“Joy to The World” – Three Dog Night
In 1969, three individual lead singers (Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells), came together and became instrumental in ushering the rock band Three Dog Night to stardom. From its origin up until the mid-seventies, Three Dog Night had more Top 10 hits and sold more concert tickets than any other band of that era. By many accounts, during this time they were the most popular band in America. Three Dog Night’s discography consists of twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits, eighteen straight Top 20s, eleven Top 10s, three Number 1s, seven million-selling singles and twelve straight gold LPs. Not surprisingly, when the group drifted from the mainstream in 1975, they had sold nearly 50 million records. …show more content…
In fact, while many may wonder why the song speaks of a bullfrog with which the singer drinks wine, it makes more sense when you learn that the original lyrics were “Jeremiah was a prophet.” While Hutton and Wells disliked the song altogether, neither of the three cared for that opening line, so the word “prophet” was changed to “bullfrog.” Ultimately, the song was only kept by the group because Chuck Negron was convinced that they needed a silly song in their repertoire, but no one had any indication that the song would be a hit. (“Three Dog Night”; Joy to the World (Three Dog Night …show more content…
Likewise, the chorus of the song tackles the destruction of the earth’s ecological system, which was a major topic during that time. In the phrase “Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea” (repeated six times in the song), I see reference to the environmental issues brought to light especially by the first Earth Day held in April 1970 and the concurrent establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. “In 1970, scientists told us that Lake Erie was dying and that the other Great Lakes were threatened by pollution from the steel plants, oil refineries, paper mills, and city sewage plants which for the previous one hundred years had befouled the world's largest fresh water system.” (Nelson, G.,
In 1969, three individual lead singers (Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells), came together and became instrumental in ushering the rock band Three Dog Night to stardom. From its origin up until the mid-seventies, Three Dog Night had more Top 10 hits and sold more concert tickets than any other band of that era. By many accounts, during this time they were the most popular band in America. Three Dog Night’s discography consists of twenty-one consecutive Top 40 hits, eighteen straight Top 20s, eleven Top 10s, three Number 1s, seven million-selling singles and twelve straight gold LPs. Not surprisingly, when the group drifted from the mainstream in 1975, they had sold nearly 50 million records. …show more content…
In fact, while many may wonder why the song speaks of a bullfrog with which the singer drinks wine, it makes more sense when you learn that the original lyrics were “Jeremiah was a prophet.” While Hutton and Wells disliked the song altogether, neither of the three cared for that opening line, so the word “prophet” was changed to “bullfrog.” Ultimately, the song was only kept by the group because Chuck Negron was convinced that they needed a silly song in their repertoire, but no one had any indication that the song would be a hit. (“Three Dog Night”; Joy to the World (Three Dog Night …show more content…
Likewise, the chorus of the song tackles the destruction of the earth’s ecological system, which was a major topic during that time. In the phrase “Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea” (repeated six times in the song), I see reference to the environmental issues brought to light especially by the first Earth Day held in April 1970 and the concurrent establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. “In 1970, scientists told us that Lake Erie was dying and that the other Great Lakes were threatened by pollution from the steel plants, oil refineries, paper mills, and city sewage plants which for the previous one hundred years had befouled the world's largest fresh water system.” (Nelson, G.,