The song was the band's first release on a major label. Following a shouted intro taken from U Roy's "Rule the Nation" with words slightly altered, the track combined two songs: "Gimme the Music" by U Brown, and "Pass the Kouchie" by Mighty Diamonds, which deals with the recreational use of cannabis. For the cover version, the song's title was bowdlerised to "Pass the Dutchie", the new word being a patois term for a Dutch oven, a type of cooking pot. All obvious drug references were removed from the lyrics; e.g., instead of the original "How does it feel when you got no herb?", the cover version refers to "food" instead. "Dutchie" has since become a drug reference, 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 Recordsin September 1982. It debuted at #26 on the UK chart and rose to #1 the following week. In February 1983, it reached #10 on the BillboardHot 100 singles chart in the USA, the group's first and only top 40 hit in the United States. The song also scored the #1 position in five other countries, eventually selling more than five million copies worldwide.
Music video
The video, directed by Don Letts, was shot partly on the southern banks of the River Thames in London, by Lambeth Bridge. It depicts the band performing the song and playing instruments, until an official appears to arrest them. Courtroom scenes are interspersed with the exterior ones. Musical Youth became the first black artists to appear in a studio segment on MTV.
Track listing
7" single
12" single
Charts and certifications
Chart performance
Year end charts
Sales and certifications
Cover versions and references in other songs
The song was sampled by rap group Public Enemy for the song "Revolutionary Generation" on their 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet.
The song is referenced lyrically on The Vandals' 1990 album Fear of a Punk Planet in the song "Join us for Pong"
There is also a reference to "Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side" in the song "Typical American" on the album Tricks of the Shade, the debut album by alternative hip-hop group The Goats from 1992.
The song is referenced lyrically on Ice Cube's 1994 single "Bop Gun ", 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".
The song is referenced lyrically in underground rap on the track entitled "Bianchi" by Ruthless Reality and J B Hype on the Darkroom Familia album Playaz 4 Life: Major Game.
The song is partly referenced and covered on Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly in the song "Pass Da Blunt". She later released a song in 2003 called "Pass That Dutch".
"Pass the Dutchie" was covered by the ska band Buck-O-Nine in 1998.
The song was sampled in Superfunk song "The Young MC", which was released in 2000.
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 ", and peaked at #13 in France and #47 in Switzerland in 2006.
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.
UK-based electronic hip-hop artistStar Slinger remixed the song for his first volume of music. The remix is called "Dutchie Courage".
The song was used in the soundtrack of the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer.
In The Simpsons 1999 episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", Homer states that instead of going to Japan he would rather be going to Jamaica, so that he could "pass the dutchie on the left hand side".
The song was used in the 2002 movie Scooby-Doo.
Title of : Season 7, Episode 10
The song was used in the soundtrack of the 2010 movie Boy.
An excerpt was used in Episode 8 of the second season of the Netflix series, Master of None.
