About The Song
“Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)” is a late-1974 single by Three Dog Night, cut for their 1974 album Hard Labor. Written by New Orleans great Allen Toussaint and produced by Jimmy Ienner, the track arrived as the group’s hot streak rolled on from “The Show Must Go On” and “Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here.” Issued on Dunhill/ABC, it’s a sleek slice of pop-rock with a soulful core, showcasing the band’s knack for finding outside material and shaping it for radio without losing personality.
The tune’s backstory is unusually crowded: after an initial 1973 recording by Sylvester and the Hot Band, 1974 saw a flurry of versions—by B.J. Thomas, Maria Muldaur, Frankie Miller, and the James Montgomery Band—under the alternate title “Brickyard Blues.” Three Dog Night’s take became the definitive hit, crystallizing Toussaint’s writing into a compact, hook-bright arrangement that brought the song to mainstream audiences beyond the Crescent City circuit.
On the album Hard Labor—released in March 1974—“Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)” sits on Side B and features Cory Wells on lead vocal. The record marked a production handoff from longtime collaborator Richard Podolor to Jimmy Ienner, adding a glossier edge while keeping the band’s three-singer dynamic intact. Guitars chime against steady drums and keys, leaving space for Wells to ride the groove and for the chorus to snap into focus.
Lyrically, the song flips the usual performer-fan script. Instead of basking in applause, the narrator hears a plea from someone who’s tired of the same old show and wants music that’s warm, real, and easy to feel. The refrain’s demand to “play something sweet… something I can understand” lands like a manifesto for Toussaint’s craft—melody first, with plainspoken images and a rhythm section that invites you in rather than dares you to keep up.
Commercially, the single made a respectable chart run. Released in the fall of 1974, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at the end of September and peaked at No. 33 in the U.S., while climbing to No. 25 in Canada. Trade-paper charts told a similar story, with mid-20s peaks that underscored strong airplay even as Top-10 glory eluded it. For a band with 21 Top 40 entries, it added another chapter to an already deep singles log.
Collectors note the B-side: “I’d Be So Happy,” a Skip Prokop song that pairs naturally with the A-side’s polished warmth. Contemporary recollections credit Wells with singing and arranging the A-side, a tidy explanation for the track’s taut phrasing and crisp builds. The single’s sequencing—and Ienner’s radio-savvy touch—helped it slot cleanly between the year’s bigger Three Dog Night hits.
The song’s afterlife stretches well beyond its initial run. Toussaint himself performed it live; later covers by Levon Helm and others kept the tune in circulation. Heard today, Three Dog Night’s version doubles as a snapshot of 1974: studio sheen meeting songwriter soul, a West Coast hit machine giving a New Orleans composition just enough bite and bounce to last.
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Lyric
Well, I tried to run my game
She said “Man, that’s the same old thing I’ve heard before”
And I’m too tired to go for your show (again and again)
And she started to explain
She said “Man, I ain’t sayin’ what you’re playin’ just can’t make it
But I just can’t take it anymore”
Play somethin’ sweet, play somethin’ mellow
Play somethin’ I can sink my teeth in like Jello
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
Play somethin’ sweet and make it funky
Just let me lay back and grin like a monkey
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
Well, I started to sweat
She said “Don’t get upset ’cause you just might break a string
And that won’t do a thing for your show
So I said to myself
I said “Self, do you see what is sailin’ through my soul?”
And I gotta have some more, don’t ya know
Play somethin’ sweet, play somethin’ mellow
Play somethin’ I can sink my teeth in like Jello
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
Play somethin’ sweet and make it funky
Just let me lay back and grin like a monkey
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
It’s enough to make it light in the dark
It’s enough to make a bite just a bark
It’s enough to make a body move around
It’s enough to make a rabbit hug a dog
Play somethin’ sweet
Well, I tried to run my game
She said “Man, that’s the same old thing I’ve heard before”
And I’m too tired to go for your show (again and again)
And she started to explain
She said “Man, I ain’t sayin’ what you’re playin’ just can’t make it
But I just can’t take it anymore”
Play somethin’ sweet, play somethin’ mellow
Play somethin’ I can sink my teeth in like Jello
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
Play somethin’ sweet and make it funky
Just let me lay back and grin like a monkey
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
Play somethin’ sweet, play somethin’ mellow
Play somethin’ I can sink my teeth in like Jello
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues
Play somethin’ sweet and make it funky
Just let me lay back and grin like a monkey
Play something I can understand
Play me some Brickyard Blues