Hoyt Axton actually wrote two Three Dog Night hits that appeared on his January 1971 album, “Joy to the World” – the title cut and “Never Been to Spain.” The story is told that while recording his latest album for Capitol, Axton was trying to convince the label to let him record a new song he was writing. He had the tune, but not the lyrics. He was encouraged by the engineers to sing some nonsensical lyrics so that an arrangement could be built around the tune and then later he could record the real lyrics.
The nonsensical lyrics stuck – with some tweaking mind you – and his most famous composition was born. Three Dog Night would take “Joy to the World” to the #1 slot during the spring of 1971. While the band was not keen on the tune, Chuck Negron convinced the rest of the band to record it. Negron sang lead and all of the other members of the band, including the instrumentalists, sang back-up. Here’s the original by Hoyt Axton.
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