Smoke Two Joints

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“Smoke Two Joints”
“Smoke Two Joints” cover
Song by Sublime
Album 40 Oz. to Freedom
Released 1992
Recorded 1991-1992 at Mambo in Long Beach, California
Genre Ska punk
Length 3:09
Label Skunk Records, Gasoline Alley/MCA
Writer The Toyes
Producer Sublime
40 Oz. to Freedom track listing
40 Oz. to Freedom
(2)
Smoke Two Joints
(3)
We're Only Gonna Die for Our Arrogance
(4)


"Smoke Two Joints" is a song originally written by Chris Kay and Michael Kay of the band The Toyes and released in 1983. The song was performed by them in traditional Reggae style. According to the Toyes, "one fine fall day on a small island" of Oahu in Hawaii, two of the band members, Mawg and Sky, were sitting under a large banyan tree on Kuhio Beach, "tokin on some sweet Kona bud & jammin on a rootsy reggae groove" when they conceived the song "Smoke Two Joints."

In addition to the Toyes version, the song is well known for having been covered by Sublime, a punk/ska band, on their 1992 debut album 40 Oz. to Freedom.

[edit] Sublime version

"Smoke Two Joints" was the first Sublime song ever to be played on the radio[citation needed].

The intro of the Sublime version contains a sample from the film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls:

She was living in a single room with three other individuals. One of them was a male and the other two, well, the other two were females. God only knows what they were up to in there. And furthermore, Susan, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that all four of them habitually smoked marijuana cigarettes--Reefers.

The Sublime version then continues with the sounds of a bong and a lighter being used.

The lyrics "Smokes cigarettes till the day she dies..." are spoken by the band's producer Miguel A.K.A. Ras-MG.

[edit] Additional covers

  • Norman Nardini, based in Pittsburgh, PA, also did at least two cover versions of this song.

One was a studio LP on Circumstantial Records out of NYC and one on his live cd from 1994 also on Circumstantial. Norman first came across the song in 1983 when his friend Stosh brought home the 45 as part of the music he bought on his vacation in Hawaii. Nardini had his band learn it at once and has been doing the song for 20+ years. He wanted to do it on one of his two releases on CBS in the 1980s and the label couldn't figure out how to track down who wrote the song, so Nardini didn't record the song for them.[citation needed]

  • Richard Cheese does a cover on his album Tuxicity
  • The ska punk band The Rudiments do a cover of this song on the album Psychoska which is preceded by a clip from a cheech and chong movie


[edit] External links