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Caalaroga Shark Media Summer nineteen seventy. I'm Garrett Fisher, and
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if you had to pick a moment when the optimism
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of the nineteen sixties finally died, this might be it.
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The Beatles announced their breakup in April. On May fourth,
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National Guard troops open fire on student protesters at Kent
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State University, killing four. The Vietnam War had expanded into Cambodia,
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fracturing the country even further. The counterculture's peace and love
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ethos was giving way to something harder, angrier, more desperate.
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And into this heavy moment came a song so light,
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so care free, so utterly unconcerned with the weight of
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the world, that it felt like a transmission from another planet,
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or maybe just a reminder of what joy used to
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feel like. Coming in at number two on our countdown
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of the top twenty songs of the Summer, as voted
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by the staff of Calaroga Shark Media, Mungo Jerry's In
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the Summertime represents one of popular music's most fascinating paradoxes,
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a song that captured pure, uncomplicated happiness during one of
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the darkest periods in modern history, proving that sometimes what
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people need most is permission to forget their troubles and
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just feel good. Before Mungo Jerry became an unlikely sensation,
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there was Ray Dorsett, a guy working in a laboratory
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for TIMEX watches in England, dreaming of musical success while
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testing waterproof seals and timing mechanisms. Dorset had been playing
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music since he was eleven, when he formed the Blue
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Moon skiffle group with a young drummer who would later
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become somewhat famous himself, Phil Collins. By nineteen sixty eight,
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Dorset had formed a group called Good Earth with Colin
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Earl on keyboards, playing a mix of blues, jug band
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and skiffle music. After some lineup changes, they added Joe
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Rush on washboard and adopted a more acoustic rootsie sound
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that drew from American folk traditions. Woody Guthrie led Belly
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the Whole tradition that had also inspired Bob Dylan. The
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transformation from Good Earth to Mungo Jerry happened almost by accident.
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Barry Murray, a producer who would become crucial to their success,
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caught them performing and saw potential, but he insisted they
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needed a new name for the Hollywood Festival in May
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nineteen seventy. They couldn't agree on anything, so Murray literally
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pulled a name out of a hat, Mungo Jerry from
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ts Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. They misspelled
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it as Mungo Jerry, but it stuck. As for the
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song that would change everything, its creation story is almost
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comically simple. Dorset wrote In the Summertime in about ten
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minutes during a break from his day job at TIMEX.
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Using a secondhand Fender stratocaster, he captured a feeling, a mood,
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a cell libration of life that seemed to flow out
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fully formed. Producer Barry Murray heard the demo and immediately
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knew they had something special. His instincts would prove spectacularly correct.
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So what made in the Summertime such a perfect crystallization
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of carefree joy? Let's break it down musically. In the
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Summertime is deceptively simple, and that's precisely its genius. The
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track features no drums at all. Instead, the rhythm comes
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from Dorset stomping his foot, a technique he borrowed from
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blues legend John Lee Hooker. This gives the song an organic,
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homemade quality that perfectly matches its unpretentious message. The instrumentation
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is sparse but perfectly chosen, Dorset's acoustic and electric guitars,
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Colin Earl's boogie woogie piano that bounces along like sunshine
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on water, Paul King's banjo adding that jug band flavor,
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and Mike Cole's upright bass providing the foundation. Dorset also
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played kabisa, a shaker that adds texture without overwhelming the mix.
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The production, handled by Barry Murray at Pie Studios, was
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clever in its simplicity. Initially, it was only two minutes long.
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To make it longer, Murray played the recording twice, slightly
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remixing the second half, and put the sound of a
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motorcycle in the middle. This wasn't just padding. It created
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a structure that mirrored a lazy summer day where time
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seems to stretch and repeat in the best possible way.
