Written by Humble Pie lead singer Steve Marriott, this song is about getting busted for drugs and getting sent to jail. Marriott got the idea after playing a show in Kentucky, where he learned that getting caught with drugs earned you 30 days in jail. He was also thinking about a friend of the band's who had been sent to jail for having a joint. Marriott was making the point that drugs were a part of culture (just as alcohol was a generation earlier) and there was nothing wrong with it. In many ways, the song is a call for legalization.
Marriott has said that inspiration for the title came from a Humphrey Bogart/James Cagney movie he saw on TV, where Bogart plays a prisoner who gets sent to "30 days in the hole." Marriott may have been referring to the 1938 movie Angels With Dirty Faces, although that line is never uttered in the film. It's also possible that the film was Somebody Up There Likes Me, a 1956 movie where Paul Newman is threatened with the "30 days in the hole."
Lyrics
All right all right all right all right, yeah
Chicago Green, talkin' 'bout Black Lebanese A dirty room and a silver coke spoon Give me my release, come on Black Nepalese, it's got you weak in your knees Sneeze some dust that you got buzzed on You know it's hard to believe
30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole That's what they give you 30 days in the hole I know
Newcastle Brown, I'm tellin' you, it can sure smack you down Take a greasy whore and a rollin' dance floor It's got your head spinnin' round If you live on the road, well there's a new highway code You take the urban noise with some dirt with poison It's gonna lessen your load
30 days in the hole That's what they give you now 30 days in the hole Oh, yeah 30 days in the hole All right, all right 30 days in the hole
What you doin' boy? You here for 30 days Get, get, get your long hair cut And cut out your ways
Black Nepalese, it got you weak in your knees Gonna sneeze some dust that you got busted on You know it's so hard to please Newcastle Brown can sure smack you down You take a greasy whore and a rollin' dance floor You know you're jailhouse-bound
30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole Oh, yeah 30 days in the hole 30 days, 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole 30 days in the hole
Songwriters: Steve Marriott
30 Days in the Hole lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group