June 13 – Jerry, Jugs And The Summer Anthem

It might not have been summertime quite yet according to the calendars but Brits were sure ready for it this day in 1970. That’s when Mungo Jerry hit #1 there with the summer classic “In the Summertime.” It would stay there until the beginning of August (when Elvis Presley replaced it with “The Wonder of You”) , seven weeks in total and in all likelihood being the biggest single of the year. We say “in all likelihood” because like in North America, where Cashbox was a sort of lesser rival to Billboard, in the UK there were a few different tabulators and they didn’t always agree. However, per the “Official Charts”, Mungo was numero uno. That little bit of lengthy explanation seems a bit more relevant given disputes on this record’s sales that we’ll get to.

Mungo Jerry were a British act formed in the late-’60s by Ray Dorset, who is fittingly the only remaining original member in the version of the band, which still exists but has been inactive recently. Along the way they’ve put out a number of albums – six by 1975 alone, when their output began to slow some – and had two 1980’s #1 hits in South Africa of all places. They also had one more #1 at home, “Baby Jump” in 1971. But they’re forever tied into and remembered for just one song – their very first record.

They played “In the Summertime” in front of 35 000 people only days after they put out the single. They were an opening act at a British festival featuring the Grateful Dead and Traffic, among others. That performance, coupled with an appearance on Top of the Pops helped the song jet to the top of the UK charts in only its second week, an almost unheard of occurrence in that era. By year’s end, it had also topped the charts in Canada, South Africa, Australia, France and Germany to name a few, gotten to #3 in the U.S. (well after summer had faded there). Internationally it was among the year’s biggest-sellers. One of rock’s early videos helped it along as well, but all in all, its appeal simply lay in being a feel-good, singalong tune that was quite different than anything else on radio with its’ “skiffle” sound enhanced by Paul King playing “jug” on it.

Also differentiating it from the pack was its lack of a real chorus or of normal percussion, although Dorset does stamp his feet in rhythm on it (a technique Queen borrowed on “We Will Rock You”). Dorset sums up its popularity thusly: “it’s a melody that goes over and over again with a set of lyrics that conjure up a celebration of life! 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.” He says he was partly inspired by beach movies of the ’60s and he wrote it in about ten minutes on a break at work, and he should know. At the time, his day job was with Timex watch.

It was one of the more distinctive, happy-sounding songs of the decade and it’s popularity endures with constant radio play to this day and use in movies like Despicable Me 2 and Wedding Crashers. Gauging just how many copies it has sold is challenging; the estimates vary wildly and there may be some confusion as it’s been put out in different formats. In Britain, it was originally a 33RPM 7” “maxi single” with another original, “Mighty Man” joining it on the A-side and a Woody Guthrie cover on the B-side, but elsewhere it was put out as a conventional, 2-song “45” and in the UK there was a limited edition 7” designed for jukebox use. It was for some time listed variously as being the biggest, or second-biggest selling single of the modern music era and some guessed it had topped 30 million copies sold. That seems improbable and has been widely refuted; interestingly Wikipedia asserts it on one page (with the reference being from Dorset himself) but fails to include it at all on their list of singles that have topped ten million sales on another page. But nonetheless, even by today’s more conventional and conservative measuring, it has reliably sold around 10 million copies making it to summer what “White Christmas” is for December.