Thanks, Three Dogs Night

Thanks Three Dogs Night

“The ink is black, the page is white

Together we learn to read and write”

These are the opening lines for this insightful song titled “Black & White” by Three Dogs Night. At first I was unsure of the intention of the song, we spoke about the intentions of some potentially culturally offensive movies in my tutorial so this got me wondering; is this song genuinely recognising that whether you’re black or white, you are equal? (Because you need ink to write on a page according to this song) or is it pointing out the differences just to show that they were there. This song’s lyrics provide an interesting thinking point, and it is hard to pin point whether they are saying that the differences and discrimination between the two groups are no longer valid because they don't exist within their time frame, or are they merely pulling their eyes shut and pretending like nothing happened...

This whole song is open to interpretation...

“A child is black, a child is white
The whole world looks upon the sight
A beautiful sight”

The basis of the lyrics is blatantly to point out the differences between the two groups, all the while trying to portray the image that there aren’t any differences between them, which potentially could be seen as a form of expressing the bi-culturalism in the United States, and how they are past the fact that there are cultural differences. In the previous verse, “The whole world looks upon the sight”, acknowledging that the world would be looking at these two different children and acknowledging their skin colour but not any segregation and minority vs authoritative imbalances. They added that it is “a beautiful sight” in order to not point out that this could be potentially viewed as a bad thing that there are two different colored children. The bi-culturalism aspect is attempting to point out that they are part all of the bi-cultural country and community which in this context is apparently the United States. I beg to differ. 

“And now a child can understand
That this is the law of all the land
All the land”

Is the law of the land that there are two different races of children in the United States? If a child can now understand this, it seems as though their parents have understood it for years and do not recognize differences between both groups. Children would have learnt about this divide through their parents.

Children are referenced in this song and it can be interpreted that the writers see children as being the problematic ones, not being able to accept the divide between the two groups, but in reality, children were merely persuaded by their elders about the wrongness surrounding the African American population in the United States.

After hearing this song, it is plain that these guys are making some pretty bold comparisons, and creating this virtual reality in which everyone is peace and love and has accepted each other’s differences. Within the band, there is one man, Jack Ryland, who is of African American decent. Jack is the drummer in the band and was only in the band for 3 years, from 1972 to 1975, this song was released in 1972. This could have been a potential way of showing how they were in touch with cultural equality and acknowledged that Jack and them had no differences between them. Also, theoretically, because they had Jack Ryland, he was a platform of being able to produce this song, making them look like they knew what they were talking about because they had viewpoints from people within both races mentioned.  

“And now, at last, we plainly see
We'll have a dance of liberty
Liberty”

People have been “plainly” seeing that there are both White and Black within the United States for centuries, this band seems to disregard that there are still serious problems of discrimination in 1972 (and still are in 2016). To celebrate that everyone sees the two groups they will dance in liberty – because that will cement the idea that there is no longer a reason to point out differences in the two groups.

So, thanks Three Dogs Night, I didn’t all imbalance between white and African Americans was all well since way back.