THE HIT HAMMER: Three Dog Night's "Black and White"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

Three Dog Night - "Black and White"

Hit Number 1: September 16, 1972

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

I'm willing to bet that not many songs are inspired by Supreme Court decisions, but here's a rare case of that. In 1954, the famous Brown v. Board of Education case took place, and ruled that segregation in schools was illegal. Because of that, Earl Robinson, a folk singer from way back in the day, wrote a song about how it seemed as if people were finally coming together. Originally, one of the verses of Robinson's new song went "Their robes were black/Their heads were white/The schoolhouse doors were closed so tight." However, all future versions of the song changed that to "The ink is black/The page is white/Together we learn to read and write." In fact, most of the song was switched around so it had a more universal meaning.

The earliest version of the song was one by Pete Seeger, a notable folk music name in his own right, and his version had an African American child singing with him. Other artists to record the song included former Hit Hammer subject Sammy Davis Jr., as well as the U.K. group Greyhound, who scored a top ten hit in England with the song. It was Greyhound's version that Three Dog Night just so happened to hear, and since the early '70s was still a bad time for racism, they figured it could be a good response to those issues. Three Dog Night have already appeared in this blog twice, and both of those songs were far from serious. "Black and White" is the most serious song of theirs' to hit #`1, but they did it in very kid-friendly ways. It's a song that Danny Hutton sang lead on, and Hutton's lead vocals are accompanied by a children's choir. The song seems to stand as a symbol of optimism that things will continue to get better.

Yes, things aren't perfect now, but ever since the early '70s or so, racism has been slowly, and I mean very slowly dying out. It would be silly to say that it was because of Three Dog Night's song, but the fact that people and races seem to be getting closer together, (yes I honestly believe that), it makes "Black and White" easily enjoyable, and gives it some weird level of power. It's not the strongest song that Three Dog Night have ever released, but it gives off friendly vibes, and the song continues to pick up steam as it goes on. Everything from the dinky piano riff to the children's choir is easy to mock, but it's hard to dislike. At the end, I like how united everyone sounds. It's a kid-friendly song about ending racism. It proves to be a nice little listen.

Three Dog Night will not appear in this blog again. However, a song appealing to everyone of all ages about ending racism is not a bad way to end off.

GRADE: 7/10