The professor for my first college English class believed in the ideals of New Criticism (specifically that ordinary readers should be able to determine the merits of a literary work without knowing any of its cultural / historical background). He gave us two works to analyze. One was "Honey" (I forget the alternative--it was probably a decent poem). I seized on the opportunity to trash poor Bobby's greatest hit. To this day, I still think it's worthless dreck (and I don't dislike Goldsboro per se--he has some decent songs).

Harper Valley PTA, while it didn't appeal to me at the time, is in the tradition of country songs that call out sanctimony (lots of folks like Porter Wagoner, Billy Joe Shaver, and Johnny Paycheck have done so, maybe more artistically than Riley, but the tradition is still an important one).

Honey: 35

Harper Valley PTA: 78

Here's a live version of one of Paycheck's most beloved songs (11 million views, almost 3 thousand comments): https://youtu.be/kQjRxdMEGds