Jeremiah the Bullfrog, Little Fishes, & Joy to the World

National and local media may be focused on dire predictions for 2009, but last night at the Boettcher Concert Hall (Denver Center for the Performing Arts), Three Dog Night, accompanied by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, sang to an enthusiastic if not slightly grey crowd.

Their final song, "Joy to the World," had us all standing, clapping, and "dancing to the music." Well, at least as much as one can in such a fancy venue. But the point here is not the age of the audience, but the fact that we were all eager to embrace lyrics both hopeful and innocent.

"The world is black, the world is white, it turns by day and then by night, a child is black, a child is white, the whole world looks upon the sight, a beautiful sight..." I'll bet Barrack Obama's mother grew up listening to Three Dog Night, and if so, hats off to Three Dog.

And then there's Jeremiah. When I was a kid, I had bullfrog friends too. There was a pond down by the river where I used to hang out. I called it "the frog pond." Frogs perched on the cottonwood logs and lilies that floated in the water, basking in the sun, sending their throaty ribbets rippling across the water, hoping to attract a fat-bellied, dimpled mate.

It's been a while since I listened to a symphonic orchestra playing background music while six musicians sang about little fishes in a deep blue sea. Some folks in the audience paid as much as $75 to be there. "Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music..." Good advice, don't you think?

So, next time I get discouraged about the economy, or the environment, or the darkness of war (which Einstein might say, were he alive, is nothing more than the lack of light and love), I'm going to put in a Three Dog Night CD and wrap my mind around simple pleasures, which is often the best way to come up with simple solutions. And we sure could use some of those.

"Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!""