A look at the 10th anniversary of a YouTube video of note … the back-story behind it … and some new aspects, after the jump ….
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Ten years ago, the You Tube world was taken aback by a video of two singers on the Lawrence Welk Show singing the 1971 hit single One Toke over the Line — seemingly oblivious to the word “toke”. Among others writing diaries on the subject since then was my fellow Top Commenteer, Puddytat.
But when I went to the Brewer & Shipley website, I found an interesting back-story about how the song was never meant to see the light of day: and I wrote about it five years ago in this space.
And so what I’d like to do is (1) reprise the story (for the benefit of newer readers) as well as (2) add a new development — in which we may yet learn the answer to the $64,000 question …. that most people want to know.
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It's not unfair to describe them as a one-hit-wonder - but the duo of Brewer & Shipley ("B&S" for short) have as an old-age pension a song that was never intended to be performed publicly. Yet a series of incredible coincidences enabled this song to have a lasting impact on music ... and (apparently) the Nixon Administration.
Oklahoma native Mike Brewer (right in first photo below) and Ohio native Tom Shipley (left in first photo below) tried their hand at co-writing songs, and some were recorded by the performers at A&M Records (including Glenn Yarborough, Noel Harrison and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) where they both worked. The A&M top brass liked their sound so much, they offered to record them: and their debut album Down in LA saw them backed-up by Jim Messina and Leon Russell.
It was their 1970 album Tarkio that helped them reach stardom - which also proved to be their high-water-mark. Named after a (now-defunct) college in their newly-adopted state of Missouri, it was recorded in the Bay Area: and many of the region's musicians helped contribute to it.
Shipley & Brewer: the early 1970’sOne of the songs that appeared on the album became a hit: One Toke Over the Line has a less-folk and more-country music sound, along with a catchy melody ... but the title said it all. However, it was never intended to see the light-of-day: B&S said the song came to them as a lark while rehearsing backstage - if someone flubbed a chord change, they'd say "One toke over the line" with a laugh.
And while the word toke indicates its primary meaning .... B&S have stated that its message came (in time) to mean "excess of any kind" (which you will see used in essays to this day, not necessarily about drugs).
In only an hour, they developed music and actual lyrics for it .... but relegated it to simply being a warm-up tune backstage before shows. They had no thought of performing it live (and imagined that their record company probably wouldn't allow it, anyway). But this story begins in earnest with .....
Twist of Fate #1 - while they were in the process of recording the "Tarkio" album, they performed as an opening act for the folksinger Melanie at Carnegie Hall. And while opening acts of the day were frequently heckled, with cries of "Get off the stage!" by impatient fans (and Brewer & Shipley had not yet broken through as a name act) — instead, they were given so warm a reception .. they were asked for three encores.
Yet since they had been so busy arranging the still-unfinished songs for the new record and weren't ready to perform them ... they ran out of material (and did not want to repeat songs). So, for their final encore they decided to perform One Toke because ... well, they had (at least) rehearsed it.
But that might have been the end of it: with an album of new songs on the way, B&S may never have performed the tune again ...... except ... that one concert-goer came backstage to see them .......
Twist of Fate #2 ...... and this would be the president of Buddah Records, the parent label of Kama Sutra Records (who they were now signed to) — and he asked them about the new song. (And while this next item does not qualify as a twist of fate: it is a nice thought to know that a song about toking was appreciated by a record company president named .... Neil Bogart!)
When B&S told him the song was merely a lark, Neil Bogart responded, "I love this. You gotta record it, you gotta put that on the album".
And record it they did: yet still believing it to be an ordinary tune (as B&S always felt that ballads were their forte). It was produced by Nick Gravenites of the Electric Flag and recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, where Gravenites put together a backup band of former Butterfield Blues Band players like guitarists Mike Bloomfield and keyboardist Mark Naftalin.
And while it might conceivably have achieved cult status as merely one track on the album, it may not have become widely popular ..... but for the fact that ....
Twist of Fate #3 - rather than forbid B&S from recording it (as some record company presidents might have done) Neil Bogart not only requested its inclusion on the album but after listening to it - unbeknownst to B&S - he went even a step further … and released it as a single. Why?
Well, Neil Bogart was the president of Buddha Records, which was known as a "bubblegum" label (with groups such as the Ohio Express, the 1910 Fruitgum Company and songs like “Yummy Yummy Yummy”) — and Bogart was eager to change his label's image, in order to be able to persuade performers (in a rapidly changing music scene) that his label was worth signing-on to. Releasing it as a single would be what we call today "pushing the envelope".
