One Toke Over the Line - Misplaced Pages

"One Toke Over the Line" is a song written and performed by American folk rock duo Brewer & Shipley. It is a track from their 1970 LP Tarkio, and was released as their debut single in early 1971.

Background

Mike Brewer gives this account of the origin of the song, "One day we were pretty much stoned and all and Tom says, 'Man, I'm one toke over the line tonight.' I liked the way that sounded and so I wrote a song around it."

The song gained popular acclaim while the band was touring as an opening act for Melanie, after they received an encore but had run out of other songs to play.

In a 2012 interview, Brewer said "The president of the record company we were with at the time came backstage and said, 'Oh man, you gotta record that and add it to the LP.' We were kind of like, 'Really? Oh well, OK.' We didn't even take the song seriously. Needless to say it came as a big surprise to us that they released it and not only that it was a big hit but it received so much controversy. The government came down on us."

In 1971, the Federal Communications Commission issued guidance to radio station operators: "Whether a particular record depicts the dangers of drug abuse, or, to the contrary, promotes such illegal drug usage is a question for the judgment of the licensee. Such a pattern of operation is clearly a violation of the basic principle of the licensee's responsibility for, and duty to exercise adequate control over, the broadcast material presented over his station. It raises serious questions as to whether continued operation of the station is in the public interest."

This song also stirred controversy with the references to Jesus and Mary, which caused several radio stations to ban the song from the airwaves.

Chart history

The song peaked at No. 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 on Cash Box during the spring of 1971, and was the duo's only Top 40 hit. It also reached No. 5 in Canada and No. 7 in New Zealand.

Weekly charts

Chart (1971)	Peak position
Australia Kent Music Report Top Singles	40
Canada RPM Top Singles	5
New Zealand (Listener)	7
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	10
U.S. Cash Box Top 100	8

Year-end charts

Chart (1971)	Rank
Canada	70
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	63
U.S. Cash Box	72

Cover versions

For some, the lyrics evoked the Christian belief of salvation and had a Christian Rock feeling. (e.g. Waitin' for the train to come home sweet Mary,"and "One Toke over the Line, Sweet Jesus", etc.) Without comprehending the drug reference to the word "toke," a cover version was performed in early 1971 by Gail Farrell and Dick Dale on The Lawrence Welk Show, which Brewer credited with giving the duo "more publicity than we could pay for." Host and bandleader Lawrence Welk later claimed that his network, ABC, had forced him to play the misplaced song, as its executives had been pressuring Welk into including more contemporary material that Welk did not want on his show; Welk left ABC that summer among the mass exodus of rural and older-oriented programming from the major networks that occurred at that time and moved to syndication that fall, where Welk would be freed from network influences.

Longtime Elvis Presley pianist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recording artist Floyd Cramer recorded an instrumental version in 1971.

Later uses

The song is notably mentioned in the opening of Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and was "sung" by Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) in the 1998 film of the same name. In the 2014 movie St. Vincent, the song "One Toke Over the Line" is heard playing on Bill Murray's headphones and is listed on the soundtrack credits.

References

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (January 1, 1997). "Various Artists - Have a Nice Day, Super Hits of the '70s". In Bogdanov, Vladimir; Erlewine, Michael; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Unterberger, Richie; Woodstra, Chris (eds.). AllMusic Guide to Rock. San Francisco: Miller Freeman, Inc. p. 1074.
Fong-Torres, Ben (April 15, 1971). "Radio: One Toke Behind the Line". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 25, 2018 – via BrewerAndShipley.com.
Mastropolo, Frank (December 3, 2012). ""One Toke Over the Line" – More Than a "One Hit" Wonder". Rock Cellar. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
Mastropolo, Frank. "Dec 3, 2012". rockcellarmagazine.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
Burch, Dean (March 5, 1971). "FCC-71-205A1". Docs.fcc.gov.
^ "Cash Box Top 100 4/24/71". Tropicalglen.com. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. May 1, 1971. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
^ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 46. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
"Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca.
"Top 100 Hits of 1971/Top 100 Songs of 1971". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
"Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 25, 1971". Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
"One Toke On Lawrence Welk". BrewerAndShipley.com. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
"Toking" with Lawrence Welk on YouTube
Van der Werff, Todd (December 17, 2012). The Lawrence Welk Show was TV’s best party—until it wasn’t. AV Club. Retrieved April 5, 2015.

External links

Brewer & Shipley's "One Toke Over the Line" on YouTube
Lawrence Welk Show version on YouTube, Welk calling the song "a modern spiritual".

v t e Brewer & Shipley
Mike Brewer Tom Shipley
Studio albums	Down in L.A. (1968) Weeds (1969) Tarkio (1970) Shake Off the Demon (1971) Rural Space (1972) ST11261 (1974)
Singles	"One Toke Over the Line"

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