Album: Bloody Tourists (1978)

Charted: 1 44

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Songfacts®:

• The song is about a white man who gets lost in Jamaica and gets ripped off every step he makes (by a whore, by a gang who steal his medal, etc.). It was inspired by real events that happened to 10cc's Eric Stewart and Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues when they went on holiday together in Barbados.
  
  Stewart recalled in the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner & Spencer Leigh, "Justin and I were on a para-sailing raft in the middle of the ocean and I was strapped into this parachute gear. I was towed behind a speedboat at high speed. I took off and waved goodbye to Justin. He was then left on the raft with three black guys, one Jamaican and two from Barbados. The Jamaican guy said to Justin, 'I like your silver chain, man, I'll give you a dollar for it.' Justin replied, 'come on, it's worth a lot more than that and it's a present from my mother.' And this guy said, 'If this was Jamaica, I would cut your hand off for that.' I came back and asked Justin if he wanted to have a go. He said, 'No, let's get off this raft as quick as we can, I have had some problems.' When we got back to England, I relayed the story to Graham (Gouldman) and we wrote a song around it."
• The lyrics came from several other sources. The expression, "Don't you walk through my words" came from a report about a radio DJ in Newcastle who was challenged when he walked through a group of black guys talking together. The line, "I don't like cricket, I love it" came from a conversation Gouldman had with a completely different Jamaican guy in a hotel in Jamaica. They ended up talking about sport and when Gouldman asked his new West Indian friend if he liked cricket he replied "I don't like cricket," before pausing. He then said. "I don't like cricket, I love it."
• Graham Gouldman sang lead on this track, giving 10cc the distinction of having three UK #1 hits all with different lead vocalists (Lol Creme sang lead on "Rubber Bullets" and Stewart on "I'm Not In Love").
  
  By this time, Stewart and Gouldman were the only original band members; Creme and Kevin Godley left in 1976.
• This song found a huge audience in the UK, but never caught on in America, where most people can't identify it by title. A lot of this had to do with an aversion to reggae on rock radio. "With 'Dreadlock Holiday,' we got a report from one station that said, 'Oh, we don't play reggae,'" Gouldman said in a Songfacts interview. "Ridiculous, just play good music, whatever it is."
• Though "Dreadlock Holiday" still gets played on the radio, some people accuse it of perpetuating negative stereotypes. "The idea was to take the mickey out of a white person trying to emulate West Indian cool. Some bits of it are what happened to me, some bits happened to Eric and some of it is fantasy," Gouldman told The Guardian.
  
  "There wasn't any negativity towards it at the time and every West Indian person I've spoken to about it has said they love it, but I don't think we'd have written a line like: 'I saw four faces, one mad, a brother from the gutter,' today. Definitely not."
• Despite claiming to "love" the sport in "Dreadlock Holiday," Graham Gouldman was 79 when he attended his first cricket match. After watching the England versus West Indies One Day match at The Oval on June 3, 2025, he said: "After today's experience I can say 'I don't like cricket, I absolutely love it.'"
• Fans may know "Dreadlock Holiday" as a fun, reggae-inspired anthem, but for Gouldman, it's also a moment of pure joy on stage. He adores the way the audience always erupts when they recognize the first chords. "Everybody joins in the chorus, it's lovely," he told BBC Breakfast.

Comments: 22

• W from AustraliaIt was always I don’t like cricket in the first chorus.
• Arno from NetherlandsThis song deals with how loads of people live their lifes. Who don't make clear choises about where to go, with whom, what to do etc.
  People who do not set clear goals in life, and than end up in all kind of situations they really want to get out of.
  Ending up exhausted, confused while not having archieved anything....
  A song for most of mankind, actually !
• Teira Stuart from BallaratI'm so annoyed,the original song lyric is l don't like reggae, l know it was adapted to say cricket, for televised cricket programs, but it's not the original song. All over the net these bastardised lyrics are all you can find. Wise up people that's not how it's written. l hate cricket, and any sport or ad campaign that takes great music and screws with the lyrics f##k you very much!!!!
• Moonchild57 from Oakland CaHe doesn’t get ripped off by a whore. He’s at the pool drinking and she asked if he’s like something harder and that her harvest is the best, ‘I got it you want it my harvest is the best and if you try it you’ll like it and wallow in your dreadlock holiday. Clearly about ganja.
• Hanf Sativa from United StatesBeen a fan since buying the 1st LP, my friends mother was from England.
  When he'd visit the family across the pond whatever music was charting there would adjust his tastes in music.
  Which influenced mine, I especially liked the no girlfriends please songs, Things we do for Love and I'm not in Love were my feelings exactly back in my 70's teen years.
  Great musicians, great tunes and lyrics, an awesome band...
  Dreadlock Holiday my fav album...
• Mikey G from UsaI don’t like Dredlock Holiday….
  
  I love it!!
• The One That Heard It All from AnywhereI love this song almost as long, as I've been around.
  The Story is always the same... Those fabulous white Men conquer all the world around them, being just as thumb as they think, the conquered folks are, not seeing their own failure and ending up with the same thumb
• Mike from UkWho (actor?) plays the hilarious white tourist in the video?
• Anonymous from AtlantaFabulous song.... Have it as my ringtone.
• Tom from Dunedin, New ZealandAnyone notice an odd similarity to Gentle Giant's 1976 'Give It Back'? -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVsmECYtO0Q
• Michael from Santa Cruz, CaThis song and "Life is a minestrone" were the ones that really got me into 10cc.Runner-up would be their mini-epic "The benefit".Great stuff.
• Mark from Adelaide, AustraliaLuke from Manchester...10 cc were a great band, but this is no place to trade insults, by reading your comments I ask who is the deluded one. Just because you know this song intimately and the band your comments remind me of the stereotypical bigot.
• Ken from Gibraltar, GibraltarThis is surely their best song and still heard and loved today as it was way back in 1978.
  
  ken. Gibraltar.
• Glenn from Auckland, New ZealandI remember that this song was No. 1 for quite a few weeks in late 78. Sadly 10cc were coming to an end. Two years earlier Kevin Godley and Lol Creme had left 10CC and they were never quite the same, even though they had a couple of more hits afterwards.
• Rob from Detroit, MiWow, Luke! How do you really feel?
• Luke from Manchester, EnglandYou stupid stupid American. You didn't listen to the song, you took what little you remembered and thought that was the actual structure... Poor deluded dickhead... This is an amazing song, 10cc are an amazing band, get educated.
• Nakib from Dhaka, OtherThe movie 'Snatch' really brought this song to me,great song,great lyrics.
• Jim from Stonerville, Cahave this song on the snatch soundtrack. coolest song on the album. i don't like reggae. i love it...
• Guy from Wellington, New ZealandThis is a very cool 10CC song and if you get the chance to see the video they made it lends delightful humour to the rocking reggae tune. While they play the story for all its amusing content I'm sure the actual events for whoever suffered them must have been a hell of a lot more frightening.
• Derek from Cambridge, New ZealandA very depressing song, it shows the worst sid eof Jamaica, in the lyrics of the song.
• Jay from Geneva, CheezlandIt's featured on the brilliant film "Snatch". And as any song of this OST, it fits like a glove to the film.
• Rich from Elkins, WvMy favorite song by 10cc is "I'm Not in Love" ...
  I don't think I've heard this one.

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