Trinomial Bands: Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night: Shambala


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Shamb(h)ala is the Buddhist “Pure Land” (Wikipedia). In the 1960s and 70s, the West adopted it as a mythical spiritual land of perfection and peace. Like many beliefs and concepts from the hippie 1960s and 70s, knowledge about the philosophy/concept was based on “fragmented accounts” and uninformed stories.  It was a land somewhere around Tibet.

What was important for the “peace/love” hippies was its mythical value as a land of inspiration and promise. In many ways, it was nearly a synonym for Shangri-la: a hidden, mystic land in the Himalayas  where everyone lived and worked for the good of mankind: a lot like the American (hippe) commune.

Three Dog Night – still touring today – hit their prime in the late 60s and early 70s. The Internet tells us that Shambala – typical of most Three Dog Night songs – was not of their creation. It did, however, rise pretty high on the charts in 1973. They sang:

Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambhala

Three Dog Night is credited with 7 Gold records. Among their hits that you ought to/are probably familiar with are:
One (written by Harry Nilsson),
Momma Told Me Not to Come
Joy to the World
Easy to be Hard