"Double Dutch" is a 1983 single by Malcolm McLaren. It is taken from his debut album Duck Rock. "Double Dutch" is the follow-up to his successful debut single, "Buffalo Gals", and reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, making it his highest-charting single release. The album version is a slight re-edit of the single, with part of the original middle eight moved to the end of the track. The song concerns the skipping game of the same name, with McLaren's narration mentioning several New York double dutch troupes by name, notably the Ebonettes, whose name is also used as a chant in the chorus.
Mbaqanga group, The Boyoyo Boys, took legal action against McLaren over the similarity of "Double Dutch" with their own hit "Puleng". After a lengthy legal battle in the UK the matter was settled out of court, with payment made to the South African copyright holders, songwriter Petrus Maneli and publisher Gallo Music, but Horn and Mclaren retained their songwriting credits.
The track was heavily sampled by British house music trio Dope Smugglaz on their 1999 track Double Double Dutch.
Famous quotes containing the words double and/or dutch:
“I grew up confidently expecting to have a profession and earn my own living, and also confidently expecting to be married and have children. It was fifty-fifty with me. I was just as passionately determined to have children as I was to have a career. And my mother was the triumphant answer to all doubts as to the success of this double role. From my earliest memory she had more than half supported the family and yet she was supremely a mother.”
—Crystal Eastman (1881–1928)
“Too nice is neighbor’s fool.”
—Common Dutch saying, trans by Johanna C. Prins.