About The Song
“Rock & Roll Widow” is one of the most telling tracks on Three Dog Night’s 1970 album It Ain’t Easy—not because it was a hit, but because it shows what the band sounded like when they weren’t borrowing a great song from outside writers. The album was released on March 31, 1970, recorded during 1969–1970 at American Recording Co. in Studio City, and produced by Richard Podolor, the same producer who helped shape their early run of radio-friendly rock records.
On paper, the song already looks like an outlier. While much of It Ain’t Easy is built on careful song selection (Randy Newman alone has multiple cuts on the album), “Rock & Roll Widow” is credited to the entire group—Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, Cory Wells, Michael Allsup, Jimmy Greenspoon, Joe Schermie, and Floyd Sneed. That full-band credit is rare in their catalog, and it hints at how the track likely came together: not as a “finished” songwriter demo, but as something the band shaped collectively in the room.
Its place in the track list adds to the story. “Rock & Roll Widow” sits on side two right before “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” the Randy Newman tune that would become their signature smash. It’s almost like a before-and-after snapshot: first you hear Three Dog Night writing and playing as a unit, then you hear them applying their famous “muscle” to an outside song and turning it into a No. 1 single.
And that’s where most people first encountered “Rock & Roll Widow”—as the B-side. When “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)” was released as a single in May 1970, “Rock & Roll Widow” was on the flip. The A-side hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, so plenty of copies of the 45 circulated with this track attached, even if it never had a separate chart life of its own.
There’s another small piece of “only-in-1970” context wrapped around the album. According to Chuck Negron’s memoir (as summarized on the album’s Wikipedia entry), the record originally had a different working title and a far more provocative cover concept that the label rejected. That kind of push-and-pull with ABC/Dunhill mattered, because Three Dog Night were moving fast—this was their fourth album in just over a year—and the label wanted product that could stay in heavy rotation.
Within that machine, “Rock & Roll Widow” feels like the band giving itself a moment of autonomy. You can also see it in the credits on modern listings: all three frontmen are associated with the performance, and the core backing lineup is clearly documented. In a group known for rotating lead vocals, the “widow” track lands more like a shared statement than a spotlight turn.
If you’re exploring It Ain’t Easy beyond the famous singles, “Rock & Roll Widow” functions as a key: it explains why the band could dominate AM radio while still sounding like a working rock unit. It’s not the track that made the album sell—it’s the track that shows what Three Dog Night were when the doors were closed and the song credit simply read: everyone in the band.
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Lyric
Rock and roll widow, lover by trade
Lives to tell who’s been made into love
Living her life, reds, beds, most every night
Widow carry on ’til the band is gone
Widow carry on ’til the band is gone
She wants no man give her his hand
She’d rather go out, rather go out, rather go out
With the boys in the band
Widow carry on till the band is gone
Widow carry on till the band is gone
Widow carry on till the band is gone
Sniff of snow to let you know
Her speed of life is in and free
She knows she pays the price to play
To share herself with fame
But when its time and faces change
She gives more love away, love away
She gives more love away
She gives more love awayRock and roll widow, when we played last
A dose of your love, dose of your love, dose of your love
Was mine in the past
Need a taste of that magical stuff
LSMFT ain’t enough
Widow carry on while the band is on