“Pass The Dutchie” is a Grammy-nominated international hit single based on The Mighty Diamonds song “Pass The Koutchie” combined with elements of “Gimme The Music” by reggae artist U Brown and “Rule The Nation” by Jamaican vocalist U-Roy.
The original song “Pass The Koutchie” was written about marijuana, but because Musical Youth were all children at the time, its drug slang was replaced with food references. For example, “Koutchie” (a slang term for a pot in which marijuana is kept) became “Dutchie” (slang for a Dutch stewing pot) and “herb” (another slang term for marijuana) became “food”.
Various lines from U Brown’s “Gimme The Music”, like “Sounds to really make you rub and scrub” and “Give me music, make me jump and prance”, were interposed between altered “Pass The Koutchie” lyrics.
“Pass The Dutchie” was Musical Youth’s first single for MCA Records. It found immediate success, debuting on the UK pop chart at #26 in September 1982 then hitting #1 the following week. It would go on to reach #1 in four more countries and peak at #10 in the US in February 1983 – becoming the biggest-selling reggae single in over a decade there.
When its music video was aired on MTV, it made Musical Youth the first black group to appear on the channel.
The group went on to score five more top 40’s in both Ireland and their homeland of the UK over the next two years, but aside from reaching #65 a year later with “She’s Trouble”, Musical Youth had no further hits in the US – earning them the label of one-hit wonder there.