Pass the Dutchie

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"Pass the Dutchie"
Single by Musical Youth
from the album The Youth of Today
B-side "Give Love a Chance"
Released September 1982
Genre Reggae
Length 3:25
Label MCA
Writer(s) Leroy Sibbles and Jackie Mittoo
Producer Pete Waterman and Peter Collins
Musical Youth singles chronology
"Generals"/"Political"
(1981)		 "Pass the Dutchie"
(1982)		 "Youth of Today"
(1982)

"Pass the Dutchie" is a reggae song recorded by the British group Musical Youth from their 1982 album The Youth of Today. It was a major hit, holding the number one position on the UK singles charts for three weeks in October 1982 and selling 5 million copies worldwide.

Contents

Background [edit]

The song was the band's first release on a major label. It was a cover version of two songs: "Gimme the Music" by U Brown, and "Pass the Kouchie" by The Mighty Diamonds, which deals with the recreational use of cannabis ("kouchie" being slang for a cannabis pipe). For the cover version, the song's title was bowdlerized to "Pass the Dutchie", and all obvious drug references were removed from the lyrics; e.g., when the original croons "How does it feel when you got no herb?", the cover version refers to "food" instead. "Dutchie" is used as a patois term to refer to a food cooking pot such as a Dutch oven in Jamaica and the Caribbean. It has since become a drug reference in itself, denoting a blunt stuffed with marijuana and rolled in a wrapper from a Dutch Masters cigar, since American and British listeners assumed that the term was a drug reference.

The song was first championed by radio DJ Zach Diezel and became an instant hit when it was picked up by MCA Records in September 1982. It debuted at number 26 on the UK chart and rose to Number 1 the following week. In February of the following year, it reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the USA.[1] The song also scored the Number 1 position in five other countries, eventually selling more than 5 million copies worldwide.[2][3]

Music video [edit]

The video, directed by Don Letts,[4] was shot partly on the southern banks of the River Thames in London, across from the Palace of Westminster. It depicts the band performing the song and playing instruments, until an official appears to arrest them.[5] Courtroom scenes are interspersed with the exterior ones. Musical Youth became the first black artist to appear in a studio segment on MTV.[6]

Track listing [edit]

A. "Pass the Dutchie" – 3:25
B. "Please Give Love a Chance" – 3:36
  • 12" Single[9]
A. "Pass the Dutchie" – 6:05
B. "Pass the Dutchie" (Special Dub Mix) – 4:40

Charts and certifications [edit]

Chart performance [edit]

Chart (1982-83) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[10] 1
Belgium Singles Chart[11] 1
Canadian Singles Chart[12] 1
European Hot 100 Singles[citation needed] 1
German Singles Chart[13] 1
Irish Singles Chart[14] 1
Netherlands[15] 1
New Zealand[16] 1
Sweden[17] 15
Swiss Music Charts[18] 1
UK Singles Chart[19] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[20] 10
US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[20] 8
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs[20] 11

Sales and certifications [edit]

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[21] Platinum 100,000^
France (SNEP)[22] Gold 785,000[23]
United Kingdom (BPI)[24] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Cover versions and references in other songs [edit]

  • The song was sampled by a rap group Public Enemy for the song "Revolutionary Generation" on their 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet.
  • The song is referenced lyrically on Ice Cube's 1994 single "Bop Gun (One Nation)" (featuring George Clinton), the fourth single from Ice Cube's fifth album, Lethal Injection.
  • The song is referenced lyrically on Beck's 1996 album Odelay in the song "Where It's At".
  • "Pass the Dutchie" was covered by the ska band Buck-O-Nine in 1998.
  • "Pass That Dutch" was released by Missy Elliott in 2003
  • "Pass the Dutchie" was re-made by the Kumbia Kings on their 2004 album Fuego.
  • The song was sampled in The Black Eyed Peas song "Dum Diddly" from their 2005 album Monkey Business.
  • The song was parodied by a band from the Seychelles Islands Dezil' under the title "Laisse tomber les filles (qui se maquillent)", and peaked at #13 in France and #47 in Switzerland in 2006.[25]
  • In May 2009, Los Angeles based music duo LOONER released "Dutchie", their laid back version of the song which lyrically references the main chorus of the original.[26]
  • UK-based electronic hip-hop artist Star Slinger remixed the song for his first volume of music. The remix is called "Dutchie Courage".

