Pass the Dutchie
From 1980s Childhood by Michael A. Johnson:
I didn't know that. I had always assumed it was a song about cannabis. Though it's a bit odd to imagine a group of people passing a cooking pot around.
"There's a common misconception that Musical Youth's number one hit in 1982, Pass the Dutchie, is a song about cannabis, when in fact the song is about extreme poverty; the 'dutchie' in the lyrics refers to a type of pot used for cooking. It's an easy mistake to make though because the song Pass the Dutchie is actually a cover version of a song released just one year earlier called Pass the Koutchie by the Mighty Diamonds, which was indeed a song all about cannabis."
I didn't know that. I had always assumed it was a song about cannabis. Though it's a bit odd to imagine a group of people passing a cooking pot around.
A dutchie
Image source: Jamaican patwah
Comments
A Dutch Oven?
Posted by S. Norman on 10/11/17 at 07:37 AM
The linked book was published in 2011/2012. I wonder if it's had a revival with the success of Ready Player One
Posted by crc on 10/11/17 at 10:17 AM
The song was actually a cover of Pass the Kouchie, but with the pot references removed and replaced with innocent sounding words. There was never any doubt at the time about why it was done; it would have been difficult to get any distributor to handle a record of kids singing about pot. It never was a song about poverty or anything other than smoking.
Posted by Old Whitebelly on 10/11/17 at 11:15 AM
Weird, as I had always assumed it was a lesson in poverty. But I used the lyrics - pass the Dutchie 'pon the left hand side - to mean that the Dutchie people (poor) wouldn't get out of your way and you'd have to pass them on the left, or you'd be walking in the mud to attempt a right-hand pass.
Posted by greg on 10/11/17 at 11:27 AM
Whether it was about pot or pots, the song brings back strong memories of freshman year college...
Posted by Brian on 10/11/17 at 03:01 PM
I received this album from a school friend at my ninth birthday party and my mom promptly threw it out. I always wondered why...
Posted by Mandy on 10/11/17 at 08:25 PM
I had to hear the songs played to jog my memory. I never understood the draw of the Raggae genre. To my ear it sounds very monotonous. Raggae had its time in the sun. Rock 'n' Roll will never die!
Posted by KDP on 10/12/17 at 07:25 AM
So to remove all references to pot, they wrote a song about how a poor hungry kid ended up in Court because he stole food? And the refrain was basically "send the casserole this way here"? That's more badass than the actual song!
Posted by Yudith on 10/15/17 at 06:51 AM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Category: Music | 1980s