Song of the Day 6/30: Three Dog Night, “Black and White”
The day of jubilee is upon us! The Supreme Court, convinced of its power to dictate the terms of reality, has proclaimed that the nation is colorblind, so affirmative action is not only no longer necessary, it’s illegal!
Note to SCOTUS:If you can’t tell the difference between black and white, that’s not colorblindness. It’s blindness.
Maybe the Fix Six heard too many aspirational songs like this one, a No. 1 hit for Three Dog Night in 1972 that was originally written to celebrate the Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The SCOTUS of today doubtless longs to overturn that one.
The song was written by Earl Robinson, the left-leaning composer of “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,” and David Arkin, the father of late actor Alan Arkin (who coincidentally died yesterday at 89). Its first recording, by Pete Seeger in 1956, includes verses about the Supreme Court decision absent from later covers. I especially like the line, “Their robes were black, their heads were white.”
Sammy Davis Jr. released a cover in 1957, but the song survived mostly in folk music circles until a reggae band called Greyhound reached No. 6 on the UK singles chart in 1971 with a Jamaican-seasoned arrangement. Danny Hutton heard it and brought to Three Dog Night.
