About The Song
“Put Out the Light” is a taut, mid-tempo album cut from Three Dog Night’s 1974 LP Hard Labor, a record that found the band refining their early-’70s formula with a sleeker, contemporary edge. Written by Daniel Moore—the same songwriter behind the group’s 1973 smash “Shambala”—the track sits comfortably in the band’s wheelhouse: concise storytelling, sturdy hooks, and a performance shaped for radio without sacrificing grit. It was not released as a U.S. single, but it provides a revealing snapshot of the group’s sound in this transitional year.
The timing matters. Hard Labor arrived on March 6, 1974, just as Three Dog Night changed producers from longtime collaborator Richard Podolor to hitmaker Jimmy Ienner. Recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, the album leans into cleaner textures and tighter song structures, with “Put Out the Light” appearing on Side A (track four). The arrangement is lean—electric piano and chiming guitar over a steady pulse—leaving space for the lyric’s bruised, plain-spoken sentiments to land.
Lead vocals are handled by Cory Wells, whose conversational phrasing gives the song a lived-in quality. One hallmark of Three Dog Night is how their three frontmen take turns to color a track; here, Wells keeps the temperature low but the tension high, letting the band’s pocket do the heavy lifting. Jimmy Ienner’s production emphasizes clarity: rhythm section locked, keyboards upfront, and a mix that favors intelligibility over showy embellishment.
Lyrically, the song reads like a morning-after reckoning. Rather than draping the theme in metaphor, Moore’s writing uses direct, everyday language—memories, slips, and small betrayals—to sketch a narrator who’s learned the cost of a good time. Three Dog Night sharpen that narrative by keeping the dynamics restrained until the refrain, where the melody lifts without tipping into melodrama. It’s adult pop in the best sense: economical, emotionally legible, and built to linger.
Though “Put Out the Light” stayed an album track for the band, Moore’s composition circulated widely in 1973–74. It first surfaced a year earlier via Canadian act Buckwheat and then became a Stateside chart entry for Joe Cocker, whose 1974 single version reached the U.S. Hot 100. Those alternate readings underline the song’s sturdy frame: whether dressed in Muscle Shoals-style soul or West Coast pop-rock, the bones hold.
Within Hard Labor, the cut plays a supporting role alongside the album’s three hit singles—“The Show Must Go On,” “Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here,” and “Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues).” If those tracks carried the promotional load, “Put Out the Light” helps define the record’s personality: a collection where outside writers provide raw material and the band’s vocal blend, road-tested rhythm section, and studio discipline turn it into something unmistakably theirs. The album itself went Gold and reached the U.S. Top 20, confirming the approach still resonated with listeners.
Onstage, the song slotted neatly into the 1974 tour set, its pocket and pacing giving the crowd a breather between bigger anthems. Heard today, it’s a modest gem—less a chart trophy than a craft lesson. “Put Out the Light” shows how Three Dog Night could take a strong tune from a seasoned songwriter, focus its edges, and deliver it with a mix of finesse and muscle that remains the band’s signature.
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Lyric
Why should I worry
When I know you’re loving me
Why should I care when
Joy is everywhere
How can I see the
Beauty of the light
Somebody I trusted
Somebody I knew quite well
Somebody I loved
Done reached up and put out the light
(Put out the light)
Turn the day into night
(Put out the light)
I got this little melody
I think it’s making it blue only
But then I hear the symphony
And that’s what I use
When somethin’s been gettin’ the best of me
Put out the light
Turn the day into night
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
(Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
Why should I hurry
When I’m doing the best I can
Do what I do and
Now don’t you understand
How can I see
The magic of the night
When Somebody I trusted
Somebody I knew quite well
Somebody I loved
Done reached up and put out the light
(Put out the light)
Turn the day into night
(Put out the light)
Somebody I trusted
Somebody I knew quite well
Somebody I loved
Somebody I knew quite well
(Trusted)
Somebody I trusted
Somebody I knew quite well
Somebody I loved
Somebody I knew quite well…