Bad Advice Anthem? In The Summertime – Mungo Jerry

Is this a ‘bro’ anthem of the 70s?

Mungo Jerry’s In the Summertime is one of those songs that perfectly encapsulates changing attitudes over decades. What must have seemed like a carefree and perhaps rebellious message back in the 70s, now represents a toxic cocktail of class tensions, sexism, and exhortations to drive under the influence. Jesus, maybe your granny did have some reasons for thinking this music was a bad influence…

We get a one-two combo in the first verse alone which sets the tone for the song and will have someone chortling at the casual advice that you should:

“Have a drink, have a drive,
Go out and see what you can find”

Well, damn.

Reggae musician Shaggy covered this song in 1995 and replaced the lyrics with ‘I’m gonna drive and ride’. It also became the jumping off point for 90s anti-drunk driving campaign. Frontman Ray Dorset, in a Guardian interview, claimed that the line had no connection to alcohol at the time of writing, but I’m sceptical. Maybe it was different in the 70s, but a song with the bluesy swagger of In the Summertime, with lyrics that are otherwise all about getting laid, isn’t suggesting a glass of milk.

So while we’re pondering the laid back attitude to driving of the time, or perhaps just the lack of forethought on behalf of the writer, Mungo Jerry hits us with:

“If her daddy’s rich, take her out for a meal,
If her daddy’s poor just do what you feel”

Holy shit, what is this implying? Mungo Jerry just casually dolling out dating advice that wouldn’t be out of place on an pick up artists forum. If she comes from wealth, then prepare to put on a front. Otherwise, she’s got no standards and you can take that bitch wherever as long you think she’ll put out. It’s always amusing to me that the father is the primary decider in this equation. Do you want to get in this girls pants? Then figure out how to impress the old man. Then again, a long time ago it was expected of a man to ask his lover’s father whether he could marry the lass he was going out with. That’s bizarre.

But the line also inadvertently reveals some latent class conflict. A rich man is set up as a person to be appeased — someone who ultimately has power over your relationship, despite not being involved. In this case it’s a woman, but you can substitute the humans out and the power dynamic still works. If you want to play with the social elite, you’d better manipulate the money men. Whereas the poor woman’s father? He is ignored. He commands no respect, he has no authority, he does need to be appeased. Again, the human element is effectively placeholder here. Nobody is asking a poor man’s permission to do anything.

And from there it just doubles down on dubious dating advice. Having chosen your date based on the socio-economic circumstances of her father, and gotten buzzed behind the wheel, Mungo Jerry then suggests that you ‘do a ton’ or, indeed, ‘a ton and twenty-five’. For the uninitiated, a ton is 100 mph. So, sufficiently inebriated, you are now advised to drive along narrow roads at dangerous speeds. The next verse is all about how happy and carefree they are, the whole ‘live, laugh, love’ thing, but nobody lives, laughs, or loves for long while driving over a hundred mph under the influence.

The song takes a brief detour into winter. I guess spring and autumn can do one. Winter is framed as an unfortunate break from the summer that one endure by partying. Interestingly the same refrains pop up in slightly different phrasing: get the beers in, get in the car, and if she’s got money, you’re shelling out before you get any. I guess the addition of her friends makes the endeavour worth the pursuit…