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 incipit, "Jeremiah was a Bullfrog". 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.

Three Dog Night's version went to number one on the pop music charts in February 1971, and was 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).

In the 1990s, former Three Dog Night lead singer 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 song was also featured in an episode of the popular sitcom, Friends.

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.

Preceded by "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" by The Temptations	Billboard Hot 100 number one single April 17, 1971	Succeeded by "Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones