Just yesterday I said that I have been re-duxing too much and need to go in search of original songs, ones that I haven’t played here yet.  And then what do I do?  I come along tonight and redux another one!  This came to me while showering this evening and it wouldn’t leave my head.  I was pretty sure I had already played it and yep … I did … back in 2019, but heck, that was two years ago, right?  My friend Roger who lives across the pond where it never gets very hot and always rains, said it got to 67° F there a few days ago and he immediately went into summer mode!  Here, it has hit 90° two days already, although this week we’re back to 70s and rain.  Anyway, I digress (and ramble) … this song, and thoughts of another pandemic summer having planted in my mind, I am reduxing this one, but with some added trivia about the group that was provided by our friend David last time I played the song.  Y’know … every time I hear this one, watch the video, I like it just a little bit better!

This song was written by Ray Dorset, who was the lead singer and guitarist for the group Mungo Jerry.  Now, until I first posted this song a couple of years ago, I thought Mungo Jerry was a solo artist, the one who turns out to be Dorset.

The band was known as Memphis Leather and The Good Earth before getting a record deal and changing their name to Mungo Jerry (after the character Mungojerrie from the T. S. Eliot book Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats – later the basis for the Broadway play Cats).

Dorset penned the song in 1968 when he was working for Timex in the UK – his band was just getting started and music was more of a hobby at the time. Dorset says that the famous melody just popped into his head one day, and the next day he wrote the lyrics very quickly.

“It’s got no chorus; all it’s got is a melody that goes over and over again with a set of lyrics that conjure up a celebration of life,” he said. “Especially if you’re a young person: it’s a great day, you’ve managed to get a car – preferably with the top off – you’re cruising around, and if you’re a guy you’re picking up girls.”

Barry Murray, a producer at Pye Records, was a friend of Ray Dorset’s and signed the group to the label’s more adventurous imprint, Dawn Records, which released In The Summertime as their first single. The song took off, going to #1 in their native UK as well as most EU nations, and making #3 in the U.S. The UK fortunes of the song were aided by the group’s appearance at the Hollywood Music Festival in Staffordshire England on May 23, 1970, shortly after the song was released. Playing on low on a bill with the Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Free and Traffic, the song got the attention of the 35,000 or so fans in attendance, giving it a huge lift.

Released in 1970, it reached #1 in charts around the world, including seven weeks on the UK Singles Chart, two weeks on one of the Canadian charts, and #3 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.

In the Summertime
Mungo Jerry

Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather’s fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy’s rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy’s poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a turn or return the twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good and really fine

We’re not bad people
We’re not dirty, we’re not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather’s fine
We go fishin’ or go swimmin’ in the sea
We’re always happy
Life’s for livin’ yeah, that’s our philosophy

Sing along with us
Dee dee dee-dee dee
Dah dah dah-dah dah
Yeah we’re hap-happy
Dah dah-dah
Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah
Dah-do-dah-dah-dah
Dah-dah-dah do-dah-dah

Alright ah

Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh

When the winter’s here, yeah it’s party time
Bring your bottle, wear your bright clothes
It’ll soon be summertime
And we’ll sing again
We’ll go drivin’ or maybe we’ll settle down
If she’s rich, if she’s nice
Bring your friends and we’ll all go into town

Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, chh chh-chh

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather’s fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy’s rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy’s poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a turn or return the twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good and really fine

We’re not bad people
We’re not dirty, we’re not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather’s fine
We go fishin’ or go swimmin’ in the sea
We’re always happy
Life’s for livin’ yeah, that’s our philosophy

Sing along with us
Dee dee dee-dee dee
Dah dah dah-dah dah
Yeah we’re hap-happy
Dah dah-dah
Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah
Dah-do-dah-dah-dah

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Ray Dorset
Summertime Holiday lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Songtrust Ave, BMG Rights Management