About The Song
“In the Summertime,” unveiled in 1970, stands as the inaugural release by the British rock group Mungo Jerry. It secured the top spot on charts worldwide, maintaining a seven-week reign on the UK Singles Chart, a two-week presence on one of the Canadian charts, and a third-place position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States. This single went on to become one of the highest-selling of all time, with eventual sales reaching 30 million copies. Crafted and composed by the band’s lead vocalist, Ray Dorset, during his tenure in a Timex laboratory, the song’s lyrics exalt the carefree moments of summer. The composition found its place on the band’s second album, Electronically Tested, which hit the shelves in March 1971.
Dorset has mentioned that he composed the song in a mere 10 minutes, utilizing a second-hand Fender Stratocaster during a break from his regular job at a Timex lab.
The recording of the song took place in Pye Studio 1 under the production of Barry Murray.Initially, the track was a concise two minutes in duration; to extend it, Murray played the recording twice, slightly remixing the second segment, and introduced the sound of a motorcycle in the middle.In an interview with Gary James, Dorset clarified that they struggled to locate a recording of a motorcycle. However, “Howard Barrow, the engineer, had an old Triumph sports car, which he drove past the studio while Barry Marrit [sic] held the microphone. So, he captured the stereo effects from left to right or right to left, whatever. And that was it.”
The initial release in the UK occurred on Dawn Records, a recently established label by Pye. Notably, it took an unconventional form as a maxi single, playing at 33⅓ rpm, whereas the norm for singles was 45 rpm. This release featured an extra song, also penned and composed by Dorset, titled “Mighty Man,” on the A-side, and a considerably longer track, Woody Guthrie’s “Dust Pneumonia Blues,” on the B-side. Packaged in a picture sleeve, which was atypical at the time, and priced only slightly higher than the standard 45 rpm two-track single, it was deemed a cost-effective offering. A limited quantity of 45 rpm discs under the Pye record label, with “Mighty Man” on the B-side and lacking a picture sleeve, were manufactured for use in jukeboxes, and these have become rare collector’s items.
In 2012, Dorset initiated legal action against his former management company, Associated Music International, led by his once-close friend and business manager Eliot Cohen. The lawsuit sought over £2 million in royalties that Dorset believed had been withheld from him in connection with the song.