"I Don't Smoke" is a song by English breakbeat/UK garage musician DJ Dee Kline. Originally released in 1999 on Rat Records, the song became a major underground club hit and was rereleased on 22 May 2000 as a single on EastWest the following year. It peaked at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart[1] and No. 2 on the UK Dance Singles Chart.[2]
The song features a sample of comedian Marcus Brigstocke, taken from the sketch show Barking. The sample in the song features Brigstocke repeating the lines, "Do you smoke Paul? No I don't. Me neither. I don't smoke cigarettes, I don't smoke cigars, I don't smoke a pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe, pipe...", followed by "I don't smoke the reefer" in a faux Rasta accent.[3] Brigstocke, Dan Tetsell, and Danny Robins, who had originally written the routine for a revue at Bristol University, were given publishing rights to the song after Tetsell heard it while shopping and recognised the sample.[4]
Brigstocke talked about the song on The Graham Norton Show in 2010, explaining that he was impersonating Jim Davidson's character Chalkie White for a sketch show, and that it was sampled into the track. Brigstocke said he was "delighted and mortified at the same time" when he heard the sample.[5] "I Don't Smoke" also samples the guitar riff from the 1997 Skeewiff track "The Thin Line".[6]
A rework was released in 2014 in collaboration with Specimen A and Majestic MC, titled "Don't Smoke 2014".
Capital Xtra included the song in their list of "The Best Old-School Garage Anthems of All Time".[7]
Track listing
- UK CD single
- "I Don't Smoke" (Radio Edit) - 2:57
- "I Don't Smoke" (Nu Skool Rave Mix) - 5:53
- "I Don't Smoke" (Rhythm Masters Remix Edit) - 5:10
- "I Don't Smoke" (Original Mix Edit) - 5:48
References
- ^ "DJ DEE KLINE | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ^ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40 | Official Charts Company". Official Charts.
- ^ "Deekline's 'I Don't Smoke' - Discover the Sample Source". WhoSampled.
- ^ Topham, Gwyn (2 June 2000). "Comic trio enjoy financial rewards of a sample life". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
- ^ "Marcus Brigstocke, I Don't Smoke The Reefer". YouTube. 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
- ^ "Deekline's 'I Don't Smoke' - Discover the Sample Source". WhoSampled.
- ^ "The Best Old-School Garage Anthems Of All Time". Capital XTRA. Archived from the original on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
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