"Smoke Two Joints" is a song originally written by
The Toyes
The Toyes are an United States, American reggae band based in Grants Pass, Oregon. Their style has been described as a "cross between Bob Marley and Barenaked Ladies". They are perhaps most famous as the original songwriters and recorders of the ...
, who performed it in traditional
Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
style and released it in 1983. According to The Toyes, "one fine fall day on a small island" of
Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, two of the band members, Mawg and Sky, were sitting under a large
banyan tree
A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...
on Kuhio Beach,
"tokin' on some sweet bud & jammin' on a rootsy reggae funky town" when they conceived the song "Smoke Two Joints."
It was featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 American comedy-thriller film ''
Homegrown''. The Toyes version was featured in the 2005 video game ''
NARC''. The song is often mistakenly attributed to
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
on the internet and file sharing websites. Marley had been dead two years when this song was written.
Nardini cover version
Norman Nardini, based in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, created two or more cover versions of this song in the 1980s. One was a studio LP, and another was a version featured on his live CD from 1994, both produced by
Circumstantial Records, based in New York City. Norman first came across the song in 1983 when his friend Stush brought home the
45 as part of the music he had bought during a vacation in Hawaii. Nardini had his band learn it at once and has been performing the song for over twenty years. He wanted to air a cover version on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
in the 1980s, but the label could not track down the original writers.
Sublime cover version
The
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
/
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
band ''
Sublime'' performed a cover version on their
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
debut album ''
40oz. to Freedom''. "Smoke Two Joints" was one of the first Sublime songs to be played on the
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
after "Date Rape". This cover includes
samples taken from the film ''
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
''Beyond the Valley of the Dolls'' is a 1970 American satirical musical melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, Phyllis Davis, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett, and David Gurian. The film was directed by Russ Meyer and scr ...
'' (though this intro is typically removed when the song is played on the radio), of a
bong
A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the gas flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right.
...
being used, and of the artists
Eazy-E
Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1964 – March 26, 1995), known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred t ...
and
Just Ice
Joseph Williams Jr. (born June 22, 1965), better known by the stage name Just-Ice, is an American rapper from New York City.
A former bouncer at punk clubs, Williams was the first of the New York rappers to embrace gangsta rap, and when he bur ...
. Bert Susanka, the lead singer of
The Ziggens
The Ziggens are an American band based out of Huntington Beach, California, United States, whose self-described style of "cowpunksurfabilly" combines elements of cowpunk, surf, rockabilly, punk, ska, and country. The Ziggens are led by Bert Susa ...
(a major influence on Sublime), is also sampled saying, "Smoked cigarettes 'til the day she died!" The track is also featured on the 2003 film ''
Grind
A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back (me ...
'' and is on the ''Grind'' motion picture soundtrack as a somewhat shorter version. The track is also used in the film ''
Mallrats
''Mallrats'' is a 1995 American buddy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, Joey Lauren Adams, Michael Rooker, and Smith as Silent Bob. ...
'' when the contestants for a game show are passed out on the floor after being given marijuana by
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most of the films, comics, and television programs written and produc ...
.
"Smoke Two Joints" was released in 1994.
Sublime's version is featured in the ''
Rocksmith 2014
''Rocksmith 2014'' is a music video game produced by Ubisoft. It is a followup to the 2011 game ''Rocksmith'', but has been described as a replacement to the original game rather than a sequel. Like its predecessor, the game allows players to plug ...
'' video game as a DLC track.
Other cover versions
*
Richard Cheese
Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine (or simply Richard Cheese) is a cover band and comedy music, comedy act, performing popular songs in a lounge music, lounge/swing style. Lounge singer Richard Cheese is a character created and portraye ...
performs a cover on his album ''
Tuxicity''.
*The
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
band
The Rudiments
The Rudiments are an American ska punk band from the East Bay, California, United States.
Biography
Known originally as Los Rudiments the group came together in the early 1990s, getting their start playing such venues as Santa Clara's One Step ...
perform a cover of this song on the album ''
Psychoska'' which is preceded by a clip from a
Cheech and Chong
Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie a ...
movie.
*German band
Ohrbooten covered it in German.
*German rapper
Timi Hendrix
The Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction, or TIMI Study Group, is an Academic Research Organization (ARO) affiliated with Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School dedicated to advancing the knowledge and care of patients with card ...
covered it in German.
*
South Park Mexican
Carlos Coy (born October 5, 1970), known professionally as SPM (an initialism for South Park Mexican), is an American rapper, songwriter, founder of Dope House Records, and convicted sex offender. His stage name is derived from the South Park, ...
created a cover version which can be found on ''
The Purity Album
''SPM Presents The Purity Album'' is a compilation album by American hip hop recording artist SPM and his labelmates from Dope House Records. It was released on August 15, 2000, and this is the first of three albums to be released with Universal ...
''.
*
Afroman
Joseph Edgar Foreman (born July 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Afroman, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, comedian and musician. He is best known for his songs " Because I Got High", released in 2000, and " Crazy Rap", which ...
did a parody of the song called Smoke 2 Blunts
*
Macy Gray
Natalie Renée McIntyre (born September 6, 1967), known by her stage name Macy Gray, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She is known for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday.
Gray ha ...
released a cover of this song on her 2012 album ''
Covered
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
''.
*Insanity Alert released a cover of this song on their 2019 album "666-Pack". This thrash metal crossover cover is the 13th Track called "Two Joints".
References
External links
The Toyes' page about the songLetter from Brad Nowell to Mawg of the Toyes*
{{Authority control
1983 songs
Reggae songs
Sublime (band) songs
Songs about cannabis
Cannabis music
1983 in cannabis