“Jeremiah was a bullfrog.” Of the hundreds of songs written by Hoyt Axton, those are the lyrics for which he is best known. He was good singer and guitar player, but Hoyt is best remembered for the many great songs he wrote that became hits for others. The “Jeremiah” lyrics are from “Joy to the World,” which was a huge number one hit for Three Dog Night, as was “Never Been to Spain.” Way back in 1963, the Kingston Trio had a hit with Axton’s “Greenback Dollar.” Steppenwolf’s versions of “Snow Blind Friend” and “The Pusher” were quite successful, the latter gaining popularity from its performance in the movie Easy Rider. Former Beatle Ringo Starr popularized Axton’s “No-No Song.” The list could, of course, go on and on.
Song writing came naturally to Hoyt. His mother was Mae Boren Axton, who published over 200 songs, the most famous of which was Elvis Presley’s first big hit, “Heartbreak Hotel.”
Some of the worst parts of the rock star lifestyle (though I wouldn’t really call him a rock star) also came naturally to Hoyt. He was married four times and for many years he had a serious problem with the abuse of alcohol and cocaine. Some of his best known songs are overtly anti-drug and were written after he had overcome those habits. Steve Fromholz, whose “Texas Trilogy” was the Song of the Week earlier this year, overcame a cocaine dependency at about the same time as Hoyt did, and the two were good friends, The worked together to write and record some of the music for Peter Fonda’s film, Outlaw Blues.
Hoyt Axton was husky man with a cherubic face and a marvelous baritone-bass voice. He appeared in several movies and television shows playing a good old boy or someone’s father or both. Examples are The Black Stallion, Gremlins, Dukes of Hazzard, Bonanza and even I Dream of Jeanie.
I don ‘t know much about Hoyt Axton’s religious beliefs. Oftentimes when a person overcomes a drug or alcohol problem, they do “get religion”; and there is some evidence of that in Hoyt’s writing. It has been suggested that Jeremiah the Bullfrog is a reference to the prophet Jeremiah – but it isn’t.*
Still, at about that time he released a single with “Old Time Religion” on one side and “Farther Along” on the other. We will get to this week’s song in a moment, but while on this subject we should consider the song “Epistle” that was on Hoyt’s 1971 album Country Anthem, the album that also includes “The Devil.” I believe that song may illustrate Hoyt’s views of organized religion as he says:
To an orphan child dyin’ of hunger,
God is just a half a loaf of bread.
Rise up from your hundred dollar table,
Make sure your paroquet is fed.
And don’t forget to save a dime for Jesus
Don’t forget to send ’em all to war.
…..
And just in case our fathers have forgotten,
Maybe we should help them understand.
And to the church in Baltimore a question:
What have you done to ease the pain of man?
He expressed a similar sentiment in a more lighthearted way a few years later with his song “Rusty Old Halo.”
The real reason that I chose “The Devil” for Song of the Week is because of the first two lines: “It’s been raining in the mountains and the river’s on the rise/And we cannot hardly reach the other side.” My wife and daughter and grandson are in Portland, Oregon this week, and I’ve been following the weather reports from out there. It has been raining, so I thought of this song.
Most of the song, though, does not concern the rain. It is mostly about the Devil. It gives us a very black and white view of a life where there is an evil force that can either harm us or we can rise above it. Hoyt’s eyes were opened by a lovely lady who loved the Lord. There you have it – the good and the bad; losers and winners; the Devil and the Lord.
The other thing about this song is that it has a really great rhythm. I often think it should be sung a capella while slapping your palm on your leg to the beat (and Hoyt doesn’t do much more than that).