"Three is a Magic Number" is an educational song and segment about the number three in the Schoolhouse Rock! series that aired as the program's pilot episode on January 6, 1973. Written and performed by the accomplished jazz artist Bob Dorough, the lyrics contain multiplication tables as well as a mystical assortment of trios including "past and the present and the future" and "the heart and the brain and the body". Because of the quality of Three is a Magic Number's songwriting, Schoolhouse Rock! was expanded from an album into a television program.