Dorset and Colin Earl had previously been members of The Good Earth. Soon after recruiting Paul King and Mike Cole, they made their national debut at the Hollywood Festival at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire in May 1970, the week their first single, "In the Summertime" was released. They stole the show and the record topped the UK Singles Chart for seven weeks, made number one in almost every other country around the world, and to date has sold around 23 million copies. After John Godfrey replaced Cole, their second single "Baby Jump" also topped the UK chart in March 1971. A third hit, "Lady Rose" (also in 1971), gave the group the image as a band for producing summertime based hits.
In time Dorset found the group's good-time blues and jug band repertoire a little 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. King and Earl went on to form the King Earl Boogie Band.
Mungo Jerry's hits continued through to 1976 with "Open Up" (Top Twenty in Europe and number one in Brazil); "Alright Alright Alright" (a rewrite of an old French hit for Jacques Dutronc, and again a major hit worldwide reaching the Top 3 in the UK); "Wild Love"; "Long Legged Woman Dressed In Black"; "Hello Nadine" (European hit and Top Five in Canada); and "It's a Secret" (European hit).
In 1975 Earl, who had played piano with Foghat in between, returned to play keyboards, and percussion player Joe Rush, part-time member of the band in earlier days, also came back for a while.
The group's line-up has changed constantly over the years. Among those who have played with them are bassist Bob Daisley, drummers Dave Bidwell, Paul Hancox and Boris Williams, guitarist Dick Middleton and keyboard/accordion player Steve Jones. They have remained particularly popular throughout Europe. Mungo Jerry was the first western band who had live TV gigs, in all countries behind the Iron Curtain. Their famous "Golden Orpheus" gig in Bulgaria, also gave them a lot of new fans.
In 1980 another Dorset song, "Feels Like I'm in Love", originally written for Elvis Presley, and recorded by the band as a B side of a single, became a British number one hit for Kelly Marie. They remained successful with overseas hits like "On A Night Like This", "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and "Sunshine Reggae" (British version by Mungo Jerry & Horizon). But Dorset had to wait until 1995 for a real comeback, when "In the Summertime" was recorded by reggae vocalist Shaggy, who topped the charts worldwide. The last UK chart entry for Mungo Jerry was "Toon Army", a song for Newcastle United F.C. in 1999.
In 1983 "Mungo Jerry" Ray Dorset was part of the blues supergroup Katmandu, which recorded A Case For The Blues, with guitarist Peter Green, formerly of Fleetwood Mac, and keyboard player Vincent Crane, formerly of Atomic Rooster and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
In 2003, with German musicians, Dorset recorded Adults Only album under the name Mungo Jerry Blues Band, widely acclaimed as one of the best of his career. 2005 saw him performing with three Mungo Jerry line-ups: The British Mungo Jerry Band (pop/rock), the German Mungo Jerry Blues Band (blues/rock) and Mungo Jerry & the Goodtime Gamblers (jug/blues/skiffle).
Also in June 2005, Ray Dorset had a gig again as a duo with Mike Cole - the original double bass player from the early Mungo days - as a highlight of the "35 Years Of Mungo Jerry" event in both Newcastle and Stoke.
In March 2006 Mungo Jerry released their new single "Mr Midnight" from Phantom of the Opera on Ice (http://www.plazarecords.co.uk); produced by Roberto Danova - who had mixed in the past the old continental Mungo Jerry hits "Lana" and "It's a Secret" - and is well-known for his work with rock and pop music, in combination with big orchestras.
Baby Let’s Play House
Mungo Jerry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Well You may go to college, You may got to school
You may have a pink Cadillac, but don't you be nobody's fool
Chorus:
Well baby come back baby come back baby come back
Come back baby I want to play house with you
Well there is one thing baby, that I want you to know
Come on back to me little girl, so we can act like we did before
Chorus
Well listen to me baby, what Im talking about
Come on back to me little girl, so we can play some house
Chorus
The song "Baby Let's Play House" by Mungo Jerry is an upbeat and playful tune that describes a lover's desire to reunite with their partner and engage in a game of pretending to be husband and wife in their "house". The song begins by alluding to the idea that college education or material possessions such as a pink Cadillac do not guarantee success in relationships, as the singer urges their lover not to be naive and fall for someone who will take advantage of them. The chorus then reveals the singer's longing to reconcile with their partner, inviting them to come back and play house together like they used to. The second verse highlights the singer's yearning for the familiarity and intimacy they shared before, emphasizing the importance of mutual playfulness in their relationship.
Overall, "Baby Let's Play House" is a lighthearted and flirtatious ode to the joys of romantic playfulness. Despite its simple lyrics, the song captures the tender and affectionate sentiments shared between two lovers.
Line by Line Meaning
Well You may go to college, You may got to school
Just because you have an education or a fancy car doesn't mean you should act like you're better than anyone else.
You may have a pink Cadillac, but don't you be nobody's fool
Even if you have the best things in life, don't let anyone take advantage of you or make you look foolish.
Well there is one thing baby, that I want you to know
I have something important to tell you, so pay attention.
Come on back to me little girl, so we can act like we did before
Let's go back to the way things used to be, when we were together and happy.
Well listen to me baby, what Im talking about
I need you to really pay attention to what I'm saying, because it's important.
Come on back to me little girl, so we can play some house
Let's pretend we're living together again, and have fun like we used to.
Well baby come back baby come back baby come back
I miss you and want you to come back to me.
Come back baby I want to play house with you
I want to spend time with you and pretend we're living together again, like we used to.
Writer(s): Arthur Gunter
Contributed by Muhammad V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.