"In the Summertime", released in 1970, is the debut single by British rock band

Mungo Jerry Mungo Jerry are a British rock band, formed by Ray Dorset in Ashford, Middlesex in 1970. Experiencing their greatest success in the early 1970s, with a changing lineup always fronted by Ray Dorset, the group's biggest hit was " In the Summer ...

. It reached number one in charts around the world, including seven weeks on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, two weeks on one of the Canadian charts, and number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in the US. It became one of the best-selling singles of all-time, eventually selling 30 million copies. Written and composed by the band's lead singer, Ray Dorset, while working in a lab for Timex, the lyrics of the song celebrate the carefree days of summer. The track was included on the second album by the band, '' Electronically Tested'', issued in March 1971.

Composition and recording

Dorset has said that the song only took 10 minutes to write, which he did using a second-hand

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...

, while he was taking time off from his regular job, working in a lab for Timex. The song was recorded in Pye Studio 1 with Barry Murray producing. Initially the song was only two minutes long; to make it longer, Murray played the recording twice, slightly remixing the second half, and put the sound of a motorcycle in the middle. In an interview with Gary James, Dorset explained that they couldn't find a recording of a motorcycle, but that "Howard Barrow, the engineer had an old, well, it wasn't old then, a

Triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

sports car, which he drove past the studio while Barry Marrit icwas holding the microphone. So, he got the stereo effects from left to right or right to left, whatever. And that was it."

Release

The initial UK release was on

Dawn Records Dawn Records was a subsidiary of Pye Records. Active from 1969 to 1975, it was established as Pye's 'underground and progressive' label rivalling the EMI and Phonogram equivalents, Harvest and Vertigo. The most successful act on the label was ...

, a new label launched by Pye. It was unusual in that it was a

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, " In the Summertime" was t ...

, playing at 33 rpm, whereas singles generally played at 45 rpm. It included an additional song also written and composed by Dorset, "Mighty Man," on the A-side, and a much longer track, the

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism. He has inspire ...

song "Dust Pneumonia Blues," on the B-side. As the record was sold in a picture sleeve, also not standard at the time, and sold at only a few pence more than the normal 45 rpm two-track single, it was considered value for money. A small quantity of 45 rpm discs on the Pye record label, with "Mighty Man" on the B-side, and without a picture sleeve, were pressed for use in

jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to sele ...

es. These are now rare collector's items. In 2012, Dorset sued his former management company Associated Music International, run by his former friend and business manager Eliot Cohen, claiming over £2 million in

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

from the song that he believed had been withheld from him.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the single

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are des ...

for "In the Summertime". * Ray Dorset –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, 6 string acoustic,

cabasa The cabasa, similar to the shekere, is a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wooden cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, wooden or plastic handle. The metal cabasa was created by Mart ...

, stomp * Paul King –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, jug *Colin Earl –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*Mike Cole –

string bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

The Mixtures version

In 1970, Australian rock band The Mixtures covered and released the song. The song replaced Mungo Jerry's version at number 1 on the Australian chart, where it remained at number 1 for 6 weeks. It was the biggest-selling single by an Australian artist in Australia in 1970 and number 3 overall.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Shaggy version

In 1995, Jamaican-American reggae musician

Shaggy Shaggy may refer to: People *Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer *Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse *Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...

covered the song, and released it as the lead single from his third studio album, '' Boombastic'' (1995). Aside from the addition of rap lyrics, Shaggy's version also substitutes other lyrics for the song's original line "have a drink, have a drive." Shaggy also performed the song on an episode of ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bo ...

''. A year after its release, the song was re-recorded and released specifically for the film '' Flipper'' under the title "In the Summertime" ('96 Version).

Critical reception

Al Weisel from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' described "In the Summertime" as "a bouncy, infectious remake of the 1970

hit,

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

alternates a soulful chorus with a rapid-fire rap a la Chaka Demus and Pliers' "

Murder She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series ...

"."

Track listing

;United Kingdom *CD single #"In the Summertime" (Single Edit) – 3:46 #"It No Matter" – 3:56 #"Gal You A Pepper" – 3:37 #"In the Summertime" (Sting vs. Shaggy Remix) – 4:40 *7" vinyl / Cassette #"In the Summertime" (Single Edit) – 3:46 #"It No Matter" – 3:56 *12" vinyl #"In the Summertime" (Sting vs. Shaggy Remix) – 4:40 #"In the Summertime" (LP Version) – 3:55 #"In the Summertime" (Drum Dancehall Mix) – 3:54 *1996 "Flipper" CD single #"In the Summertime '96" (Original Version) – 3:52 #"In the Summertime '96" (Instrumental) – 3:52 #"Flipper Main Theme" – 3:58 ;United States *CD single #"In the Summertime" (Single Edit) – 3:48 #"In the Summertime" (LP Version) – 3:55 #"In the Summertime" (Drum Dancehall Mix) – 3:54 #"In the Summertime" (Funk Dance Mix) – 3:58 #"Boombastic" (LP Version) – 4:05 #"Boombastic" (Sting Remix) – 4:18 *12" vinyl #"In the Summertime" (LP Version) – 3:55 #"In the Summertime" (Drum Dancehall Mix) – 3:54 #"In the Summertime" (Funk Dance Mix) – 3:58 #"Boombastic" (Sting Remix) – 4:18

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

In other media

The song's lyric "have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find" led to its use in a UK advert for the campaign

Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives is the tagline to a series of public information films (PIFs) that ran in the UK between 1987 and 1997 as part of the Government's Safety on the Move road safety campaign, addressing the problem of drink-driving. ...

. It featured the first verse against people enjoying drinks in a pub during summer, then stopped to show a fatal car accident caused by

drink driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is invo ...

References

External links

* {{authority control 1970 debut singles 1970 songs 1995 singles Dawn Records singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Mungo Jerry songs Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in France Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Italy Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in South Africa Number-one singles in Switzerland Pye Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Shaggy (musician) songs Skiffle songs Songs written by Ray Dorset Song recordings produced by Barry Murray UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Virgin Records singles

Composition and recording

Release

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

The Mixtures version

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Shaggy version

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

In other media

See also

References

External links