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16 cover versions of Three is a Magic Number, which turned 50 this year [1]
['Jennifer Sandlin']
Date: 2022-12-02
Bob Dorough's sweet little ditty, Three is a Magic Number, turned 50 this year. Pop Culture Experiment explains the origins of the song:
However, the song originally had aired before 1973, as part of the pilot of Schoolhouse Rocks. The pilot, called "Curiosity Shop," debuted on September 2, 1971. According to Wikipedia:
The Curiosity Shop version is an extended cut which includes an additional scene/verse that explains the pattern of each set of ten containing three multiples of three, animated in the form of a carnival shooting game.[6] This scene has never been rebroadcast on ABC, nor has it been included in any home media releases.
You can watch the original pilot here (the song starts at 25:44).
As a child of the 1970s, I've long been a fan of the tune. I fell in love with the song again in the late 1980s as a college student in Jackson, Mississippi, when I heard Hattiesburg, MS-based band Beagle Voyage cover the song at a local dive bar (sadly, I've searched high and low for a recording of Beagle Voyage covering Three is a Magic Number and haven't yet found it, please let me know if you run across it). Since the 1980s many other bands have covered the song. In 2018, Pop Culture Experiment dedicated one of its Cover Songs Uncovered columns to the song, which has a long history of delightful covers. Here are some versions they highlight:
De La Soul (1989)
Crashdog (1992)
Blind Melon (1996)
Jeff Buckley (probably 1995)
Embrace (2000)
Elizabeth Mitchell (2002)
Stevie Brock, Greg Raposo, & Matthew Ballinger (2004) (From the "Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers" musical)
Rachel Garlin (2004)
The Jellydots (2006)
Lumiere (2013)
In addition to all of those delightful covers, I searched around on YouTube and found some more: Here's a trombone cover by Paul Hefner (2000), a ukulele cover by Todd Lorenc Ukulele Music (2018), a cover played by three mandobasses by the Ecco Mandolin Ensemble (2022), a folksy version played live by Key of G at People Fest 2021, and a really sweet kind of smooth jazz vibe version by Ed Mount (2020). Somehow, they all work, and for me, hearing the song never gets old. I think Three is a Magic Number must be a magical song.
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