NIGHTCLUBBING

19 January 2021

It happened more than 50 years ago and I just today found out what was really happening.

Walt's college friend Jim and his wife Anne came from Maryland to visit.  Anne and I were both pregnant. 

We had a nice day touring San Francisco and after dinner, Jim said he didn't believe that they really had nude dancers in SF nightclubs.  He wanted to see a show.

Two men and their pregnant wives checking out nude clubs on Broadway Street.  We checked several and they were all much too expensive just to check out the shows.  We decided to give up, but crossed the street and found one small club with a guy in front who promised us a cheap admission, so we decided we would go in.

It was a small club with no tables, just rows of wooden chairs, like you'd find at our nursery school meetings.  The bar was on the right side and a wall was on the left side.  We faced the stage which was backed by a mirror.  We were the only people in the place. 

We ordered drinks and sat there looking at ourselves in the mirror behind the stage.  We couldn't even chat because we were seated in a line.

Pretty soon a nude woman walked in and turned on a record and began to dance.  She was dancing to "Harper Valley PTA"

It was the weirdest experience.  You looked at the stage and what you saw was a nude woman and pregnant women behind her.  We were in about the fourth row.  Did you look at various parts of her body, or did we look at our reflections behind her?  We felt like leaving, but couldn't leave because we were the only people in the audience, but when the record finished, we left.

For more than 50 years we have laughed at the story about this nude dancer who danced to "Harper Valley PTA."

I just learned today on Facebook that "Harper Valley PTA" was recently put on the list of  100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.  But in 1968 it was considered too sexy to be played on the radio before 9 p.m.

I guess I never listened to the lyrics.  It's based on a true story about a single mom who wears miniskirts and is the scorn of a small town.   A single mom was "a free spirit" who challenged the small town's social conventions. She showed up at a PTA meeting and berated the members for their "indiscretions" and hypocrisy.

"Well the note said, 'Mrs. Johnson, you're wearing your dresses way too high / It's reported you've been drinking / And running 'round with men and goin' wild / And we don't believe you oughta be a-bringin' up your little girl this way' / And it was signed by the secretary, Harper Valley P.T.A.," Riley sings.

I guess I should have paid more attention to other lyrics.

I wanna tell you all the story 'bout
A Harper Valley widowed wife
Who had a teenage daughter
Who attended Harper Valley Junior High
Well, her daughter came home one afternoon
And didn't even stop to play
And she said, "mom, I got a note here from the Harper Valley PTA"

Well, the note said, "Mrs. Johnson
You're wearin' your dresses way too high
It's reported you've been drinking
And a-running round with men and goin' wild
And we don't believe you oughta be a-bringin' up
Your little girl this way"
And it was signed by the Secretary
Harper Valley PTA

Well, it happened that the PTA was gonna meet
That very afternoon
And they were sure surprised
When Mrs. Johnson wore her miniskirt into the room
And as she walked up to the blackboard
I can still recall the words she had to say
She said, "I'd like to address this meeting of the Harper Valley PTA

Well, there's Bobby Taylor sittin' there
And seven times he's asked me for a date
And Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lotta ice
Whenever he's away
And Mr. Baker can you tell us why
Your secretary had to leave this town?
And shouldn't widow Jones be told to keep
Her window shades all pulled completely down

Well, Mr. Harper couldn't be here
'Cause he stayed too long at Kelly's Bar again
And if you smell Shirley Thompson's breath
You'll find she's had a little nip of gin
And then you have the nerve to tell me
You think that as a mother I'm not fit
Well, this is just a little Peyton Place
And you're all Harper Valley hypocrites"

No, I wouldn't put you on because it really did
It happened just this way
The day my mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA
The day my mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA

The perfect song to dance nude to?