Which 1970 novelty song by Mungo Jerry was their only US Billboard Hot 100 top-10 hit?

Mungo Jerry’s 1970 novelty song “In the Summertime” was the group’s only US Billboard Hot 100 top-10 hit.

Ray Dorset wrote the song, which celebrates warm weather, leisure, driving and outdoor social life. The recording uses a distinctive skiffle-influenced arrangement with acoustic guitar, double bass, kazoo-like vocal effects and rhythmic handclaps. Its relaxed performance contrasted with the song’s highly memorable chorus.

“In the Summertime” reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was an even bigger success internationally, topping the singles charts in the United Kingdom and many other countries. The record became one of the defining summer songs of the early 1970s.

Mungo Jerry continued recording and performing with changing line-ups, but no later US single approached the impact of this debut. The group’s name came from a character in T. S. Eliot’s poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, not from the song itself. That literary detail is often overlooked when the band is remembered primarily for its summer anthem.