Bob Dorough – "Three Is a Magic Number" (1973)

When it's three

You can see

It's a magic number

Schoolhouse Rock! was a series of short educational programs that aired on ABC on Saturday mornings between 1973 and 1985.

Today’s featured song, which was in the very first Schoolhouse Rock! episode, teaches the multiplication table for three.  (Three times one is three, three times two is six, and so on.)

The song cites a number of real-life examples of items that depend on the number three:

It takes three legs to make a tripod

Or to make a table stand

And it takes three wheels to make

A vehicle called a tricycle

Every triangle has three corners

Every triangle has three sides

If you’re still not convinced that three is a magic number, the chorus of the song proves it beyond any doubt: 

A man and a woman had a little baby

Yes, they did

And they had three in the family

That's a magic number

Three is a magic number!

I have three grandchildren – all of them boys under the age of two.  For the time being, each of them is an only child.  

That means that each of my grandsons and each of my three married children are currently members of a family with three members.  

The song is right – three is a magic number.  I know it, and so do my children – and when they’re a little older, my grandsons will know it, too. 

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Bob Dorough, who wrote and sang “Three Is a Magic Number,” was a pianist, singer, composer, arranger, and producer before becoming the musical director of Schoolhouse Rock!

Here’s “Three Is a Magic Number”:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: