About The Song
“Freedom for the Stallion” is one of those Three Dog Night recordings that quietly reveals how wide their musical net was in the early 1970s. The song was written by New Orleans songwriter Allen Toussaint and recorded by the band for their 1972 album Seven Separate Fools, produced by Richard Podolor at American Recording Co. in Studio City. The album came out in July 1972, climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard 200, and even shipped with a set of oversized playing cards—an old-school physical bonus that matched how big their albums were selling at the time.
Toussaint didn’t write “Freedom for the Stallion” as a lightweight singalong. Writers who’ve unpacked the song over the years point out that it’s built as a social lament that moves from the image of horses needing room to run into a broader plea for human freedom—touching on slavery and modern injustice without turning into a slogan. The hook keeps returning like a prayer, which is part of why so many singers have been drawn to it: the message is direct, but the poetry leaves space for interpretation.
Before Three Dog Night got to it, the song already had momentum in the soul world. American Songwriter notes that Lee Dorsey was the first to record it, and that other artists quickly followed in the early ’70s, including Boz Scaggs. A year later, The Hues Corporation made it the title track of their 1973 debut album, and their single version even slipped onto the Hot 100—briefly visible before “Rock the Boat” changed that group’s story overnight. By then, “Freedom for the Stallion” had become a kind of traveling standard, moving between rock, soul, and pop without losing its spine.
Three Dog Night’s timing is interesting because the song wasn’t pushed as an A-side “statement single.” Instead, it ended up paired with one of their biggest pop hits. In August 1972, “Black and White” was released as a single with “Freedom for the Stallion” on the B-side. “Black and White” went to No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, which meant countless copies of the 45 carried Toussaint’s song on the flip. Even for listeners who bought it for the hit, the B-side had a way of being discovered—late-night radio, turntable curiosity, or DJs who liked to surprise people.
Inside the band, this track also shows off something fans often talk about: how their three lead singers could blend until the “lead” almost disappeared. The Seven Separate Fools credits list Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells as lead vocalists on “Freedom for the Stallion,” and in a later interview, Hutton explained that there’s a moment where they trade lines so tightly you can barely tell who’s who—like a single composite voice. That’s a very Three Dog Night solution to a Toussaint song: treat it less like a solo sermon and more like a shared plea.
Decades later, the song’s afterlife kept proving its point. Elvis Costello wrote about performing “Freedom for the Stallion” with Toussaint at a Hurricane Katrina benefit, framing it as a song of hope in a moment when New Orleans—and Toussaint personally—had taken a devastating hit. That long arc helps explain why Three Dog Night’s version still lands: it’s not just a 1972 album cut. It’s one stop in a chain of recordings that artists keep returning to when they want a song that sounds soulful on the surface but carries real weight underneath.
Video
Lyric
Freedom for the stallion, freedom for the mare and her colt
Freedom for the baby child who has not grown old enough to vote
Lord, have mercy, what you gonna do about the people who are prayin’ to you?
They got men makin’ laws that destroy other men, made money, God, it’s a doggone
Sin
Oh, Lord, you got to help us find the wayBig ship’s a-sailin’, slaves all chained and bound
Headin’ for a brand new land that someone said he up and found
Lord, have mercy, what you gonna do about the people who are prayin’ to you?
They got men makin’ laws that destroy other men, they made money, God, it’s a
Doggone sin
Oh, Lord, you got to help us find the wayFreedom for the stallion, freedom for the mare and her colt
Freedom for the baby child who has not grown old enough to vote
Lord, have mercy, what you gonna do about the people who are prayin’ to you?
You know when I look inside my mind searchin’ for the truth I find
Oh, Lord, you got to help us find the wayHey, Lord!