Joy to the World
Three Dog Night
1970

This song initially came to me courtesy of the Forrest Gump soundtrack (one of the all-time great soundtracks, btw). I defy you to find a more fun song than this absolute gem. I mean, when your opening verse is:

Jeremiah was a bullfrog
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine

You’re either in a Disney movie or fixin’ for a rollickin’ good time. Maybe both. In this case, it’s the latter, and, ohhhh baby is it rollickin’.  I feel like I’m on my own episode of Soul Train when this one comes on. Simply put, this song never — NEVER — ceases to be fun. The opening piano/organ riff is great. The silly lyrics are, as mentioned, great. Harmonies are great. 

But an underrated aspect to this one is the drummer who provides the deep, “I wanna tell you” backing vocal in the chorus. You probably can’t hear it unless you have headphones on, so give that a try sometime. I always feel like it’s a bullfrog himself singing that lyric. There’s a reason why this song is as high on the list as it is!

Other Songs Considered:
I understand these guys were big in the early ‘70s, but c’mon this has to be their best.