Mariah Carey Combined ‘Joy to the World’ With a Classic Rock Song
Classic rock manages to find its way into many genres. For example, Mariah Carey’s “Joy to the World” includes a heavy dose of a classic rock song from the 1970s. It’s pretty easy to understand why Carey made this decision. Interestingly, a member of the band behind the original tune did something similar.
Mariah Carey’s ‘Joy to the World’ combines a religious song with rock ‘n’ roll nonsense
A good Christmas album should include a mix of the new and the old. Carey’s Merry Christmas is most famous for the original composition “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” However, it also includes covers of standards like “Silent Night,” “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” First-time listeners might be surprised that Merry Christmas is pretty religious for a pop Christmas album, especially considering Carey’s big Christmas hit is entirely secular.
One of the classics on the album is “Joy to the World.” The track combines the religious Christmas carol we all know with the chorus of Three Dog Night’s unrelated single “Joy to the World.” Three Dog Night’s song is ridiculous but Carey manages to make its uplifting tone work alongside a hymn about the glorious birth of Jesus Christ.
Mariah Carey wasn’t the only artist who had that idea
Interestingly, a member of Three Dog Night had the same idea that Carey did. During a 2021 interview with Goldmine, Three Dog Night’s Chuck Negron recalled doing a Christmas album where he performed a familiar medley of two songs with identical titles. Interestingly, he did so without taking any inspiration from Carey’s medley.
“I had some great resources when I did the Christmas album as a special product for Best Buy,” he said. “They provided a gospel choir and a children’s choir for the project. I changed the arrangement to use the holiday ‘Joy to the World’ and our ‘Joy to the World.’ I then found out that Mariah Carey had done that too, with an incredible arrangement. It was so much fun. I changed the harmony and some of the melody. We’ve had [a] great response.”
How the 2 songs called ‘Joy to the World’ performed
Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” was a massive hit. The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits says it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks. It was the biggest hit of the band’s career bar none. They had two more No. 1 singles — “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” and “Black and White” — but neither was as popular or as enduring as “Joy to the World.” Despite the song’s sexual overtones, its nonsensical lyrics and irresistible energy have made it popular with children for the past 50 years. “Joy to the World” remains one of the only 1970s novelty hits that anyone remembers.
On the other hand, Carey’s “Joy to the World” medley didn’t make much of a dent on its own. The tune did not reach the Billboard Hot 100. However, its parent album, Merry Christmas, proved far more popular. That record climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 131 weeks. While Carey had numerous pop and R&B hits, Merry Christmas remains the longest-charting album of Carey’s career.
Carey isn’t a rock singer but she found a way to breathe new life into a 1970s rock hit.