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What's remarkable is how the lack of drums makes the
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song feel more immediate and intimate. You can practically picture
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the band gathered in someone's backyard making music for the
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sheer joy of it. The foot stomping becomes almost hypnotic,
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creating a groove that's impossible to resist. The structure of
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In the Summertime is brilliantly uncomplicated. There's no complex verse, chorus,
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bridge arrangement, just a flowing stream of consciousness celebration that
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mirrors the lazy, unstructured nature of summer itself. The song
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opens immediately with that distinctive piano and guitar combination, no
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lengthy intro needed. We're thrown right into summer from the
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first note. The verses flow one into another without clear demarcation,
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creating a sense of continuity and endless possibility. The use
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of the motorcycle sound effect in the middle isn't just
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a gimmick. It's a sonic representation of freedom of hitting
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the road without a destination. It breaks up the song
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while maintaining its essential character, preventing any sense of monotony,
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while keeping the laid back vibe intact. The repetition in
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the song works because it captures how summer days can feel,
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one flowing into another, each similar but perfect in its simplicity.
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The structure doesn't build to a dramatic climax, because that
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would work against the song's essential message. Sometimes just being
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is enough. The lyrics of in the Summertime are where
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things get interesting and controversial. On the surface, there a
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simple celebration of war and weather in good times, but
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there's one line that's aged particularly poorly, have a drink
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have a drive. Even in nineteen seventy, this raised eyebrows,
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and it would later lead to the song being used
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ironically in UK drunk driving PSAs. But looking beyond that
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problematic line, what Dorset captured was a philosophy of pure
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hedonistic joy. The lyrics celebrate simple pleasures swimming, driving, being
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with friends, enjoying nature. There's no deeper meaning being pursued,
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no profound statements about life or love. It's purely about
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being present in the moment and enjoying what's right in
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front of you. This lack of pretension was actually radical
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in its own way in nineteen seventy, when every songwriter
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seemed to be trying to be Bob Dylan or John Lennon,
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writing profound statements about war and society. Dorset just wanted
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to celebrate feeling good. Sometimes that's the most rebellious thing
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you can do. The conversational nature of the lyrics adds
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to their charm. They feel improvised, like someone making up
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a song on the spot, which isn't far from the
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truth given the ten minute writing session. This spontaneity is
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part of what makes the song so infectious. What truly
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brings in the summertime to life is Ray Dorset's distinctive
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vocal delivery. His voice has a gravelly lived in quality
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that prevents the song from feeling saccharin despite its upbeat message.
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There's a slight growl, a bluesy edge that grounds the
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sunshine in something real. Dorset doesn't over sing or try
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to impress with vocal gymnastics. His delivery is conversational friendly,
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inviting you feel like you're being personally invited to join
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the party rather than watching someone perform. This accessibility was
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crucial to the song's universal appeal. The way he phrases
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certain lines, the little vocal quirks and inflections, make the
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song feel alive and spontaneous. When he sings about the
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various activities of summer, you can hear the smile in
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his voice. It's impossible to listen without feeling at least
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a little bit happier. The backing vocals from the band
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members add to the communal feeling. This isn't a solo
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artist backed by session musicians. It's a group of friends
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making music together, and that chemistry comes through in every note.
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More in a Moment in the Summertime was released as
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a Maxi single on May twenty second, nineteen seventy, a
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new format that played at thirty three and one third
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rpm instead of forty five, allowing for more music at
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the same price as a regular single. It became the
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first MAXI single in the world as well, which was
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a seven inch vinyl played at thirty three and one
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third rpm in a paper bag. The timing couldn't have
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been more perfect. Released just weeks after the Kent State shootings,
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the song offered a three minute escape from the harsh
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realities of the day. It rocketed to number one in
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the UK, staying there for seven weeks, and reached number
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three in the US. Worldwide, it would go on to
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sell somewhere between eight and sixteen million copies, though some
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estimates put it as high as twenty three million, making
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it one of the best selling singles of all time.
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The band's breakthrough performance at the Hollywood Festival at Newcastle
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Underlyme on May twenty third to twenty fourth was legendary.
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The sky was a mass of flying paper plates, and
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the spectators that were viewing the stage from the branches
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of the trees that were on the periphery of the
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festival site rock to the addictive groove that was created
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by the Mungo Jerry Band. To fully appreciate the impact
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of in the summertime, we need to understand the weight
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of the historical moment it entered. Nineteen seventy was a
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year of profound disillusionment and tragedy in the Western world,
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particularly in America. The year began with The Beatles recording
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what would be their final album together. By April, Paul
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McCartney announced he was leaving the band, effectively ending the
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group that had defined the nineteen sixties. If the Beatles
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couldn't stay together, what hope was there for anyone else.
