1970 single by Tony Orlando and Dawn
"Knock Three Times"
|
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1970 artwork showing a fictional group, not the performers
|
|
|
B-side
| "Home"
|
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Released
| November 1970
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Recorded
| 1970
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Genre
| Pop
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Length
| 2
:
57
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Label
| Bell
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Songwriter(s)
| |
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Producer(s)
| |
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"
Candida
"
(1970)
|
"
Knock Three Times
"
(1970)
|
"What Are You Doing Sunday"
(1971)
| |
"
Knock Three Times
"
is a
popular song
credited simply to "
Dawn
", obscuring the actual performers. The song was released as a
single
which hit No. 1 on the
Billboard
Hot 100
in January 1971 and eventually sold six million copies. It reached No. 2 on '
Billboard
'
s "Easy Listening" survey.
[1]
Outside the US, "Knock Three Times" also claimed the No. 1 spot on the
UK Singles Chart
.
[2]
Background
[
edit
]
"Knock Three Times" has roots in
the Tokens
. The first Dawn song "
Candida
" was produced by Tokens member
Hank Medress
and his business partner
Dave Appell
in May 1970. Session musicians and some Tokens members sang and played drums on the track. Medress did not like the sound of the lead singer, and replaced him with his friend
Tony Orlando
who had already enjoyed limited success singing "
Bless You
" and "
Halfway to Paradise
" in 1961. By 1970, Orlando had abandoned his singing career and was working as an executive at April-Blackwood Music, a subsidiary of
Columbia Records
. He was hoping for a promotion which made him worried about the
conflict of interest
inherent in his recording vocals for competitor
Bell Records
, so he only agreed to sing anonymously. "Candida" turned out to be a hit song, and Bell asked Orlando to sing another tune anonymously. Dawn was not an actual musical group at the time; the name was chosen because Bell Records executive Steve Wax had a daughter named Lisa Dawn Wax.
[3]
[4]
Recording and release
[
edit
]
"Candida" co-writer
Irwin Levine
joined with
Larry Brown
to write "Knock Three Times". As "Candida" was peaking on the US pop chart in October 1970, Medress brought Orlando back to the studio with backing singers Jay Siegel of the Tokens, Robin Grean, and
Toni Wine
.
[3]
Wine remembers
Linda November
singing on this session.
[5]
The singers were veterans of the "Candida" recording session, and Wine was co-writer of "Candida" with Levine. They recorded "Knock Three Times" together.
[3]
This was the first time Orlando met any of the musicians involved with "Candida".
[5]
"Knock Three Times" hit No. 1 in January 1971. Bell Records promised Orlando royalties from the song, and he confessed his outside involvement to his employer, who told him it was fine as long as he did not tour, and instructed him to put some April-Blackwood Music songs on the associated album,
Candida
. Orlando agreed at first, but soon quit his job to begin touring. To promote the song, a touring version of Dawn was needed. Producer
Tony Camillo
recommended the duo of cousins
Telma Hopkins
and
Joyce Vincent
, who expected only a short employment contract as Dawn. The women liked working with Orlando, and after the tour was finished, the three recorded more hit songs as
Tony Orlando and Dawn
, starting with 1973's "
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree
".
[3]
Personnel
[
edit
]
- Studio session 1970 as Dawn
- Touring group from 1971 billed as
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Cover versions
[
edit
]
The song was covered by
Billy "Crash" Craddock
in 1971 and became a No. 3
country
hit.
[6]
Craddock's version had a faster tempo and included
Cajun
fiddles
.
[7]
The song largely introduced Craddock and his country rock-styled sound to a wider country audience, and began a string of hits that continued into the early 1980s.
Popular culture
[
edit
]
"Knock Three Times" appears in several motion pictures including
Now and Then
.
Several
Larry Craig
?themed parodies (all titled "Tap Three Times") were recorded by various artists such as
Paul and Storm
and
the Capitol Steps
in 2007 following the senator's sex scandal in which he was arrested for tapping his foot (to allegedly solicit sex) in a public airport restroom.
