DR. HOOK: Cover to Cover

"Three Little Fishies" is a song, recorded by Kay Kyser and His Orchestra, with words by Josephine Carringer and Bernice Idins and music by Saxie Dowell.

The song tells the story of three fishes, who defy their mother's command of swimming only in a meadow, by swimming over a dam and on out to sea. They encounter a shark, which the fish describe as a whale. They flee for their lives and return to the meadow in safety.

The novelty song was a smash hit in 1939, with no fewer than eight versions recorded that year, including one by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Despite its nonsense baby-talk lyrics, it has remained an oddly enduring classic, with versions popping up every few years from acts as diverse as the Andrews Sisters, Homer and Jethro, the Three Stooges, Spike Jones, Dr. Hook, Ray Stevens, Maria Maldaur, and the Muppets.

"Three Little Fishies" was covered by Dr. Hook in 1973. 

I asked Ray Sawyer what made them choose that song to record. He told me that Shel Silverstein had put them up to it. Here's Ray on lead.

(The information used in this post is from Wikipedia.) 

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