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On April thirtieth, President Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia,
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expanding a war that was already deeply unpopular. This triggered
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massive protests on college campuses across America. Then came May fourth,
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Kent State, twenty eight National guardsmen fire their weapons at
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a group of anti war demonstrators on the Kent State
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University campus, killing four students and wounding nine. The image
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of Mary Vechio kneeling over Jeffrey Miller's dead body became
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one of the most haunting photographs of the era. Neil
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Young would write Ohio in response Crosby Still's Nation. Young
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would rush release it, and the generational divide in America
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would become a chasm. This was also the year Jimi
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Hendrix and Janis Joplin would both die at twenty seven,
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adding to the sense that the party was truly over.
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The Age of Aquarius had given way to the Age
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of anxiety. Into this darkness came in the Summertime, a
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song so relentlessly upbeat it almost felt like denial. But
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maybe that's exactly what people needed. The success of in
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the Summertime had profound implications for popular music. It proved
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that in times of trouble, people still, maybe especially need
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songs that simply make them feel good. Not every song
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needs to carry the weight of the world. The song's
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influence can be heard in countless summer anthems that followed.
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It established a template. Keep it simple, keep it catchy,
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and don't overthink it. Sometimes the best songs are the
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ones that seem effortless, even if that effortlessness is an illusion.
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For Mungo Jerry, the success was both a blessing and
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a curse. They'd never again match the phenomenal success of
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in the Summertime, though they had several other hits. Ray
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Dorset would later write Feels Like I'm in Love, which
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became a number one hit for Kelly Marie in nineteen eighty,
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making him one of the few songwriters to top the
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charts with different artists performing their songs. The song's longevity
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is remarkable. It's been covered countless times, sampled in hip
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hop tracks, and used in commercials and movies. In nineteen
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ninety five, Shaggy covered it and had another worldwide hit,
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introducing the song to a new generation. Looking back on
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in the Summertime today, it's both a time capsule and
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something timeless. The production sounds vintage but not dated. The message,
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apart from that unfortunate drinking and driving line, remains universal.
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Summer still means freedom, and freedom still feels good. What
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makes in the Summertime the nearly perfect summer anthem It's
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number two, after all, is its complete lack of self consciousness.
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Dorsett wasn't trying to write a hit or make a statement.
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He was just capturing a feeling in the simplest, most
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direct way possible. That authenticity cuts through any cynicism. The
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song works because it acknowledges a fundamental truth. No matter
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how dark things get, summer still comes, the sun still shines,
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Simple pleasures still exist, and sometimes for three minutes and
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twenty seconds, it's okay to forget your troubles and just
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enjoy being alive. In nineteen seventy, with the world seemingly
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falling apart, that message wasn't naive. It was necessary. It
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wasn't escapism. It was survival. It wasn't ignoring reality. It
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was remembering what we're trying to preserve when we fight
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for a better world. So as we continue our countdown
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of the top twenty songs of the Summer, at number two,
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let's raise a glass but not car keys to Mungo
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Jerry and their glorious Ramshackle anthem. In just ten minutes,
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Ray Dorset captured something that teams of professional songwriters spend
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careers chasing, pure, uncomplicated joy, Because in the summertime isn't
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just a song. It's a three minute vacation from whatever's
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troubling you, a reminder that happiness doesn't always need a reason,
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and proof that sometimes the best songs are the ones
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that sound like they've always existed, just waiting for someone
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to discover them. More than fifty years later, when that
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jug band groove kicks in and that foot starts stomping,
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resistance remains futile, which is why it absolutely deserves its
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place at number two in our summer song's pantheon. This
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is Garrett Fischer for hit Maker Chronicles counting down the
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top twenty songs of the summer, as voted by the
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staff of Calaroga Shark Media. Keep that summertime feeling alive
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and join me next week for our number one song
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of the Summer.