During the most formative (wink wink) years of my teens, one of my favorite bands was Three Dog Night. I never knew until recently that the name came from the number of dogs the Aboriginals would sleep with to keep warm during cold nights. Three being the ideal number for frigid nights.

One of their songs that I enjoyed, comes back to haunt me today:

ONE
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one
"No" is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
Because one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know
It's just no good anymore since you went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday
Because one is the loneliest number
That you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number
That you'll ever know
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number
Much, much worse than two
One is the number divided by two
One
One is the loneliest number

Roy Richard 2023