“Doin' Time” by Sublime

"Doin' Time" brings down the curtain on Sublime's self-titled third album in 1996, and it's the band at their most laid-back and woozy: a slow, smoky groove with a trip hop lilt, and Bradley Nowell's voice drifting over the top like it's already halfway into a summer afternoon.

That easy sway hides a sore heart. The song is about a girlfriend who cheats and treats her lover so badly that being with her feels like serving a prison sentence. Nowell sings lead and plays electric guitar, Eric Wilson holds down the bass, Marshall Goodman works the sampler and turntables, and Michael "Miguel" Happoldt adds backing vocals. David Kahne produced and mixed it, and Eddie Ashworth engineered. The writing credits are a trip in themselves, stretching from George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose and Dorothy Heyward to Ad-Rock and Rick Rubin.

Released on 25 November 1997, it was the fourth and last single pulled from the album, and the disc carried extra versions from Wyclef Jean and the Pharcyde. On the Billboard charts it got as high as 87 on the Hot 100, and 28 among Modern Rock Tracks. More takes turned up later on the compilation Second-hand Smoke and on bootlegs, one of them with Snoop Dogg.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.