Three Dog Night “Joy To the World” 1974. Gatefold. File this one under my guilty pleasures. Today’s pull because it is bassist (from ‘68-’73) Joe Schermie’s (b. 1946 d. 2002) birthday. I am pretty sure this is my parents’ copy, likely original from ’74 or pretty close.

This was one of my mom’s “housecleaning” albums. She would put on 70’s rock-n-roll and scrub our old farmhouse out in dairy country. I, of course, would be roped into helping out which oddly I didn’t really mind that much. Likely because I got to sing and dance along to awesomely cheesy songs like “Old Fashioned Love Song,” “Joy to the World,” and my favorite “Shambala.” I was so psyched when the TV series “Lost” used “Shambala” for the scene when Hurley and Charlie drive an old VW van down the mountainside.

That image, of a beautiful Hawaiian mountainside, and the origin of the band’s name is perfect on a freezing cold day like today. Apparently on frigid nights, some indigenous Australians would sleep with a feral dog or two for warmth and when it was even colder, it would be a three dog night. Not sure if it’s true, but it feels cozy. And now I feel like cleaning the house (singing I’ve never been to heaven but I’ve been to Oklahoma…).