30 Days in the Hole

Marriott wrote "30 Days in the Hole", track six of Smokin', 3:57 on the album and 3:58 as the single released in September 1972 on A&M; the US B-side was "Sweet Peace and Time", elsewhere "C'mon Everybody" and "Road Runner". It did not chart and had minor airplay at the time, later becoming a staple of classic rock radio. Marriott plays vocals, guitar, harmonica and electric piano, Clempson guitar and backing vocals, Ridley bass and backing vocals and Shirley drums. The lyric is about being arrested for small amounts of drugs. Marriott said the title came from a Bogart and Cagney film on television in which a character is sent to 30 days in the hole, and a blog adds that on tour in Kentucky he read that a drug conviction carried an automatic 30 days in jail.

Shirley told uDiscover that it was written on the road, by Steve with help from each of them, and is all about debauchery, drink and drugs, that Marriott wrote it in pieces, forgot it, and it came together in the studio, and that the sound had a little amp with a certain tremolo. Jason Thompson in Ear Candy Update called it big, dumb, greasy rock and roll, with a Marriott harmonica solo over a simple repetitive Clempson riff. Setlist.fm lists 78 performances by Humble Pie, the first on March 26, 1972 at Alexandria Roller Rink in Virginia and the most recent on September 23, 2023 at Ludlow Garage in Cincinnati.

The Tourin' box set (2019) has live versions from Eppelheim, Germany on September 27, 1974 (about eleven minutes), Boston on March 11, 1974 and Albany on March 12, 1980, and a 1981 medley of nearly 25 minutes. Marriott played it with Packet of Three in the 1980s, including Dingwalls in 1984 and the televised Camden Palace concert of 1985. Covers include Gov't Mule, Mr. Big, Ace Frehley, The Black Crowes, Kick Axe and The Dead Daisies. Which version our upload is has not been determined.