Trouble with php, trying to make hypertext link dynamically

I’ve been banging my head all night about this… I’m very new to php so please be gentle… (the file names below refer to common wordpress “theme” files, fyi):

I’m trying to write a function that I can call on various pages to simply auto-generate a hyperlink (essentially for stumbleupon and such). (I’ve looked at the plug-ins and decided they don’t really fit what I’d eventually like to do). Here is the function, located in functions.php:

function joshtags($perm,$title){
echo “<a href=“http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url={$perm}&title={$title}”><img src=“icon_su.gif”> Stumble it!</a>”;
}

and here is the function being called in single.php:
<?php joshtags(the_permalink(),the_title()); ?>

As you can see here (under the post title):
http://www.quantummirage.com/blog/?p=32
Everything gets echo’d out but the order is wrong and only partial hyperlinked. I’m goin nuts!
Thanks in advance for the help!