricity and we had an "outhouse" and chamber pots. My mom and grandma made soap outside in a big pot over a fire, and I remember when they got there hands on a wringer washing machine (which I promptly tried to put my hand through and still bear the scar, lol) after we got electricity and they were very happy to have it. I think it depends on where a person lived. What else could it possibly mean? I know we kept calling refrigerators "ice boxes" for a long time. My friend recently showed me the ice box that belonged to his mom when he was very young. I live in Appalachia. I'm really beginning to understand that people don't know very much about our culture. And the way we are portrayed in the media is horrendously inaccurate.
@@TimBee100 1950s, actually, since the story is sung from the perspective of the grown-up daughter.
@@Osprey850 - They weren't wearing mini skirts in the 1950s.
@@TimBee100 There are still areas of the USA that have no electricity, or even land line phone service. The last place to have land line service made available was in rural Louisiana AFTER cell phones had become the norm around the world.
"Peyton Place" was a very popular soap opera that Mia Farrow starred in when she was young. I think the woman was using a lot of ice because she was having a lot of drinks on the rocks.
It's country.
Lol I love y'all! Ice back then was not drugs, I think it means she drank and went thru a lot of ice because she had a visitor!
Mrs Taylor was getting her heat cooled by the ice delivery driver.
The guitar is a resonator guitar, commonly known as a dobro. It’s usually played with a slide as shown here.
The lyric that says "This is just a little Payton Place and you're all just Harper Valley hiepocrits" is a reference to a wildly controversial best-selling novel called Payton Place about an upscale suburban community in which all sorts of corruption and marital indiscretions and even murder were taking place. When this song was released EVERYBODY understood that lyric because the novel had made such a huge social impact.
The ice was just ice. It meant she drinks a lot and has company when her husband is away. It is country. It was written by hall of Fame songwriter Tom T Hall. Great story teller. The instrument is a dobro. It is also called a resonator guitar. Dobro was a brand name of resonators but has become synonymous with the term resonator guitar. It is played with figer picks and a weighted slide like one might use on a steel guitar. You should check out Tom T Hall, maybe either "Old Dogs and Children" or "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died". There are many great songs by Tom T.
I was so little when this aired on the radio. And I'm so proud, today, that I loved that no-bs attitude of hers at such a young age.
The guitar is a dobro, old time country laptop slide guitar, I saw her live when this was a huge hit back in 70’s - you guys are the best 👍🏻👍🏻👏👏👏
This whole album is incredible. A country masterpiece. Written by Tom T Hall, it gets me every time I hear it. Thanks for this reaction! ❤️❤️❤️
Tom T Hall song. This was big on all the radio stations back then. Ice meant ice used for drinking liquor.
Written by the late great Tom T. Hall.
Tom T Hall would be an awesome rabbit hole for them to go down, one of the greatest songwriters
@Scott Allen old dogs children an watermelon wine, salute a switchblade
This one goes back to the era when all genres of music could be heard together on top 40 radio. Radio today is much to specific for such a thing to happen. Can you even imagine a radio segment with the Rolling Stones, followed by The Four Tops, followed by Johnny Cash, followed by Creedence? I miss it.
I remember! Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" played within a few minutes of "Killing Me Softly with His Song." A real potpourri.
Absolutely true - and it was a great discovery mechanism for finding out that, actually, you didn't hate all xxxx music. True music lovers find something to like in multiple genres. Far too many people now say they only like one kind of music and use heavily stovepiped radio or streaming to shut out everything else. But, such people are more like fashion victims than true music lovers.
@@alanmusicman3385 Strangely the thing that taught me to like all different sorts of music was Dr. Demento. He played music from all genres, as long as it was funny. It snuck in under the radar, and as a result I ended up being able to listen to and really enjoy virtually every genre of music.
You totally got it Lex! Exactly what the song was about!
The guitar is a Dobro or resonator guitar. They were designed to be louder to be heard over the piano etc. before electric guitars. The strings sit on sort of a metal spider-web that transfers the vibrations to what looks like an aluminum speaker inside. The distinctive tone is favored by slide players.
Yes, this is a Country Ballad. The guitarist is playing a Dobro with a slide. The metal piece in the center is called a Resonator. It's usually played in your lap while sitting.
She was using a lot of ice because the men she was having over like to have their drinks on the rocks, i.e. ice cubes in the glass of alcohol.
Also, for those who don't know, _'Peyton Place'_ was a soap opera television show.
Check out the movie they made when this song became popular. It starred Barbara Eden as the mother who socks it to the Harley Valley P.T.A.