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
Chart performance
[
edit
]
Weekly charts
[
edit
]
|
Year-end charts
[
edit
]
Chart (1971)
|
Rank
|
Australia
[26]
|
7
|
Canada
[27]
|
11
|
South Africa
[28]
|
3
|
UK
[29]
|
4
|
U.S.
Billboard
Hot 100
[30]
|
10
|
All-time charts
[
edit
]
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Whitburn, Joel
(2002).
Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001
. Record Research. p. 73.
- ^
"Dawn featuring Tony Orlando"
.
Official Charts Company
. Retrieved
May 29,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Warner, Jay (2006).
American Singing Groups: A History from 1940s to Today
.
Hal Leonard Corporation
. p. 484.
ISBN
9780634099786
.
- ^
"Behind The Music | Season 1 Episodes (TV Series)"
.
VH1.com
. April 20, 2015. Archived from
the original
on November 24, 2014
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
Podolsky, Rich (2012).
Don Kirshner: The Man with the Golden Ear
. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 313.
ISBN
9781458471550
.
- ^
Whitburn, Joel
(2004).
The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition
.
Record Research
. p. 91.
- ^
Puterbaugh, Parke (June 9, 2011).
"Billy 'Crash' Craddock"
.
News & Record
. Archived from
the original
on June 17, 2011
. Retrieved
June 9,
2011
.
- ^
Reed, Bruce (October 5, 2007).
"Word Problem: Larry Craig, the irrational member who goes on forever with no solution"
.
Slate
. Retrieved
January 3,
2024
.
- ^
"Larry Craig: Tap 3 Times (Parody)"
.
YouTube
. October 16, 2007.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2021
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Sen. Larry Craig "TapThree Times"
"
.
YouTube
. August 29, 2007.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2021
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Tap Three Times"
. Paul and Storm. June 20, 2014. Archived from
the original
on October 5, 2016
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Tap Three Times: Capitol Steps: MP3 Downloads"
.
Amazon.com
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Cash Box - International Best Sellers"
(PDF)
.
worldradiohistory.com
. Cash Box. 27 March 1971. p. 46.
- ^
Billboard
. June 15, 1985. p. 83
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"
Dawn ? Knock Three Times"
(in German).
O3 Austria Top 40
.
- ^
"knock three times - dawn"
.
VRT
(in Dutch). Top30-2.radio2.be. Archived from
the original
on April 9, 2012
. Retrieved
July 25,
2013
.
Hoogste notering in de top 30 : 1
- ^
"Top Singles - Volume 42, No. 22, August 10, 1979"
. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from
the original
on November 29, 2014
. Retrieved
June 1,
2013
.
- ^
"
Offiziellecharts.de ? Dawn ? Knock Three Times"
(in German)
.
GfK Entertainment charts
. Retrieved 14 February 2019. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON Dawn"
- ^
"
Chart Track: Week 9, 1971"
.
Irish Singles Chart
.
- ^
"
Nederlandse Top 40 ? Dawn"
(in Dutch).
Dutch Top 40
.
- ^
"
Dawn ? Knock Three Times"
.
Top 40 Singles
. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- ^
"SA Charts 1965?March 1989"
. Retrieved
September 5,
2018
.
- ^
"
Dawn ? Knock Three Times"
.
Swiss Singles Chart
.
- ^
Roberts, David (2006).
British Hit Singles & Albums
(19th ed.). London:
Guinness World Records Limited
. p. 143.
ISBN
1-904994-10-5
.
- ^
Whitburn, Joel
(1993).
Top Adult Contemporary: 1961?1993
. Record Research. p. 67.
- ^
David Kent's "Australian Chart Book 1970-1992"
Archived
March 5, 2016, at
archive.today
- ^
"Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada"
.
Collectionscanada.gc.ca
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Top 20 Hit Singles of 1973"
. Retrieved
September 2,
2018
.
- ^
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971
- ^
"Top 100 Hits of 1971/Top 100 Songs of 1971"
.
Musicoutfitters.com
. Retrieved
October 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart"
.
Billboard
. Retrieved
December 10,
2018
.
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Studio albums
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Compilation albums
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Live albums
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Singles
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Related articles
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