Three Dog Night’s “Black and White” Lyrics Meaning

“Black and White” is a relatively-simplistic song based on the theme of racial unity. Its two main subjects are a “Black” child and a “White” one. And it depicts them as being “together” while “the whole world looks upon the sight”.

Additionally the track brings up other metaphors based on the opposites, black and white, co-existing and indeed thriving in unison. This all leads to the idea of “liberty”, as in freedom for all races. And in the process of this being achieves, once again “the whole world” will behold this “beautiful sight”.

So put succinctly, this song is espousing racial harmony. It was originally written in the 1950s, at a time when racial tensions were peaking in the United States. And indeed even when Three Dog Night released their version in 1972, America was just exiting its Civil Rights Era, and race relations still were not ideal. Thus this song is intended to produce a desired goal. It is not centered on racial equality as much as the original, as such had already been achieved statutorily. Rather it is more along the lines of idealizing the idea of Black and White people coexisting joyfully and peacefully.

Facts about “Black and White”

This song was originally written by David Arkin and Earl Robinson in 1954 as a direct response to Brown v. Board of Education, the history-changing US Supreme Court case which ultimately ruled racial segregation in public schools as being unconstitutional.

Between 1954 and August of 1972, when Three Dog Night’s version of “Black and White” was released by Dunhill Records, the song had also been recorded by a number of other artists, including Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957.

Indeed Three Dog Night was inspired to record this tune after hearing a cover of the song released in 1971 by a Jamaican reggae group named Greyhound.

Three Dog Night actually had three lead vocalists (which may explain the name of the band). On this particular song, Danny Hutton sang the lead vocals.

The Three Dog Night version of “Black and White” proved to be a massive hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the music charts in Canada and New Zealand. The song also charted in Australia and Austria and achieved Platinum status in Japan.

“Black and White” was produced by Richard Podolor and featured on Three Dog Night’s eighth album entitled “Seven Separate Fools”.