Saturday Morning Soundtrack: "One" by Three Dog Night (1969)

We're rounding out another decade in The Soundtrack, and 1969 was a tough year to choose. The Beatles and the Stones are still going strong, while other groups like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Crosby Stills and Nash, and The Guess Who are beginning to gain fame and attention. As I often do when faced with a tough decision, I dug deeper into my library and found one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands of all time. This isn't exactly a "buried treasure," but it is a song that's easy to overlook when we think about this era of rock and roll.

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Saturday Morning Soundtrack @ Youtube

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"One" by Three Dog Night (1969)

I'll keep this brief because I don't have much time this morning. And that's probably okay, because really I can't say enough about this song anyway. I know I use the adjective "haunting" a lot in these blog entries (what can I say, it's a fitting description for many songs!), but in this case it's especially fitting. From those watery piano notes to Chuck Negron's emotive voice, every measure of this song is bathed in at least three layers of echo.

Of course, the lyrical message seems simple and true enough. It's lonely being alone. We are, generally speaking, social animals, and anyone who's spent any significant time in isolation knows how true this song's chorus can be. Proof, perhaps, that a song doesn't need to express new or complex ideas in order to be meaningful.

Of course, as TDN points out, "Two can be as bad as one." What does that mean? I have a lot of ideas, but they may be best saved for another day, another song.

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So what do you think? Did I get it right or miss the mark? Please, feel free to weigh in using the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact me with queries.