Black and White (Pete Seeger song) explained

Black and White
Cover:Black_and_White_-_Three_Dog_Night.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Three Dog Night
Album:Seven Separate Fools
B-Side:Freedom for the Stallion
Released:August 1972
Genre:Pop
Length:3:51 (album)
3:24 (single)
Label:Dunhill
Producer:Richard Podolor
Prev Title:The Family of Man
Prev Year:1972
Next Title:Pieces of April
Next Year:1972

"Black and White" is a song written in 1954 by David I. Arkin (lyricist and father of actor Alan Arkin) and Earl Robinson (music). It was first recorded by Pete Seeger featuring an African-American child, in 1956 from the album Love Songs for Friends & Foes.

The most successful recording of the song was the pop version by Three Dog Night in 1972, when it reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Easy Listening charts. Billboard ranked it as the number 63 song for 1972.[1] Danny Hutton sang the lead vocals with a children's chorus adding their voices to the song.

Early recordings

Following Seeger's version, the song's co-writer Earl Robinson released his own recording in 1957, on the Folkways album A Walk in the Sun and other Songs and Ballads. (The album title refers to a song written for the 1945 film A Walk in the Sun.[2]) Sammy Davis Jr. released his version also in 1957.[3]

Reggae groups the Maytones, from Jamaica, and Greyhound, from the UK, both recorded the song in 1971, the latter achieving a top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart at No. 6.[4] [5]

Having heard the Greyhound version, Three Dog Night covered the song and included it on their 1972 album Seven Separate Fools.[6] Their version, which featured a group of children, peaked at number one on the U.S. Pop chart on September 16, 1972, and topped the Easy Listening chart on October 7.[7] Billboard ranked it as the number 63 song for 1972.[1] The album version featured a freely spoken recitation by Danny Hutton in the coda section of the song.

Other versions

Inner Circle recorded a cover for their 1989 album Identified.[8] [9]

Meaning

The song was inspired by the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which outlawed racial segregation of public schools.

The original lyrics of the song opened with this verse, in reference to the court:

Their robes were black, their heads were white,The schoolhouse doors were closed so tight,Nine judges all set down their names,To end the years and years of shame.

However, the versions of the song recorded by Greyhound and subsequently by Three Dog Night did not include this verse, making the song more universal and less historically specific.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Three Dog Night version

Chart (1972)Peak
position
Australia Kent Music Report[10] 21
Austria 8
Canada RPM Top Singles1
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[11] 1
New Zealand (Listener)[12] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[13] 1
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[14] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[15] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1972)Rank
Canada 13
US Billboard Hot 100[16] 63
US Cash Box [17] 42

See also

Notes and References

  1. [Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972]
  2. Web site: A Walk in the Sun and Other Songs and Ballads. Earl Robinson. February 19, 2015.
  3. Web site: Second Hand Songs database, Decca records 45: Sammy Davis Jr., 'Songs for Americans to live by', rec. 20 Feb. 1957. SecondHandSongs . . This has not been reissued and is now a rare collector's item.
  4. Web site: Black and White. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/XwolSqd02rg . 2021-12-14 . live. www.youtube.com.
  5. Trojan Records box set, The Trojan Story (1972, reissued 1980)
  6. Book: Liner notes. Ultimate Seventies: 1972. Time Life Records.
  7. Book: Whitburn, Joel. Joel Whitburn. 1996. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 6th. Billboard Publications.
  8. Web site: Inner Circle – Black & White. 1989 . Discogs.
  9. Web site: Inner Circle – Identified. 1989 . Discogs.
  10. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. doc. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W . 1993. 0-646-11917-6.
  11. Web site: Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 1972-10-28 . 2019-07-01.
  12. Web site: flavour of new zealand – search listener. Flavourofnz.co.nz. 29 April 2021.
  13. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990
  14. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 240.
  15. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 30, 1972 . January 13, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160913164152/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/19720930.html . September 13, 2016 . dead .
  16. Web site: Musicoutfitters.com . 2018-01-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170427223218/http://musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1972.htm . 2017-04-27 . dead .
  17. Web site: Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 30, 1972 . January 13, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180928150812/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1972YESP.html . September 28, 2018 . dead .