Mungo Jerry

Mungo Jerry is an English group from Ashford, United Kingdom, active from 1970 to the present. The line-up changes constantly, but the act is always fronted by Ray Dorset. Its music is generally associated with blues rock, boogie rock, folk pop, pop, pop rock and swamp rock, and it is also described in broader terms as folk and classic rock.

Early success

The group forms after Dorset and Colin Earl have both been members of The Good Earth. They recruit Paul King and Mike Cole and make their national debut at the Hollywood Festival at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire in May 1970, around the time their first single, “In the Summertime”, appears. The song becomes their signature hit and their most successful and recognisable recording, reaching number one in the UK for seven weeks and selling around 23 million copies. It also reaches number one in many other countries.

The name Mungo Jerry comes from “Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer”, the poem by T. S. Eliot in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Joseph Murrell’s The Book of Golden Discs describes the rise of “Mungomania” as one of the most unexpected pop phenomena in Britain since The Beatles.

Chart hits and line-up changes

John Godfrey replaces Mike Cole, and the second single, “Baby Jump”, also reaches number one in the UK in March 1971. “Lady Rose” follows in the same year and helps establish the group’s association with summertime-themed hits. In 1972 Dorset releases a solo album, Cold Blue Excursion, with string, brass and, on one track, jazz-band backing, reflecting his wish to expand beyond the group’s earlier good-time blues and jug band style. When he tries to bring in a drummer, King and Earl attempt to remove him from the band, but management keeps Dorset and dismisses them instead. Dorset and Godfrey then rebuild the group and present a new sound on the fourth album Boot Power. King and Earl later form the King Earl Boogie Band.

Over time the membership changes repeatedly. People who play with the group include Bob Daisley, Dave Bidwell, Paul Hancox, Boris Williams, Dick Middleton, Steve Jones and Joe Rush. Earl returns on keyboards in 1975, and Joe Rush also returns for a period. Ray Dorset also works with several Mungo Jerry-related line-ups, including The British Mungo Jerry Band, the German Mungo Jerry Blues Band and Mungo Jerry & the Goodtime Gamblers.

Later recordings and wider reach

The group’s hits continue through the 1970s with “Open Up”, “Alright Alright Alright”, “Wild Love”, “Long Legged Woman Dressed In Black”, “Hello Nadine” and “It’s a Secret”. “Open Up” becomes a top twenty hit in Europe and reaches number one in Brazil. “Alright Alright Alright”, a rewrite of an old French hit for Jacques Dutronc, reaches the UK top three. “Hello Nadine” becomes a European hit and reaches the top five in Canada.

Mungo Jerry is especially popular across Europe and becomes the first western band to perform live on television in countries behind the Iron Curtain. A performance at the Golden Orpheus festival in Bulgaria brings the group further attention there. In 1980 another Dorset song, “Feels Like I’m in Love”, written for Elvis Presley and recorded by the band as a single B-side, becomes a British number one for Kelly Marie. Later overseas successes include “On A Night Like This”, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “Sunshine Reggae”, the latter recorded as Mungo Jerry & Horizon. Dorset also records with the blues supergroup Katmandu in 1983, alongside Peter Green and Vincent Crane.

Later work

In 1995 “In the Summertime” returns to wide attention when Shaggy records it and tops charts worldwide. The group’s last UK chart entry is “Toon Army” in 1999, a song written for Newcastle United F.C. In 2003 Dorset records Adults Only with German musicians under the name Mungo Jerry Blues Band, and the album is widely regarded as one of his strongest releases. In 2005 he performs with multiple Mungo Jerry formations, and in 2006 the group releases “Mr Midnight”.