Written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman, it was the lead single from the band's 1978 album, Bloody Tourists.

"Dreadlock Holiday" became the group's international number 1 hit topping the charts in the UK,[9] Belgium, New Zealand and The Netherlands.

When asked why he thought the song didn't do better in the US, Gouldman said that reportedly some radio stations would not play reggae of any kind.

[11] In the UK, the song was the band's third number 1 and at the same time final top 10 hit.

[12] In a 2025 interview, Gouldman responded to claims that the song's lyrics perpetuated stereotypes about the Caribbean by stating that whilst people from the region he had encountered had expressed uniformly positive opinions, he would not have written some of the lines in the present day.