About The Song
“Nobody” was the very first single released by Three Dog Night, a lean, soulful pop-rock track that introduced the band to radio in late 1968. Cut during sessions for the group’s self-titled debut on Dunhill Records, the song arrived in November 1968 backed with a cover of Lennon–McCartney’s “It’s for You.” While it didn’t become a national smash, the single established the band’s template—sharp material from outside writers, three distinctive voices, and a tight, radio-ready production.
The track appears on the debut album Three Dog Night (also known later as One), released October 16, 1968. Producer Gabriel Mekler—fresh off work with Steppenwolf—kept the arrangements punchy and uncluttered, with engineer Richard Podolor capturing the band’s onstage energy at American Recording in Studio City. In that context, “Nobody” works like a mission statement: concise groove, call-and-response harmonies, and a hook that sticks without overstaying its welcome.
Authorship points to the band’s crate-digging instincts. “Nobody” was written by Beth Beatty, Dick Cooper, and Ernie Shelby, and the tune had already surfaced in 1967 via Larry Williams & Johnny “Guitar” Watson with Kaleidoscope. Three Dog Night’s version tightens the feel and brightens the attack, translating a gritty R&B side into a crossover-minded pop-rocker—exactly the kind of makeover the band would become famous for over the next several years.
On the microphone, the cut showcases Three Dog Night’s ace in the hole: three capable frontmen who could rotate leads for color and emphasis. The debut LP credits indicate Cory Wells on lead vocals for “Nobody,” and he brings a grainy urgency that suits the lyric’s defiant tone. Behind him, the stacked backgrounds and hand-in-glove rhythm section give the chorus its lift, hinting at the trio’s blend of polish and muscle.
Lyrically, “Nobody” feels like a rebuttal set to a backbeat. Lines that challenge gossip and doubt—insisting the romance is real—play against a taut arrangement that keeps the message direct. There’s no ornate metaphor or psychedelic drift here; the song’s impact comes from clarity and compression. In under three minutes, it sketches a mini-drama and gets out, leaving the refrain echoing.
Commercially, the single was more a foothold than a breakthrough. “Nobody” reached No. 116 on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under” chart, falling just short of the Hot 100. Still, it primed the pump: a few months later the band’s remake of “Try a Little Tenderness” cracked the U.S. Top 40, and by spring 1969 “One” roared to No. 5. In retrospect, “Nobody” reads like the opening frame of a chart run that would dominate the early ’70s.
The song didn’t disappear after its initial run. It remained a set-list staple as the band moved to larger stages, and a charged version appears on the 1969 concert album Captured Live at the Forum, where the groove stretches and the vocals play to the crowd. Heard today, “Nobody” is less a forgotten footnote than a prototype: the sound of Three Dog Night figuring out, in real time, how to make other people’s songs feel unmistakably their own.
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Lyric
Nobody tell me you don’t love me, babe
They just don’t know that you’re an angel
Oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Nobody tell me you don’t love me, babe
Have a way we look, get the way we’re done
May make some people frown
They don’t understand the bag
Stop! Put us down
They just don’t know that you’re an angel
Oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Nobody tell me you don’t love me, baby
All the squares keep talkin’ ’bout you, baby
Don’t you know now talk is cheap, yeah
Our new love gonna last forever that’s why we didn’t care, no
They just don’t know that you’re an angel
Good God, good God, yeah, love, yeah
Nobody tell me you don’t love me, baby
No, nobody
No, nobody
No, nobody
No, nobody
No, nobody
No, no, nooooobody
Nooooobody