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Sock it to 'em!
In the song Harper Valley PTA, Mrs Johnson says,
Well, there's Bobby Taylor sittin' there and seven times he's asked me for a date
Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lot of ice whenever he's away
What is she insinuating about Mrs Taylor? Is it that she has a drinking problem or that she's going through too much ice for one person and obviously isn't drinking alone? I understand the insinuation about why Mr Baker's secretary had to leave town, but "using a lot of ice" isn't a euphemism I'm familiar with.
srah - Monday, 14 May 2007 - 12:56 PM
Tags: harper valley pta, lyrics, music
Comments (14)
Jessica - May 14, 2007 - 9:51 PM - ℓ
Hi there! Sorry that it has taken me this long to reply to you, but I appreciate your thoughts on my blog. Volunteering is something I hold dearest to my heart. When I watched American Idol, I about cried myself to sleep. I was soo sad and I didn't feel as if it were fair that SOOO many people live in those conditions. But I really do appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to read my blog. I really love people like that. You didn't have to stop by, but you did and I am glad. So how has volunteering impacted your life? I hope that sometime in the near future, if you haven't experienced it already, that you get to do something like go to Mexico like I did and build a house. It was remarkable.
Well it's about that time..I need to go to sleep, but thank you!
-Jessica
katie - May 14, 2007 - 11:54 PM - ℓ
7. Maybe she's going through menopause?
8. Maybe she's pawning diamonds, or smuggling them in her dental work like in Diamonds are Forever.
9. Maybe Ice, Ice, Baby is the song she plays over and over and over while she's missing Mr. Taylor (come on, we all have a song like that).
10. There could be lots of other meanings.
Cheryl - May 15, 2007 - 8:23 AM - ℓ
11. She's all hot and bothered and needs to cool off?
Your ARWYDK - May 16, 2007 - 8:39 AM - ℓ
I grew up with that song and can assure you that there is no secret code of 1960s euphemisms that we were familiar with and you are not. I think the speaker is just throwing the venomous atmosphere of free-floating gossip back in the faces of her antagonists. It's good to hear that "Harper Valley PTA" is still so familiar. The song was composed by the great Tom T. Hall, and if you want to hear something else by him that's less cathartic but equally sharp, try "Trip to Hyden" or the "Ballad of Forty Dollars."
cp - May 16, 2007 - 11:14 AM - ℓ
In my day, we'd say a young woman "seemed to use a lot of ice" to mean that she enjoyed necking on the back of a pennyfarthing bicycle, all whilst doing the charleston.
srah - May 16, 2007 - 11:54 AM - ℓ
Wow, the Ken Jennings messageboards have come through with another theory that's also posited on Wikipedia!
I don't know why that one didn't occur to me. I am too far removed from the days of icemen. Who... cometh. Ahem.
Not your mom - May 17, 2007 - 10:58 AM - ℓ
I don't know when Harper Valley PTA was written, but they stopped delivering ice after refrigerators became common. I always assumed that meant she drank a lot to make up for him being gone. I don't think the songwriter was trying to be clever, just malicious.
Ok, possible theories:
1. The ice is for more than one person.
2. The ice is for ice packs for her head, because she drinks too much.
3. The ice is for ice packs because (trying to be discrete her) she is sore from activities she participates in when Mr. Taylor is away.
4. As anyone who watches Dog the Bounty Hunter would know, ice is another name for methamphetamines. Mrs. Taylor has a drug problem, but only indulges when her husband is out of town.
5. Mr. Taylor is a conservationist and would be appalled at his wife's wasteful overconsumption of ice.
6. Mrs. Taylor has an iron deficiency.
I'm partial to #4.