THE HIT HAMMER: Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World"

(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 - "Joy to the World"

Hit Number 1: April 17, 1971

Stay at Number 1: 6 Weeks

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog/Was a good friend of mine/I never understood a single word he said but I helped him drink his wine/And he always had some mighty fine wine." Those have got to be the best opening lyrics to any song. It opens up the door to a nonsensical universe where one can only imagine is filled of flying pigs and rainbow zebras. That nonsensical world is "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night, and it's becoming more and more apparent to me that this band didn't take themselves too seriously. Their previous #1, "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)", was a banger, but one that was filled of humorous lines/deliveries. "Joy to the World" is a lot like that. This band knew how to make novelty songs, without making novelty music. That's a unique quality.

Originally, "Joy to the World" was a song that wasn't liked by most of the Three Dog Night members. It was written by Hoyt Axton, a songwriter noted for his lighthearted and humorous songs. He wrote "Joy to the World" and tried to convince the members of Three Dog Night to record it, but they had some concerns. First, they thought the song was "too silly." Chuck Negron, the one who would eventually sing lead on the song, was the one who convinced the rest of the members to go through with it. He thought that a silly song like this was just what the band needed to get them back together as a working unit. Only one change was made to Axton's original lyrics, and that was to change the line "Jeremiah was a prophet." None of the members liked that line, so in an absolute genius move they changed "prophet" to "bullfrog." The rest was history.

Like I've already said, the song really doesn't make much sense, and there's no telling on what the hell it's even about. But there weren't any intentions on making it about anything. Instead it's a bunch of glorious gibberish jam-packed into a fun rock banger. The chorus is one that's easy to remember: "Joy to the world/All the boys and girls/Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea/Joy to you and me." I wholeheartedly believe that the making of this song was to be fun, humorous, enjoyable and happy. All of the Three Dog Night members sing and shout on top of each other for the last minute or so of the song, getting carried away by the song's raging rapids. If there is one message the song tries to send, it's to spread joy to everyone in the world, as the title obviously suggests. I think if everyone in the world got to hear this song, they'd at least feel good.

The lyrics are all in good fun, but so is the instrumentation. Everything from the guitars to the drums sound so alive on the track. The liveliness of the song, along with its care-free nature, is enough to bring life to anyone else. I'm not ashamed to admit that this piece of crazy silly gibberish is a personal favorite of mine.

GRADE: 8/10

JUST MISSED:

Ocean's fine, folksy tune "Put Your Hand in the Hand" peaked at #2 behind "Joy to the World". It's a 7.

ANOTHER JUST MISSED:

The Jackson 5's more mature, heartfelt and somber song "Never Can Say Goodbye" also peaked at #2 behind "Joy to the World". It's an 8.