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| The dream. |
The Hit
“And it’s become…it’s almost, I mean the longer it goes on, it becomes more like ‘Happy Birthday,” because, when anybody thinks of the summer, they think of ‘In the Summertime.’”
Asking whether a person knows Mungo Jerry’s, “In the Summertime,” isn’t so different from asking whether she’s seen a commercial air either before or during summer. So, yes, of course she has. That quote comes from snippet of a 2012 VH1 interview snippet with Ray Dorset, the man so synonymous with Mungo Jerry that that might as well be his name - a thought he has voiced in other interviews.
Songs don’t come more free and breezy than “In the Summertime,” all the way down to the famous lyric, “have a drink, have drive, go out and see what you can find.” It’s an unusual tune too, and all the way down to the dude blowing into a jug; all acoustic, it’s minimalist as a drum circle outside your local dorm, only there are no drums on the track (and hold that thought). Less a story than an experience - specifically, the beginning of a day that feels destined to fall into place - it brims with hope, requiring nothing more than asking the right questions…and, yeah, a big nod to young, male horniness. (“You got women, you got women on your mind.”). What’s not to like, y’know?
That song over and over again, for starters…
The Rest of the Story
“Dorset was the composer, guitarist, blues harp, kazoo player, frontman and singer.”
First, a confession: dear God in Heaven, did I suffer through Mungo Jerry. I can say kind things about them and they have an interesting/semi-comic history, but I chose that sentence to start because I can’t think of one good reason to put a kazoo in any piece of music. And yet Mungo Jerry did it over and over again. At any rate, and this isn’t a question of quality, the only way I will listen to this band again is on a fucking dare.
Now, the good/interesting stuff.
“And it’s become…it’s almost, I mean the longer it goes on, it becomes more like ‘Happy Birthday,” because, when anybody thinks of the summer, they think of ‘In the Summertime.’”
Asking whether a person knows Mungo Jerry’s, “In the Summertime,” isn’t so different from asking whether she’s seen a commercial air either before or during summer. So, yes, of course she has. That quote comes from snippet of a 2012 VH1 interview snippet with Ray Dorset, the man so synonymous with Mungo Jerry that that might as well be his name - a thought he has voiced in other interviews.
Songs don’t come more free and breezy than “In the Summertime,” all the way down to the famous lyric, “have a drink, have drive, go out and see what you can find.” It’s an unusual tune too, and all the way down to the dude blowing into a jug; all acoustic, it’s minimalist as a drum circle outside your local dorm, only there are no drums on the track (and hold that thought). Less a story than an experience - specifically, the beginning of a day that feels destined to fall into place - it brims with hope, requiring nothing more than asking the right questions…and, yeah, a big nod to young, male horniness. (“You got women, you got women on your mind.”). What’s not to like, y’know?
That song over and over again, for starters…
The Rest of the Story
“Dorset was the composer, guitarist, blues harp, kazoo player, frontman and singer.”
First, a confession: dear God in Heaven, did I suffer through Mungo Jerry. I can say kind things about them and they have an interesting/semi-comic history, but I chose that sentence to start because I can’t think of one good reason to put a kazoo in any piece of music. And yet Mungo Jerry did it over and over again. At any rate, and this isn’t a question of quality, the only way I will listen to this band again is on a fucking dare.
Now, the good/interesting stuff.
