(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 - "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"
Hit Number 1: July 11, 1970
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
"Here we go with the Top 40 hits of the nation this week on American Top 40, the best-selling and most-played songs from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico. This is Casey Kasem in Hollywood, and in the next three hours, we'll count down the 40 most popular hits in the United States this week, hot off the record charts of Billboard magazine for the week ending July 11, 1970." Those were the words spoken by Casey Kasem in the premier of the American Top 40, the show that goes through the top 40 songs in the country, working from #40 all the way up to the top. After 50 years, the show still runs today, except it's now hosted by Ryan Seacrest. The first #1 song of the American Top 40's running was a cover-song by Three Dog Night. A party song about being afraid to party.
"Mama Told Me" was written by Randy Newman, a singer-songwriting weirdo out of Los Angeles. (Newman's highest-charting single is "Short People", which made it to #2. It's a 3) Newman wrote the song for Eric Burdon, the former lead singer of the Animals who have already appeared in this blog. Burdon was pursuing a solo career, and the song was planned to be a single on his first album. The song was supposed to be released in 1966, but that never happened. Instead it was included on Burdon's first solo album Eric Is Here, which was pegged as being by Eric Burdon & the Animals, but the Animals had already broken up. The backing band on the album are a completely different group. Burdon's solo career was underwhelming until he joined the still-rising funk group War. Burdon took off with them, and had a newfound musical rebirth as a funk artist. (His highest-charting song with War is "Spill the Wine", a fun funk-stomper smash. It made it to #3, and it's a 9) "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" was abandoned, and for a few years was just an afterthought included on a forgettable Eric Burdon album.
At least that was until the Los Angeles-based garage rockers Three Dog Night covered the song. Their strange name came from member Danny Hutton's girlfriend, actress June Fairchild, after she read an article about "Aboriginal Australians." On cold nights, they would sleep in a hole in a ground while embracing a dingo, two dogs if the night was colder, and if the night was freezing, it was described as being a "Three Dog Night." They had already been around a couple years by the time their version of "Mama Told Me" came around. Their most notable hit to this point was "One", a song written by Harry Nilsson that made it to #5 on the U.S. Hot 100 in 1969. (It's an 8. Nilsson, meanwhile, will eventually appear in this blog) Somewhere along the way, they wanted to give Burdon's long-forgotten song a try. They spiced it up, turning it into their own as an upbeat garage-rock banger.
Newman described the song as being inspired by his view of the Los Angeles music scene of the late 1960's. In the song, we're introduced to a guy who clearly has never been to a wild party in his life. He's intrigued by everything around him, but he's also terrified. People are smoking pot and drinking, and also playing loud music. He can't help but remember how his mom told him not to go to the party. I'm willing to bet that Three Dog Night, being from Los Angeles themselves, were very familiar with the kinds of parties being thrown in the area, and they wanted to have some fun with the song.
And fun is exactly what was had here. Lead singer Cory Wells acts and sings at the same time, giving the narrator more of a personality and adding a nice level of humor to the song. The line "Don't know what it is/I don't want to see no more" is delivered in such a manner that it makes me laugh. Did I mention that the song also slaps? The verses are quiet, bringing the attention to Wells' lead voice while a humming guitar lick plays in the background. Then the chorus is a volcanic eruption. I love the steady guitar lick, the personality in Wells' voice, the buildup of the song, the guitar solo and the outro, which kicks serious ass. The members feed off each other, ad-libbing all the way to the end, a lot like what Jermaine and Michael Jackson did on the previous #1, "The Love You Save". These guys had their fun, and they brought the fun all the way to the top spot. They cemented themselves in music history, becoming the first #1 act at the start of the American Top 40. We will hear from them again in this blog.
GRADE: 8/10
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