joy to the world

Three Dog Night had their biggest hit with this happy song about bullfrogs and fishes that brought the group back together. All seven members of the band sang vocals for the first time. It wasn't released as a single until it was played by a DJ in Seattle and became a regional favorite. It spent six weeks on top of the charts in the US and became the biggest selling single of 1971.

Cory Wells recalls: "'Joy to the World' -- now that was a four- to five-million seller. Hoyt Axton brought it into the studio one night; we were all there. He walked in wearing Captain America golf shoes, I remember that. They were red, white and blue; everything was red, white and blue in those days, with stars and things. And he took his shoes off, handed them to me and said, 'Hey Cory. You're Captain America. You should wear these now.' Hoyt's about 6'3," 240 in weight, and I thought, 'How am I going to wear these big shoes?' Then he said, 'Plus, there's a song I want you to hear.' He had mentioned before that he was writing a ninety-minute animated children's TV show called The Happy Song. It was the story of a bunch of children in fantasy land and their adventures and misadventures. He wrote it so it could be played at any time of the year -- Christmas, Halloween, New Year's -- any holiday. Well, Hoyt never got it together, really, never finished it. So he decided to peddle the songs around to various artist friends. One of those tunes was 'Joy to the World.' Hoyt played it for us right there on his guitar, which was not the usual way we auditioned material. It's hard to get the idea of a tune that way because you get into the performance instead of the song. But we knew Hoyt personally; he'd traveled with us many times as an opening act. He's a very close friend of the group. As he stood there, playing the song for us, I remember not liking it that well. There are certain songs where you can say 'that's a smash' but you wouldn't want to sing 'em. I knew it was gonna be a hit, but 'Joy' was too light for my taste. I tend to lean toward heavier sorts of music. The other guys, though, thought it was great, and I remember recording the song and Chuck singing it. We were out working maybe 350 days a year then, moving faster than the music was behind us. We were just zooming along, and everything was a collage of Holiday Inns, airports, and backs of limos. I couldn't even tell you where I was when it reached number one, it sold so many copies so fast."

Hoyt Axton added a footnote. "Actually, I didn't expect 'Joy to the World' to be a hit at all," he said. "After Three Dog Night cut it, they played the tape for me and I thought it was terrible. Then that son-of-a-gun was on top of the charts for six weeks across the board. I looked in Billboard magazine, and saw that in Singapore and Malaysia, the song was number one. That made me feel great, because I could imagine all those little kids with holes in their shirts and no shoes rockin' around singing 'Jeremiah was a bullfrog.' I mean, that cracked me up."









http://threedognight.com/

Jeremiah was a bull frog

Was a good friend of mine

I never understood a single word he said

But I helped him a-drink his wine

And he always had some mighty fine wine

Singin'

Joy to the world

All the boys and girls, now

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea

Joy to you and me

If I were the King of the world

Tell you what I'd do

I'd throw away the cars and the bars and the wars

And make sweet love to you

Sing it now

Joy to the world

All the boys and girls, now

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea

Joy to you and me

You know I love the ladies

Love to have my fun

I'm a high night flier and a rainbow rider

And a straight-shooting son of a gun

I said a staight shootin son of a gun

Joy to the world

All the boys and girls, now

Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea

Joy to you and me