References in popular culture [edit]

  • The song was used in the soundtrack of the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer.[27]
  • The "Menu" theme for the Game Boy Camera is a short instrumental loop of this song.[28]
  • In The Simpsons 1999 episode, "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", Homer makes a reference to the song in saying that he "wants to pass the Dutchie on the left hand side."
  • In the 2000 satirical comedy film Scary Movie, during the rap scene involving Shorty, his friends, and the killer, Shorty's rap contains the line "...always pass the Dutchie to the left 'cause the right way is wrong.
  • The song was used in the film version of Scooby-Doo in the scene where Shaggy and Scooby are "cooking" in their van.
  • The Canadian hit teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for naming each episode after an 80s hit song, named a season 7 episode after this song, about the use of medicinal marijuana. The episode was aired in early 2008.
  • The song was used in the 2010 New Zealand film Boy.
  • The song was used in the 2011 French film Hollywoo

References [edit]

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). Billboard Publications. 
  2. ^ Alexis Petridis (2003-03-21). "Famous for 15 months". The Guardian. www.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-05-30. 
  3. ^ Simpson, Paul (2003). "The rough guide to cult pop". Rough Guides. Retrieved 2012-02-22. 
  4. ^ "Musical Youth - "Pass the Dutchie"". www.mvdbase.com. Retrieved 2012-03-18. 
  5. ^ "Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2012-03-14. 
  6. ^ "Musical Youth - Interview @ Designer Magazine". designermagazine.tripod.com. Lycos. Retrieved 2012-03-14. 
  7. ^ "Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2012-03-18. 
  8. ^ "Pass the Dutchie / Please Give Love a Chance by Musical Youth : Reviews and Ratings - Rate Your Music". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-03-18. 
  9. ^ "Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs. www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2012-03-18. 
  10. ^ "Discographie Musical Youth". austriancharts.at (in German). Retrieved 2012-03-17. 
  11. ^ "Discografie Musical Youth". www.ultratop.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2012-10-01. 
  12. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". www.collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-03-18. 
  13. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". www.musicline.de (in German). Retrieved 2012-03-17. 
  14. ^ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". www.irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2012-03-17. 
  15. ^ "Discografie Musical Youth". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2012-03-15. 
  16. ^ "Discography Musical Youth". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2012-03-15. 
  17. ^ "Discography Musical Youth". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2012-03-17. 
  18. ^ "Discographie Musical Youth". hitparade.ch (in German). Retrieved 2012-03-17. 
  19. ^ "Chart Stats - Musical Youth". www.chartstats.com. Retrieved 2012-03-15. 
  20. ^ a b c "Musical Youth". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-03-17. 
  21. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Musical Youth – Pass the Dutchie". Music Canada. 
  22. ^ "French single certifications – Musical Youth – Pass the Dutchie" (in French). InfoDisc.  Select MUSICAL YOUTH and click OK
  23. ^ "Les Singles en Or :" (in French). Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 7 May 2012. 
  24. ^ "British single certifications – Musical Youth – Pass the Dutchie". British Phonographic Industry.  Enter Pass the Dutchie in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Click Go
  25. ^ "Dezil' - Laisse tomber les filles (qui se maquillent)". lescharts.com (in French). Retrieved 2008-10-02. 
  26. ^ "Dutchie (b-side) - OUT NOW! by LOONER Song Free Music, Listen Now". www.myspace.com. Retrieved 2009-06-18. 
  27. ^ "The Wedding Singer (1998) - Soundtracks". www.imdb.com. Retrieved 2008-02-28. 
  28. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAsUdmIqSc4#t=0m58s

External links [edit]

Preceded by
"Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor		 UK number one single
2 October 1982 - 16 October 1982		 Succeeded by
"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" by Culture Club
Preceded by
"Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one single
6 December 1982 - 20 December 1982		 Succeeded by
"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" by Culture Club
Preceded by
"Mickey" by Toni Basil		 Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart number-one single
22 January 1983 - 5 February 1983		 Succeeded by
"Africa" by Toto
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