S.O.D. "In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry

7/19/2015    One of the best selling singles of all time with over 6 million units, it ended up on 10 year-end charts and went to #1 in 20 countries.  Lead vocalist for the group Ray Dorset took only 10 minutes to compose the tune on a second hand Fender Stratocaster.  He did this while taking a break from his regular job, working in a lab for Timex.  

     The song as a single was a maxi single (45 size) but played at 33 speed.  This was uncommon for those days as well as being sold in a picture sleeve.  It was under the Pye record label and now a rare collectors item just as the singles sold in a non-picture sleeve and pressed for jukebox play.  A bit of irony with the lyrics; have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find.  This was later used in a UK advertisement campaign "Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives".  

     The British group is still active from 1970 and still fronted by Dorset.  They take their name from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and the poem therein Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer.