In the Summertime

Dorset has said that the song took only ten minutes to write, which he did using a second-hand Fender Stratocaster, while he was taking time off from his regular job, working in a lab for Timex. The song was recorded in Pye Studio 1 with Barry Murray producing. Initially it was only two minutes long; to make it longer, Murray played the recording twice, slightly remixing the second half, and put the sound of a motorcycle in the middle. Dorset has suggested that it was the first number one song to employ "beatbox" percussion. ==Release==

The initial UK release was on Dawn Records, a new label launched by Pye. It was unusual in that it was a maxi single, playing at 33 rpm, whereas singles generally played at 45 rpm. It included an additional song also written and composed by Dorset, "Mighty Man", on the A-side, and a much longer track, the Woody Guthrie song "Dust Pneumonia Blues", on the B-side. As the record was sold in a picture sleeve, also not standard at the time, and sold at only a few pence more than the normal 45 rpm two-track single, it was considered value for money. A small quantity of 45 rpm discs on the Pye record label, with "Mighty Man" on the B-side, and without a picture sleeve, were pressed for use in jukeboxes. These are now rare collector's items. In 2012, Dorset sued his former management company Associated Music International, run by his former friend and business manager Eliot Cohen, claiming over £2 million in royalties from the song that he believed had been withheld from him. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the single liner notes for "In the Summertime". • Ray Dorset – vocals, electric guitar, 6-string acoustic, cabasa, stomp • Paul King – banjo, jug • Colin Earl – piano • Mike Cole – string bass ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications and sales==

In 1970, Australian rock band the Mixtures covered and released the song. The song replaced Mungo Jerry's version at number one on the Australian chart, where it remained at number one for six weeks. It was the biggest-selling single by an Australian artist in Australia in 1970 and number three overall. Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Shaggy version==

In 1995, Jamaican-American reggae musician Shaggy covered the song, and released it in June that year by Virgin Records as the lead single from his third studio album, Boombastic (1995). Aside from the addition of rap lyrics, Shaggy's version also substitutes other lyrics for the song's original line "have a drink, have a drive." He also performed the song on an episode of Baywatch. A year after its release, the song was re-recorded and released specifically for the film Flipper under the title "In the Summertime" ('96 version). Critical reception Pan-European magazine Music & Media complimented Shaggy's cover version as a "tasty remake". Roger Morton from NME felt the musician had covered "In the Summertime" "in fine jagga-jug band/who gives a shit style." Al Weisel from Rolling Stone described it as "a bouncy, infectious remake of the 1970 Mungo Jerry hit, [that] alternates a soulful chorus with a rapid-fire rap a la Chaka Demus and Pliers' 'Murder She Wrote'." Track listings United Kingdom • CD single • "In the Summertime" (single edit) – 3:46 • "It No Matter" – 3:56 • "Gal You a Pepper" – 3:37 • "In the Summertime" (Sting vs. Shaggy remix) – 4:40 • 7-inch vinyl and cassette • "In the Summertime" (single edit) – 3:46 • "It No Matter" – 3:56 • 12-inch vinyl • "In the Summertime" (Sting vs. Shaggy remix) – 4:40 • "In the Summertime" (LP version) – 3:55 • "In the Summertime" (Drum Dancehall mix) – 3:54 • 1996 "Flipper" CD single • "In the Summertime '96" (original version) – 3:52 • "In the Summertime '96" (instrumental) – 3:52 • "Flipper Main Theme" – 3:58 United States • CD single • "In the Summertime" (single edit) – 3:48 • "In the Summertime" (LP version) – 3:55 • "In the Summertime" (Drum Dancehall mix) – 3:54 • "In the Summertime" (Funk Dance mix) – 3:58 • "Boombastic" (LP version) – 4:05 • "Boombastic" (Sting remix) – 4:18 • 12-inch vinyl • "In the Summertime" (LP version) – 3:55 • "In the Summertime" (Drum Dancehall mix) – 3:54 • "In the Summertime" (Funk Dance mix) – 3:58 • "Boombastic" (Sting remix) – 4:18 Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications Release history ==In other media==

The song's lyric "have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find" led to its use in 1992 in a UK advert for the campaign Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives. It featured the first verse against people enjoying drinks in a pub during summer, then stopped to show a fatal car accident caused by drink driving. "In the Summertime" has been featured in many feature-length films including 29th Street, Twin Town, The Substitute, Drowning Mona, Mr. Deeds, Stolen Summer, Anita and Me, Wedding Crashers, Wild About Harry, Despicable Me 2, and Dog Days, and X. ==See also==