How Mungo Jerry's 'In the Summertime' Became a #1 Hit Written in Just 10 Minutes
How Mungo Jerry's 'In the Summertime' Became a #1 Hit Written in Just 10 Minutes
Jacqueline Burt CoteFri, April 24, 2026 at 12:41 AM UTC
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With summer finally just around the corner, it's time to start curating your warm weather playlist. And while not every summer tune has to have a feel-good vibe, most of them do...because, obviously, that's what summertime is all about. Just ask Ray Dorset, lead singer of Mungo Jerry, the British band responsible for the classic one-hit wonder, "In the Summertime."
Released in 1970, "In the Summertime" was a #1 hit all around the world. Interestingly enough, it only made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 — but that's still pretty impressive, especially considering it was written in just 10 minutes, according to Dorset.
As the frontman told the U.K.'s Express in 2014, he got his start as a musician very early on, thanks to his talented family.
"I was born in Middlesex. My parents both sang and played piano but it never occurred to me that music may be my destiny until I received a spooky prophecy from a fortune-telling slot machine on Hayling Island when I was only 10," Dorset recalled. "The message read, ‘The happiest part of your life is going to be mixed in music, you’ll write songs.’"
“About a year later, skiffle music came out, I got a washboard and I was off. Drummer for my first band, Blue Moon Skiffle Group, was Phil Collins – but not that Phil Collins as has become myth," Dorset continued. "My early '60s group The Tramps played alternate gigs with The Rolling Stones at the Station Hotel in Richmond. I was writing songs for fun, but then, in just 10 minutes, I wrote a song that became an international number one: 'In The Summertime.'"
As Dorset explained, when "In the Summertime" topped the charts in the U.K., he was still working in a lab for Timex and had to ask his boss for time off to do Top Of The Pops.
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"We had loads of hits, including another number one with 'Baby Jump,' and played a festival in Rotterdam in front of 100,000 people when we blew Pink Floyd off stage," Dorset said.
'In the Summertime' hit the charts twice
Over two decades later, Shaggy's version of "In the Summertime" shot back up the charts. Coincidentally, the reggae-infused cover also peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1995, though it made it all the way to #1 on both the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and U.S. Hot Rap Songs charts. In 2005, Billboard ranked the track #3 on a list of "All Time Hottest Songs of Summer."
In addition to adding rap, Shaggy also changed the song's lyrics from Mungo Jerry's "Have a drink, have a drive / Go out and see what you can find" to "I'm gonna drive and ride and see now what I can find."
This was probably a wise move on Shaggy's part, considering the original was used in an early '90s British anti-drunk driving ad, as The Independent reported. The TV spot showed a group of friends getting into a car crash after drinking at a pub...in the summertime, of course.
Related: 1985 Nostalgic Hit Became a Beloved and Timeless Summer Anthem for Generations
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
