After I've been reading about the "Double Dutch Bus", the hit by Frankie Smith, I started to wonder about the meaning of "Dutchie" in that song by the British Jamaican reggae band Musical Youth, "Pass the Dutchie". Is it related somehow with the "double dutch" rope-jumping game?  It’s not.

The patois term "dutchie" is used to refer to a stewing pot such as a Dutch oven in Jamaica and the Caribbean. So, what were those kids singing about in "Pass the Dutchie"? Let's begin from the beginning.

In the early ‘80s, reggae was beginning to sweep the British musical landscape. The Police was probably the best-known band to fully incorporate reggae rhythms into their sound, but another British group took their love for the sound of the Caribbean and went straight to the top of the charts, and they would be called Musical Youth.

The group Musical Youth was formed in Birmingham on 1979 when the fathers of four schoolboys, Kelvin and Michael Grant and Frederick (known as Junior) and Patrick Waite put together a band featuring their sons. The fifth member of the group was Michael and Freddie's father Frederick, soon replaced by 14 years old Dennis Seaton.

The group managed to secure gigs at different Birmingham pubs and even released a double single in 1981 on a local label. After an appearance on BBC Radio 1 John Peel's evening show they were signed to MCA Records.

During the autumn of 1982, Musical Youth issued one of the fastest-selling singles of the year, "Pass the Dutchie" based on a song by Jamaican reggae band The Mighty Diamonds' titled "Pass the Kouchie".  It was their very first record with MCA!

A kouchie is slang for a cannabis pipe so the song is about the "recreational" use of cannabis, passing a pipe used to smoke the “herb”. Considering that the group members were kids aged between 11 and 15, their manager suggested they record the song with modified lyrics for a more kiddie-friendly feel. For the cover version, the song's title was tidied up 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. The altered title features the patois "dutchie", referring to a cooking pot and this idea was reinforced throughout giving political and economic overtones to the song about extreme poverty with Musical Youth asking the question "How does it feel when ya got no food?"

For illustration, enjoy reading the highly educational content of the lyrics of Pass The Kouchie, by The Mighty Diamonds and listen the song:

www.youtube.com/watch

Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
it a go bun, it a go dung, Jah know

It was a cool and lovely breezy afternoon
How does it feel when you've got no herb?
You could feel it 'cause it was the month of June
If you got no herb you will walk an' talk

So I lef' my gate and went out for a walk
As I pass the dreadlocks' camp I hear them say
How do dey sing when you heard dem sing?

Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side

It a go bun, it a go dung, Jah know
So I stopped to find out what was going on
How do you find when you make your stuff

For the spirit of Jah, you know he leads me on

Them all have a leaf at the dreadlocks' camp

There was a ring of dreads and a session was there in swing

Obviously, if you are using a “couchy” and you are right-handed, you should pass to the left hand side…

Now, compare it to the lyrics of Pass The Dutchie by Musical Youth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Yg_6NP8Iw

 The record went to number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1982. It was selling an average of 100.000 records daily, went on to sell over five million copies worldwide, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. A Top 10 placing also followed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

Musical Youth became the first black act to get regular rotation on MTV when "Pass The Dutchie" was added to their playlist, beating Michael Jackson's Billie Jean video by a few months. The MTV airplay helped break the song in the United States, and it entered Top 40 on January 15, 1983, reaching its peak position of #1 on February 26.

Since American and British listeners assumed that the term “Dutchie” was a drug reference, due to this song it actually became a drug reference, denoting a blunt stuffed with marijuana and rolled in a wrapper from a Dutch Masters cigar.

Just for example, currently you can enjoy a “Pass the Dutchie” tour in Amsterdam. Do you want to tour the canals while enjoying Amsterdam’s most fun-filled “recreational” activity? Or perhaps indulge your palate with an edibles tasting? Pass the Dutchie offers a sampling of the city’s best cannabis blends while walking through the city or cruising along the water. Each tour consists of a snack bag to satisfy your pot cravings. Choose a time slot that works for you then go relax with them.