“Sock it to me!” was a huge catchphrase back in the day. Made famous on the ground-breaking TV show “Laugh-In”, it was a silly, nebulous, racy, sexually-charged phrase that meant whatever you wanted it to mean.
The line about the ice implies that she makes a lot of mixed drinks when he is not around.... saying she sure drinks alot when she is alone... laying it between the lines of the lyrics....Tom T. Hall was a MASTER story song writer... you should check out his live video of Old Dogs and Children, and Watermelon Wine... he tells the inspiration for the song....
The line is referring she must be having an affair with the ice delivery guy.
It sounds like Harper Valley was a small town, and many people, possibly including the Taylors may not have gotten an electric refrigerator yet, so like many homes, would get regular deliveries of large blocks of ice for their ice-box. Implied is that the delivery driver was probably a strong, probably young man, making more frequent visits to the home when the husband's away. It sounds to me like both of the Taylors were either getting sexual action outside the marriage, or persistently trying to do so.
No, the woman was gettin busy with the ice man.
Nah, it was that she was banging the ice delivery guy and his truck was there frequently when the husband was away.
The guitar is what is called a resonator guitar. The are used a lot in delta blues music. The metal on the front is basically a speaker cone that makes the instrument sound louder, they were designed to be loud enough to be heard with a full band in the days before amplification
My mom fell in love with this song when it came out. Thanks for the memories.
I love this song. I think it is a favorite for so many, because we all dream of doing that - just casually walking in and spilling the tea about everyone whose been judging our actions.
I just want to appreciate the arrangement of the video. 💛💗💓💞
The song was so big that they made of movie from it. Successful movie too.
The Dufont hair dews of the 60's still crack me up. I'm 63 also.
I love that this song is from the perspective of the daughter.
It's a resonator guitar also known as a "Dobro". John Dopyera invented the resonator guitar, his company and brand name became DoBro (short for Dopyera Brothers).
No, they didn't have Heisenberg's "Blue Ice" back then. To get amphetamines all you had to do was ask your doctor for a prescription for "pep" pills, which were one of "Mother's Little Helper," like the Rolling Stones song. The "ice" was a visit from the "ice man" who brought blocks of ice to the house before electric refrigerators were common.
Lol. My much older step brother called them "cross tops" because of the "x" design on the top of the tablet. We called it "trucker speed".
Mrs. Thompson uses 'eyes' which means she flirts alot. The phrase "Sock it to me" became popular from the comedy show Laugh-In. Judy Carne was the sock it to me girl. The show also featured a usually bikini clad and air-headed Goldie Hawn. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnal's.
Look that up in your Funk & Wagnals!! Lol!! Good job, I forgot about that one!!
You win this week's Fickle Finger of Fate award!
Love that dobro playing- he's amazing! And Jeannie's voice is awesome and fits so well with the instrumentation. The story may be the focal point of the song, but it's all good!
I remember when this song came out ... My Parents loved it ... They were calling her out ... and she turned around and gave it back to them.. with receipts !!
That was a resonator guitar, an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones, instead of to the guitar's sounding board. (wiki).
And the ice was literal, for the ice in the alcoholic drinks.
She also does a song called "Return to Haper Valley"
The genre of the song could very well be - rockabilly!
Ice is ice to put in icebox like a refrigerator. It would be delivered by a delivery man who possible hung around for a little something extra.
The instrument he playing is called a dobro guitar or just dobro
Love your tshirts, my 1st concert 1973 Grateful Dead, and seen the Stones 4 times since 81
There was actually a short lived TV series based on this song. Stella Johnson (Mama) was played by Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeanie). It was a short lived show but I recall liking it when I was a kid.
It's a good story song.
Ice means ice for her adult beverages, not meth! 🤣
Nah, man, Mrs Taylor was getting her heat cooled by the ice delivery driver.
@@OriginalLictre Great way to word that man.
Yeah, she aired ALL of the dirty laundry. Years later, as a devout Christian, she sang "Return to Harper Valley" about her grandchildren. Her daughter (from the song) has kids of her own now, in high school. I liked it
That guitar player was having a jam! Love this song!
There was also a popular TV series called Harper Valley PTA starring Barbara Eden (I Dream Of Jeanne)
Thanks to the other commenters for explaining some of the "ancient" wordplay. Peace, Love!!
Brad, that's a steel guitar being played. Notice how he held it, unlike a normal guitar. 🤔🤗😎
And that "guitar with the metal" is called a Dobro and it's always played flat and with s slide.
