Posted on 08/20/2021 7:36:14 PM PDT by hoagy62
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tom T. Hall, the singer-songwriter who composed “Harper Valley P.T.A.” and sang about life’s simple joys as country music’s consummate blue collar bard, has died. He was 85.
His son, Dean Hall, confirmed the musician's death on Friday at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. Hall, known as “The Storyteller” for his unadorned yet incisive lyrics, composed hundreds of songs.
Along with such contemporaries as Kris Kristofferson, John Hartford and Mickey Newbury, Hall helped usher in a literary era of country music in the early ’70s, with songs that were political, like “Watergate Blues” and “The Monkey That Became President,” deeply personal like “The Year Clayton Delaney Died,” and philosophical like “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine.”
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IKK remember he got in trouble with the Spokane Chamber of Commerce for the song "Spokane Motel Blues" where he sang about being stuck in an un-named motel in Spokane and about the things and places he could have been instead. He was eventually forgiven and came to the Spokane Interstate Fair and did a concert.
Here is the song in question.
Spokane Motel Blues RIP Tom
Olds dogs, children, and watermelon wine.
I remember the year that Tom T. Hall died...
He did songs for kids too. I sang “Halloween Is” to my kids and now my grandkids.
Same. Great song.
Clayton Delaney
Great song.
Little baby ducks and old pickup trucks
Who’s gonna feed them hogs?
The Great East Broadway Onion Championship of 1978
Sneaky Snake.
Faster Horses.
Faster Horses, Younger Women, Older Whisky———More money.
Funny thing, the lyrics to this one suddenly popped into my head yesterday. Simply could not shake it.
Sometimes, I wonder.
Whatever good he might have ever done was undone by “I Love” in 1973 (begins, “I love little Baby Ducks, Big Pick-Up Trucks ...”), though 1972 had “Playground in My Mind” by Clint Holmes, that was even more insipid (”My name is Michael, I’ve got a nickel...”)
I’m amazed to hear that Tom T. Hall was still alive as recently as earlier today. R.I.P. LOVE Harper Valley PTA. Great song.
The day my mama socked it to the Harper Valley PTA.
For some reason, I always got him mixed up with Hoyt Axton.
Someone took your four-leaf clover
All your lucky days are over
That’s the way it feels
When love is gone
Got to see him live in concert when stationed at Ft. Bragg, along with a local group and B.J. Thomas.
Towards the end I discovered it was a fund raiser fr Jimmy Carter.
Oh well, made me think of his song, “the Monkey that Became President,”
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