What‘s included: Canal tour, snack bag, 2 tastings, walking tour

What‘s not included: Drinks

Musical Youth had genuine talent and played their own instruments, but they suffered from poor and corrupt management, and they quickly floundered. They had some minor successes later by collaboration with Donna Summer on the UK Top 20 hit, "Unconditional Love. The Youth got a temporal boost in popularity when they were nominated for Best New Artists at the 1984 Grammy Awards, but by the time the show aired, the air of excitement that surround the group had faded and their commercial success ended. They lost to Culture Club. With their careers going downhill, the band members became embroiled in legal, financial, and personal problems; in 1985 they were dropped from their label MCA Records and soon they disbanded.

What started out as a jaunty celebration of multi-cultural British youth ended as a cautionary tale about the perils of naivety in the music industry. They literally were burned out by exploitative managers who just wanted to milk their success. There weren’t any responsible adults around them and their parents, unfortunately, weren’t the best people to understand what was going on. The reality was that the people who said they were trying to make the band more successful were just taking money from it basically. Their popularity faded as fast as it had come to them. The five boys faced life outside the band, some with drug addiction and mental illness.

The Waite brothers had developed drug problems. Patrick Waite died due to a heart condition in 1993, aged just 24, while awaiting a court appearance on drugs charges. His brother, Frederick, suffers from schizophrenia and remains under medical supervision in the care of his mother. Dennis Seaton tried to go solo, but his career did not take off and he worked as a delivery driver and then in the car rental industry for twelve years, eventually co-owning his own company. He also returned to studying, earning a music degree. Michael Grant is the only member of Musical Youth who had a successful musical career. Remixes by his production team, 5am, have graced singles by Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes and Kelly Rowland. He manages a gospel duo called Nu Life and has produced an indie band, River Deep. Kelvin Grant also turned his back to musical industry but after more than 30 years has decided he is ready to work on his new project and has been recording in Poland with quite a few different artists, bands and producers.  

The Youth stayed off the scene until 2001, when remaining members decided to reunite for a planned tour. The September 11 attacks scuttled their tour, but they decided to stick together anyway, performing on the “Here and Now” tour in 2003 that features performances from the artists of yesteryear. The Youth is still performing to this very day.

In 2000 surviving members were alerted to their potential windfall after "Pass the Dutchie" was used in the hit Hollywood film "The Wedding Singer", starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. After royalty checks failed to arrive, the group realized that claims to get their royalty money was not well managed and they felt there "must be significant unpaid recording royalties" which had accumulated over nearly two decades.

In 2004, ex-performers of Musical Youth launched legal proceedings claiming that solicitor Tony Seddon and other partners in Woolf-Seddon gave them bad advice about the royalty money they might make from their 1982 hit Pass The Dutchie and has been in serious breach of their duties by failing to protect a distinct copyright held by Musical Youth.

The ex-members of Musical Youth argued that Pass The Dutchie was a sufficiently original work to attract distinct copyright even though it was an arrangement of Pass The Kouchie and as such were entitled to a division of publishing royalties. They claimed that law firm Woolf-Seddon, specialized in music industry legal work, was in breach of duties because lawyers had failed to protect that distinct copyright by agreeing to a division of publishing royalties on the basis that the two songs were subject to the same copyright.

Mr. Seddon and his former partners in Woolf-Seddon, which no longer existed by then, had denied the allegation. They argued that the claim was an abuse of process at a high court hearing in London in November, and asked for it to be struck out.

Finally, in March 2012 the high court judge has ruled in favor of partners in the law firm Woolf Seddon deciding that the claim by Dennis Seaton, Michael Grant, Kelvin Grant, Frederick Waite Junior – aka Junior Waite – and a representative of the estate of the late Patrick Waite had no merit.

Mr. Justice Roth ruled that Mr. Seddon and his ex-partners were entitled to summary judgment, and the claim was “wholly without merit”. It had "no chance of success", he ruled because their claim was "out of time".

The judge said Pass The Dutchie was an adaptation of a song called Pass The Kouchie recorded by reggae group The Mighty Diamonds and the relationship between those two songs formed the background to the legal proceedings.

He added a footnote to a written ruling, explaining that "Kouchie" was Jamaican slang for a "pot in which marihuana is kept" and “Dutchie" was a "Dutch stewing pot" in the same "patois".