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 (kouchie being slang for a cannabis pipe).[5] 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.[6] 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. The song was commissioned by the record company to turn "Pass the Kouchie" into a radio friendly hit for a wider audience. Toney Owens came up with the modified lyrics after coming home one night on an empty stomach.[7] Despite the lyrics being changed to specifically remove drug references, the word "dutchie" later became a slang term for cannabis as a result of the song.[8]
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 one the following week.[5] In February 1983, it reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US.[9] Though they would have subsequent top 40 hits in other countries, "Pass the Dutchie" remains their only hit in the US. The song also scored the number one position in at least five other countries, eventually selling more than five million copies worldwide.[4][10] After the song was featured in the Netflix series Stranger Things in 2022, it experienced a resurgence of popularity, re-entering a number of international charts.[11]
