‘One Toke Over The Line’ – The Story Behind The Song
One of the most famous songs about drugs, mainly marijuana, “One Toke Over the Line” by Brewer & Shipley has a truly unique story. From the inception of the song (a night when they had gone one toke over) to folk singers on Lawrence Welk innocently performing the song, sweet Jesus, what a history this song claims in the world of rock and folk.
In discussing the origin of the song on brewerandshipley.com, Brewer & Shipley had this to say:
“When we wrote ‘One Toke Over the Line,’ I think we were one toke over the line. I considered marijuana a sort of a sacrament… If you listen to the lyrics of that song, ‘one toke’ was just a metaphor. It’s a song about excess. Too much of anything will probably kill you.” – Tom Shipley
“We wrote that one night in the dressing room of a coffee house. We were literally just entertaining ourselves. The next day we got together to do some picking and said, ‘What was that we were messing with last night?’ We remembered it, and in about an hour, we’d written ‘One Toke Over the Line.’ Just making ourselves laugh, really.” – Mike Brewer
The Night B&S Went One Toke Over The Line
The coffee house Mike speaks of is the Vanguard in Kansas City, Missouri. According to Shipley, he was given a block of hash and told to take two hits. Instead, he took three. Shipley says in The Vinyl Dialogues, “I go out of the dressing room – I’m also a banjo player, but I didn’t have one, so I was playing my guitar – and Michael (Brewer) came in and I said, ‘Jesus, Michael, I’m one toke over the line.’ And to be perfect honest, I don’t remember if Michael was with me when I took that hit or not. I remember it as ‘not’; I think Michael remembers it as ‘yes.’ And he started to sing to what I was playing, and I chimed in and boom, we had the line.”
The Lawrence Welk Factor
In 1971 one of the most amazing “You don’t know, do you?” moments in history, happened when the song was performed on the Lawrence Welk Show. Gail Farrell and Dick Dale, performed the song. Lawrence Welk, at the end of the performance, said, “There you’ve heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.” NO ONE… not Gail and Dale, nor Welk seemed to get that they are singing about marijuana, not Jesus. The picture is grainy, but the sound quality is great.
Check out more stories behind the songs when you CLICK HERE.
10 Celebrities with Marijuana/CBD Brands
