THREE DOG NIGHT

[tpj1965]

"Mama Told Me Not to Come" was a 1970 song by acclaimed songwriter Randy Newman. It was released on his album 12 Songs.

Since its release, several cover versions have been made, the most famous being a longer, more funk inspired version released by Three Dog Night on It Ain't Easy (titled "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"), also in 1970. This version has the distinction of being the first number-one song on the American Top 40 countdown show with longtime host Casey Kasem. In contrast with Newman's version, the party is rendered as chaotic, confusing and terrifying.

Since then, artists as diverse as Tom Jones, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, The Wolfgang Press and Stereophonics have produced versions of the song.

"Joy to the World" is a song written by Hoyt Axton, and made famous by the band Three Dog Night. The song is also popularly known by its incipit, "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog". The words are nonsensical. Axton wanted to convince his record producers to record a new melody he had written and the producers asked him to sing any words to the tune.

Three Dog Night's version went to number one on the pop music charts in February 1971, and was on the band's album Naturally. It was also released on their albums Around the World With Three Dog Night (1973), Joy to the World: Their Greatest Hits (1974), The Best of 3 Dog Night (1982), and Celebrate: The Three Dog Night Story, 1965-1975 (1993). Three Dog Night never really wanted to record the song but they needed one last track for their Naturally album. The group had been on an overseas tour when that album was released and were greatly suprised to hear that the song they didn't want to record ended up being a big hit.

[Redneck4sure]

Nice clips. I like Three Dog Night. I even bought a cd.

I pirated several more.

[DudeAsInCool]

They had an unbelievable run of hits - they had great songwriters. I couldn't stand 'Joy To The World', though, and I think they became too pop by the end of their run.