Three Dog Night – Joy To The World

“Joy to the World” – Single by Three Dog Night from the album Naturally, released in February 1971.

Hoyt Axton wrote this for an animated TV special called The Happy Song that never materialized. Axton, who was a popular country singer-songwriter from Oklahoma, pitched it to the group while he opened for them on a tour. Three Dog Night also had a Top 10 hit with “Never Been to Spain,” also written by Axton.
The group didn’t think much of this song when they recorded it, tacking it on to the album because they needed one more song to complete it. The song ended up being a massive hit and stayed six weeks at #1 on the US Hot 100.

The band used three different lead vocalists: Chuck Negron, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells. This one was sung by Negron.

The opening lines of this song, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine. Never understood a single word he said, but I helped him drink his wine,” are part of some wonderful song meaning speculation. A common interpretation is that Axton’s bullfrog is the prophet Jeremiah from the Bible, and we’ve seen at least one sermon that makes the case that the song represents God’s desire to unite all people in happiness (the bullfrog, with his distinctive call that stands out in nature, is God’s voice in this interpretation).

When the song hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, Axton and his mother, Mae Axton, became the first mother and son to each have written a number one pop single in the rock era. Mae Axton co-wrote “Heartbreak Hotel”, which was the first number one hit for Elvis Presley.

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Three Dog Night - Joy To The World (1975)

Joy To The World (1975) - Three Dog Night02:34

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