You'll see them a lot in bluegrass.
Yes, it's country music and that there is a steel guitar. Thank yous for your reaction 🎉
I love the surprise reveal at the end; it turns out SHE"S the daughter grown up!
My grandma ♥ this song! 😆
She said Ice , for the drinks she was mixing !
Ice for chilling wine, champagne, mixing cocktails, etc. Having parties.
Hey y'all, I remember when this came out! They were kinda ''pushing the limits'' then but yes Lex is right! She was calling them out for their hypocrisy! The instrument is a ''Steel Guitar'' and was very popular back in the day and is still used in Country music! Great reaction!
Definitely a Country song, with the guy playing a National Guitar. BTW, I think the "ice" reference was that the PTA Board Member's wife had a black eye when he left town. She was getting beat up, a common issue back in the day, if not now. Or maybe she was getting drunk a lot, either way, as they say people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I have loved this since the first time I heard it.
Awesome Song Awesome Singer Awesome Reaction 💖💯
It’s a dobro sort of acoustic steel guitar very cool sound she was amazing
4:20 "His wife sure uses a lot of ice when he"s away". The inference is that she's drinking alot or maybe entertaining another man at her house.
Tom T. Hall was a good songwriter. Miss Johnson let the hypocrites have it.
Lol back in the day when ice was just ice...♡
Tom T. Hall was a Nashville legend, both as songwriter and singer. I got to hear him play at a reception in Fayetteville, Arkansas, hosted by the University of Arkansas Press, which was run by the poet Miller Williams (father of Lucinda), who was a gentleman in every sense of the word. Williams and his Press had just published Tom T. Hall's collection of short stories, and Mr. Hall gladly signed everyone's copy.
I tried Telegram for the first ti
Telegram wants a phone number. How do I connect?
Wouldn't surprise me one little bit is the ice was for an ice box, the forerunner of the refrigerator, and the woman was buying extra so that she could get it delivered when her husband left. Ice from frozen lakes, etc., used to be exported all over the world from USA and Canada. (It's not always drugs, Brad.)
Great classic. My Dad went to middle school with her.
Hot song back in the 60’s! Love it!!
This song is all country. The late great Tom T. Hall wrote and produced this song. The song went all the way to hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Country charts back in 1968.
these two are like passing a bad car wreck, you always look at the carnage.
This song needs to be played loudly all over America lol!
Thanks again !
My mother loved this song when I was a little kid. She didn't want to explain what the lyrics meant to us four young children. LOL
Hats off to Jeannie C Riley, that was not lip syncing!
Cool song. Thanks for introducing that to me, cats.
Don’t mess with mama bear.
This song always amused me so much because it is something my Mother would have done.
The man playing the dobro is Jerry Kennedy. One of the great session guitar players of all time. 100's of hits recorded with him on guitar.
Harper Valley sounds like a fun little town.
It certainly is country. Wonderful storytelling.
yes, it was certainly a crossover hit. jeannie c. riley's a country star, but this became popular on the pop and rock stations, too. it's from my era (because i'm in my '60's), and the reference back then to ice was talking about using lots of those cold cubes in mixed drinks, cocktails, and such. also, a made-for-t.v. movie came out after this song became popular. this song was the theme song for the movie, it starred barbara eden ('i dream of jeanie' fame), and it detailed what was going on in the town of harper valley and in the lives of the p.t.a. board members, too, so if you're interested in doing a review of a cute, funny, t.v. movie from way back, that one would answer any questions you may have abt this song.
Delivery man was delivering more than "ice"
Oh man y'all taking me back to my childhood.....loved this song especially when she spilt the beans on them 😁. They actually made this into a movie...y'all should check it out. Btw Brad that is a steel guitar used in most country music. And this was based loosely on a true story 🕊️💗
.....that guitar he's playing is called a resonator guitar. It 's made for slide guitar playing which is what he is doing with his fretting hand. It has a metal tube that he uses to make the notes and it has a unique 'sliding' sound, A maker of these guitars is the Dobro company which also is another name these type of guitars are known by. There's even an all-metal acoustic guitar called the Nashville that is used for sliding, too.....
...tried to but couldn't get thru. Love your channel !!!
She was using ice making cocktails. In the 60s and 70s most home bars had a bucket of ice for the cocktails.
Wow!! That's an oldie. I had that in a 45 record in my teens. 1970s.
I'm surprised I was able to remember this and sing with it.
I'm 63. I was in my teens when I had this record.