Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Mungo Jerry AI simulator
(@Mungo Jerry_simulator)
Hub AI
Mungo Jerry AI simulator
(@Mungo Jerry_simulator)
Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry (formerly known as Mungo Jerry Blues Band) are a British rock band formed by Ray Dorset in Ashford, Middlesex, in 1970. Experiencing their greatest success in the early 1970s, with a changing line-up always fronted by Dorset, the group's biggest hit was "In the Summertime", which sold 8–16 million copies worldwide. They had nine charting singles in the UK, including two number ones, five top-20 hits in South Africa, and four in the Top 100 in Canada.
Mungo Jerry came to prominence in 1970 after their performances at the Hollywood Music Festival at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, on 23–24 May, which was their first gig under this name, inspired by the poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. They performed alongside Black Sabbath, Traffic, Ginger Baker's Air Force, the Grateful Dead (their first performance in the UK) and José Feliciano. Their 23 May show was well received and the organisers asked them to perform again on the following day. The band's first single, "In the Summertime", the first maxi single in the world, released on 22 May, entered the UK charts at No. 13 and the following week went straight to No. 1. Ray Dorset had to ask his boss for time off to do the BBC Show Top of the Pops.
Ray Dorset and Colin Earl had previously been members of The Good Earth. Bassist Dave Hutchins left to join Bobby Parker's band, and the drummer was dismissed, so Dorset and Earl decided to fulfil the one remaining gig, an Oxford University Christmas Ball in December 1968, as a three-piece with Joe Rush, one of Dorset's colleagues, on double bass. Also on the bill was Miller Anderson, making his debut as a singer and guitarist, and Mick Farren and the Social Deviants. Though booked for only one set, Good Earth were asked to perform another after the bands had finished, playing a selection of American folk/blues/skiffle/jug band music from Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie and others, and some of Dorset's songs.
The trio played more gigs and landed a regular slot at the Master Robert Motel in Osterley, Middlesex, where they soon built up a following, including banjo, guitar and blues harp player Paul King who eventually joined the band, making it a four-piece.
After Rush left, Mike Cole was recruited on double bass, and this line-up recorded the first seventeen Mungo Jerry tracks which made up the first album and maxi-single including "In the Summertime". When they made their national debut at the Hollywood Festival, Rush joined them on stage for some numbers to play washboard. The record topped the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks.
According to Joseph Murrell's The Book of Golden Discs (1978), "Mungomania" was possibly the most startling and unpredictable pop phenomenon to hit Britain since The Beatles.
Mungo Jerry made their first trip to the United States in September 1970. On their return Mike Cole was fired and replaced by John Godfrey, who played bass on their second UK maxi-single, "Baby Jump", which also topped the UK chart in March 1971. The third UK single, another maxi, "Lady Rose", also released in 1971, was set to become another No. 1 hit, but it was temporarily withdrawn from sale on the order of the Public Prosecutor's Office. This was due to complaints about the inclusion of the traditional song "Have a Whiff on Me" (to which Dorset had added some of his own lyrics) on the grounds that it advocated the use of cocaine.[citation needed] The maxi single was then reissued with "She Rowed" in place of the offending song.
Eventually, Dorset found the group's good-time blues and jug band repertoire restricting, and in 1972 he released a solo album, Cold Blue Excursion, with his songs backed by strings and brass and, in one instance, a jazz band. His intention to broaden the group's appeal by recruiting a drummer led to King and Earl trying to sack him, but the management, regarding Dorset as inseparable in the public eye from Mungo Jerry, fired them both instead. Dorset and Godfrey, the bassist, recruited new members and presented a new sound, heard on the fourth album Boot Power. Colin Earl and Paul King went on to form The King Earl Boogie Band and recorded an album at Richard Branson's Manor Studio called Trouble at Mill, produced by Dave Cousins of Strawbs. Their June 1972 single "Plastic Jesus" was banned by the BBC. They played together on and off in the years following and ended up with a band called Skeleton Crew.
Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry (formerly known as Mungo Jerry Blues Band) are a British rock band formed by Ray Dorset in Ashford, Middlesex, in 1970. Experiencing their greatest success in the early 1970s, with a changing line-up always fronted by Dorset, the group's biggest hit was "In the Summertime", which sold 8–16 million copies worldwide. They had nine charting singles in the UK, including two number ones, five top-20 hits in South Africa, and four in the Top 100 in Canada.
Mungo Jerry came to prominence in 1970 after their performances at the Hollywood Music Festival at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, on 23–24 May, which was their first gig under this name, inspired by the poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. They performed alongside Black Sabbath, Traffic, Ginger Baker's Air Force, the Grateful Dead (their first performance in the UK) and José Feliciano. Their 23 May show was well received and the organisers asked them to perform again on the following day. The band's first single, "In the Summertime", the first maxi single in the world, released on 22 May, entered the UK charts at No. 13 and the following week went straight to No. 1. Ray Dorset had to ask his boss for time off to do the BBC Show Top of the Pops.
Ray Dorset and Colin Earl had previously been members of The Good Earth. Bassist Dave Hutchins left to join Bobby Parker's band, and the drummer was dismissed, so Dorset and Earl decided to fulfil the one remaining gig, an Oxford University Christmas Ball in December 1968, as a three-piece with Joe Rush, one of Dorset's colleagues, on double bass. Also on the bill was Miller Anderson, making his debut as a singer and guitarist, and Mick Farren and the Social Deviants. Though booked for only one set, Good Earth were asked to perform another after the bands had finished, playing a selection of American folk/blues/skiffle/jug band music from Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie and others, and some of Dorset's songs.
The trio played more gigs and landed a regular slot at the Master Robert Motel in Osterley, Middlesex, where they soon built up a following, including banjo, guitar and blues harp player Paul King who eventually joined the band, making it a four-piece.
After Rush left, Mike Cole was recruited on double bass, and this line-up recorded the first seventeen Mungo Jerry tracks which made up the first album and maxi-single including "In the Summertime". When they made their national debut at the Hollywood Festival, Rush joined them on stage for some numbers to play washboard. The record topped the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks.
According to Joseph Murrell's The Book of Golden Discs (1978), "Mungomania" was possibly the most startling and unpredictable pop phenomenon to hit Britain since The Beatles.
Mungo Jerry made their first trip to the United States in September 1970. On their return Mike Cole was fired and replaced by John Godfrey, who played bass on their second UK maxi-single, "Baby Jump", which also topped the UK chart in March 1971. The third UK single, another maxi, "Lady Rose", also released in 1971, was set to become another No. 1 hit, but it was temporarily withdrawn from sale on the order of the Public Prosecutor's Office. This was due to complaints about the inclusion of the traditional song "Have a Whiff on Me" (to which Dorset had added some of his own lyrics) on the grounds that it advocated the use of cocaine.[citation needed] The maxi single was then reissued with "She Rowed" in place of the offending song.
Eventually, Dorset found the group's good-time blues and jug band repertoire restricting, and in 1972 he released a solo album, Cold Blue Excursion, with his songs backed by strings and brass and, in one instance, a jazz band. His intention to broaden the group's appeal by recruiting a drummer led to King and Earl trying to sack him, but the management, regarding Dorset as inseparable in the public eye from Mungo Jerry, fired them both instead. Dorset and Godfrey, the bassist, recruited new members and presented a new sound, heard on the fourth album Boot Power. Colin Earl and Paul King went on to form The King Earl Boogie Band and recorded an album at Richard Branson's Manor Studio called Trouble at Mill, produced by Dave Cousins of Strawbs. Their June 1972 single "Plastic Jesus" was banned by the BBC. They played together on and off in the years following and ended up with a band called Skeleton Crew.
Recent media
Recent media