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.
I Had a Bird
Mungo Jerry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I want to get myself together and get right on back home
But I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
I wanna fill my car with gas and get out on the road
I asked my boss to lend me cash but he just said oh no
I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
I want to make you happy, give you a real good time
I wanna take you dancin' drink some wine
An' it's been such a long time since we saw each other darling
It's been such a long long long long time
I went off to make money to work hard on the land
Nothing seemed to work out, everything went bad
Now I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend.
MIDDLE (01)
I want to buy some presents, I want to get new clothes
I want to get together with my girl and make a home
I wanna fill my car with gas and get out on the road
I asked my boss to give me cash but he said oh no.no
MIDDLE (02)
I want to make my girl real happy, give her a real good time
Take her dancing take her drinking have a little wine
It's been such a long time that we let ourselves let go
I asked my boss for money but he said he is broke
And I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
The lyrics to Mungo Jerry's "I Had a Bird" tells the story of a man who wants to do nice things for his significant other but is limited financially. He wants to buy her presents, clothes and take her out dancing and drinking. However, he only has a dollar for the weekend and even when he asks his boss for money, he is denied. The lyrics also reveal that the man had gone off to make money and work hard on the land, but everything went bad for him.
The song taps into the reality of the working man who is financially limited but still wants to give the best to his loved ones. It highlights how the struggles of life can affect relationships, as the man in the song laments the long time it's been since he has seen his girlfriend. It also reinforces how money can limit the experiences someone can have, as the man cannot even fill his car up with gas to take a road trip.
Overall, "I Had a Bird" is a melancholic song that speaks to the real-life experiences of people who are trying their best but are limited by circumstances out of their control.
Line by Line Meaning
I want to buy you presents, I want to buy you clothes
The singer wants to use his money to buy gifts and new clothes for his significant other.
I want to get myself together and get right on back home
The singer wants to put himself back in order so he can return home to his loved one.
But I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
Unfortunately, the singer only has one dollar to spend for the weekend.
I wanna fill my car with gas and get out on the road
The singer wants to fill his car with gas and hit the road for a fun weekend.
I asked my boss to lend me cash but he just said oh no
The singer asked his boss for money, but his boss declined the request.
An' I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
The singer repeats that he only has one dollar to spend for the weekend.
I want to make you happy, give you a real good time
The singer wants to please his significant other and have a great time together.
I wanna take you dancin' drink some wine
The singer wants to take his significant other dancing and enjoy some wine.
An' it's been such a long time since we saw each other darling
It has been a long time since the singer has seen his significant other.
It's been such a long long long long time
The singer emphasizes that it has been a very long time since he and his significant other have been together.
I went off to make money to work hard on the land
The singer left to make money and work hard on his farm or land.
Nothing seemed to work out, everything went bad
Unfortunately, things did not go well for the singer and everything seemed to go wrong.
Now I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
The singer reiterates that he only has one dollar to spend for the weekend.
I only have a dollar, I only have a dollar for the weekend
The singer repeats again that he only has one dollar to spend for the weekend.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: RAYMOND EDWARD, DORSET
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
David
Wonderful song, discovered it today by accident. How have I missed it all these years?
GUYIVKS
Glad this is still up after 8 years.
Even after all this time it still sounds brilliant.
Memories if a misspent childhood.
😄😄😄
Lubo Simna
od mojich pätnásť rokov ma hrejú skvelé tóny a melódie Mungo
Jerry, veľmi ma teší, že aj po takmer pol storočí ma hudba spojená s Ray
Dorsetom hreje rovnako intenzívne! Určite je tomu rovnako všade vo svete,
nielen u nás v Bratislave na Slovensku...since I was fifteen years are heated me
great tones and melodies Mungo Jerry, I am very pleased that, after nearly half
a century music has connected with Ray Dorset warms equally intense! Surely it
is the same everywhere in the world, not only here in Bratislava, Slovakia ...
Magda wrzesińska
Ray, Twój blues i słodki teledysk sprawiły, że sześć lat temu po raz pierwszy usłyszałam i zobaczyłam i zostałam oczarowana do tego stopnia, że przy tej piosence zapominam o troskach tego świata! W rytmie tych dzwięków napisałam, aż 12 ksiażek i namalowałam kupę obrazów. Dzięki temu teledyskowi nie czułam zmęczenia bo wchodziłam w Twój zaczarowany świat, który mnie dosłownie opętał! Życzę Wam wszystkim Panom dużo zdrowia! Uwielbiam Wasze wszystkie piosenki! Pozdrowienia z Mazur!
iamafriendofGOD1
Ah! The good stuff never dies, it just keeps on spinnin' Ah love Mungo Jerry.
Nadia Hutchinson
Thank you for a great time you given to us with your fantastic music!
Mauro Ramos Morel
Hermosa música para la eternidad!
Štěpán Machač
Tohle je prostě nádhera. K tomu není co dodat, jen si sednout a poslouchat.
Mauro Ramos Morel
Unas letras dignas de recordar a la humanidad!!!❤️❇️
dennis books
thanks for the great music by one of the best blues singer ever