Mungo Jerry – “In the Summertime”

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A classic rocker seedy enough to make Ludacris sip Courvoisier in appreciation, Mungo Jerry’s “In the Summertime” has proto-rap pool party written all over it. The ’70s jug-band equivalent of a bro-up hoe-down [sic], the song’s garbled verses are actually calls decidedly unseemly action:

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather’s fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find
If her daddy’s rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy’s poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an’ twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

Normally I’d have something critical to say about the parallels between misogyny in summer of love era rock n’ roll and contemporary hip-hop to circle this wagon back around, but I’m baking at the beach. While Mungo Jerry’s sideburns signal stalker the way ice cream truck bells signal ice cream, this tunes remains one of the age’s catchiest beach tunes. Ya’ll are adults and these days women and men can play in equal order.
Summer lovin’. Go get it, guys/girls.