Mungo Jerry is one of those odd bands that I don't really think many people think about much. I really don't, they had one popular song ("In the Summertime") if you watch the video:

It's all about having fun, and hanging out with friends.

My dad had this album and growing up I can remember putting this on and just sitting in our hot living room drinking lemonade and singing loudly with my family. Making noises along with the singer, and pretending to play the drums or guitar. It's hard to separate the music from the memory.

With lines like

"If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal, if her daddy's poor just do what you feel"

and

"Life's for living that's our philosophy"

It's hard to not be in a good mood. It's goofy, of course, but it's fun. It's not taking itself seriously. The whole album is like this.

Let's talk about the third song on the album "Movin on" this song, is something that Bob Dylan would have made very serious. But instead it's the goofiest things put onto vinyl.

Read this in your head:

"Went down, yeah, deep down, melting and sinking into the ground The watery sky, the tears in its eyes as it sank through the clouds and began to die."

I mean, that seems dark, it sounds like something you'd find in a Patty Smith poem or something. But it's played with such a great old-man voice you don't even notice.

So how do you make a Mungo Jerry song:

Part country, part rock , with just a bit of Guthrie, 1/4 sideburns, then throw in some nonsensical noises into the microphone that sound like they came from the cutting room floor of a Warner Bros. cartoon, then have your friends play some kazoos for full effect and you have this great weirdness that is Mungo Jerry.

Probably not something I can listen to everyday, but it's fun to have around.