Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton song)

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"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 opening words, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog". Some of 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. A member of Three Dog Night said that the original lyrics to the song was "Jeremiah was a prophet" but "no one liked that".^[1]

Three Dog Night's version with lead vocal by Chuck Negron went to number one on the pop music charts in February 1971 and was the top single of the year in Billboard Magazine for 1971.^[2] The song was released 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 surprised to hear that the song they didn't want to record ended up being a big hit.

The edited single version (3:17) released on Dunhill Records (D-4272) varies from the version widely available on their Greatest Hits collections. The mono single has a guitar solo in the instrumental bridge at approximately 1:10 that is not heard on the stereo Greatest Hits version. Plus the trailing ad libs in the single were edited from the order in which they appear in the stereo version.

In the 1990s, Chuck Negron recorded the Christmas carol "Joy to the World" and playfully included a few lyrics from the Three Dog Night/Hoyt Axton song — coming to a full stop in mid-song for the line "Jeremiah was a bullfrog." The refrain of Axton's song was also included in Mariah Carey's recording of the Christmas carol for her 1994 Merry Christmas album.

[edit] Covers

• The Supremes and Four Tops recorded a duet version of the song in 1971, yet it remained unreleased until 2009.
• Little Richard covered the song on 1971's The King of Rock and Roll
• Nardcore punk band, Ten Foot Pole covered the song for their debut album, Swill.
• Eurodance crew Orlando covered the song for the 2002 Dancemania compilation Speed 10.
• Straight No Chaser, a US a capella group, covered the song for their 2010 album "With a Twist," along with other covers.

[edit] Popular culture references

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This "In popular culture" section may contain minor or trivial references. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances, and remove trivial references. (February 2010)

[edit] TV

In an episode of the TV series Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friend Jeremiah (played by Samuel Ball) sing the "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" part of this song on the way home to Carrie's after a party.

The song was also featured in an episode of the sitcom Friends when Phoebe, Monica and Chandler have gone to a karaoke evening hosted by Phoebe's new boyfriend, Mike. Chandler stands up and opens with the line "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".

It was also referenced in a cartoon from The Far Side, where a frog says to his two friends, "Yeah, I remember Jerry. He was a good pal of mine...you know, I never understood a word he said, but he always had some mighty fine wine," parodying the first lines of the song.

In The X-Files television series, the song was referenced in the episode "Detour". Agent Mulder demands Agent Scully sing to him when they find themselves lost in a forest while attempting to capture a seemingly invisible predator. After declaring that she is unable to carry a tune, Scully proceeds to sing "Jeremiah was a bullfrog... Was a good friend of mine... Never understood a single word he said... But I helped him drink his wine...". Scully again sings a few lines to their son in the season nine episode "William".

In the Malcolm in the Middle episode "Garage Sale", when Hal restarts his pirate radio station, he plays a tape with the starting lyrics of "Joy to the World", "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".

A special version of song's main chorus was also employed as the opening and closing theme to the early-1980s episodes of Joy Junction, a Christian children's television series.

[edit] Film

The song was sung by a child in the bath in The Big Chill. The original Three Dog Night recording is then later played as the closing credits roll.

The song was played in the film Forrest Gump when Forrest is playing Ping Pong.

The song was used as the ending theme song for the Japanese drama Lunch Queen.

The song is the opening song for Raise Your Voice, and the closing song for The Big Chill. It is also found in 28 Days during one of the flashbacks of the main character's mother being drunk.

The song also appears in the film Amazon Women on the Moon, performed by David Alan Grier as Don 'No Soul' Simmons.

Two early-1970s clips of then-Chicago Bears coach Abe Gibron singing the song were used on NFL Films' 1981 documentary on "The NFL's Best Ever Coaches" and was recycled into 1985's "The Best of Football Follies".

The Three Dog Night recording featured in the short film The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas (2007).

In the film Get on the Bus, Ossie Davis' character is named Jeremiah. During a conversation between the men on the bus ride to the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., actor Steve White delivers the line, "So, Jeremiah WAS a bullfrog!"

The song was sung by an elf in the film Ella Enchanted. The first two lines, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog/ He was a good friend of mine," are sung.

[edit] Advertising

It is sometimes used in advertising during the Christmas season, as a play on the Christmas song "Joy to the World". It was used by JCPenney in 2004.

The song has been included on the recent Sky Digital "Environment" advert.

[edit] Video games

The Nintendo DS videogame Animal Crossing: Wild World also referenced the song via the inclusion of a frog called Jeremiah. He is among the neighbor roster in the game, in which the player could have a maximum of eight.^{[citation needed]}

The video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion also makes a passing reference to the song. If the player listens in on some of the conversations between NPCs there is a chance that the NPCs will hold a conversation similar to the lyrics of the song.^{[citation needed]}

The Three Dog Night version is on the game Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.^{[citation needed]}

A frog monster in the online RPG Guild Wars is called Jarimiya and will sometimes drop bottles of wine as a trophy, as an apparent reference to the song.

[edit] Other

The Green Bay Bullfrogs mascot is named Jeremiah.

This song substituted for Queen's "We Are the Champions" at the end of Super Bowl XXXII at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California when the Denver Broncos won their first world championship.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Lyrics