And did it ever. One Toke eventually reached #10 in the Billboard charts in 1971, before it stalled out. That was, in large part, because several radio stations banned the tune as extolling drug use (following pressure by the FCC). The irony, as B&S have always maintained: is that the song urged moderation (hence the words "over the line"). Neil Bogart complained to Rolling Stone about FCC interference ..... but he (and the band) were gaining free publicity, increased album sales and a higher concert fee for their shows. Still, songs like that are ephemeral: and once again it may have faded until we come upon ....
Twist of Fate #4 - the lads hit the big-time when - in a discussion of bands with songs about drug use — President Richard Nixon labeled Brewer & Shipley as "public miscreants" (smirk) for their song. Not to be outdone, Vice-President Spiro Agnew declared them (on national TV) to be “subversive to American youth" (cackle) — and two years later, we learned that Spiro Agnew was guilty of taking bribes not only in Maryland … but also in Washington.
The good news: B&S didn't have to bribe the President of Vice in order to get the kind of mass, free publicity that came with being criticized by Agnew as being "subversives". And to top-it-off: the song earned the duo a place on the Nixon Enemies List - which Mike Brewer says "was a badge of honor we hold dear to our hearts to this day" (as did Paul Newman and Carol Channing, just to name a few other entertainers so-honored).
In response, B&S included the song Oh Mommy (I Ain't No Commie) on Tarkio that referenced Nixon by name (and which featured Jerry Garcia on pedal steel). The publicity also helped two other tunes reach the lower ranks of the Top 100, "Shake Off the Demon" and "Tarkio Road".
Several years back, Tom Shipley recalled a young woman who approached them at a show and declared them to be the last of the hippies - "when you're gone, there won't be any more". But they laugh, noting that hippies aren't usually referenced in Grand Theft Auto IV - where "one toke over the line" is an addiction level.
Brewer & Shipley still tour to this day and while they say the song pigeon-holed them to a certain extent (some stoners were disappointed they did not have follow-ups) and doesn't represent the bulk of their music ... well, they're not complaining. As Mike Brewer says, “I'm glad people like the song, still”.
Brewer & Shipley — in recent yearsWhat really elevates the back-story of One Toke Over the Line from the merely weird to the transcendent was .....
Twist of Fate #5 - that during the time that the Nixon Administration declared Brewer & Shipley to be persona-non-grata ... similar to Neil Bogart, a certain popular TV host was trying to change his image, too. Well, sorta: his old-school musical variety show featured mostly old songs for old people, and he wanted to add some songs currently on the charts (like other musical variety shows of the day did).
He and/or his staff heard the country music sound and references to "Jesus" and "Mary" in the song, yet (I believe) surely not understanding the word "toke" - and decided that this tune was a 'modern spiritual' that would update his show without alienating his traditional audience.
And thus One Toke was featured on .... The Lawrence Welk Show .... at the same time Spiro Agnew was denouncing it, leading Mike Brewer to jokingly ask the Establishment to ….."Make up your minds!"
But the Lawrence Welk performance occurred when Brewer & Shipley were on a tour of Britain at the time, and the duo never saw the show - which was believed lost to history ........ right up until a copy surfaced in 2007.
So, you have some choices: you may listen below to the original version by Brewer & Shipley ........
x xYouTube Video..... or you can suck-it-up and scroll down below ... in order to listen to the Lawrence Welk version. You know you wanna.....
Who do you love? I hope it's ... me I've been a-changing — as you can plainly see I felt the joy and I learned about the pain that my Momma said If I should choose to make a part of me it would surely strike me dead
I sailed away a country mile and now I'm returning and showing off my smile I met all the girls and I loved myself a few And to my surprise Like everything else that I've been through It opened up my eyes
And now I'm one toke over the line, sweet Jesus One toke over the line Sitting downtown in a railway station One toke over the line
Waiting for the train that goes home, sweet Mary Hoping that the train is on time Sitting downtown in a railway station One toke over the line
x xYouTube Video-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—
Now ………..….. an update.
The male singer in the above video was Dick Dale (obviously, not the legendary surf guitar king) who died in late 2014 at the age of 88.
The other singer was Gail Farrell— who turned age seventy just last week and has had an interesting life herself. She is a California native who grew-up in Durant, Oklahoma and was a music major at the University of Tulsa (while participating in the Miss Oklahoma pageant and also attending a Julliard summer session).
After graduating magna cum laude in 1969 she moved to Los Angeles in order to become a pre-school teacher … yet decided to audition for the Welk show and aced it. She appeared on the last dozen years of the show (before it left the air in 1982) and also appeared on other TV shows (Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore).
After 1982, she delved more into songwriting and arranging (with songs covered by the likes of Barbara Mandrell) and had a speaking role in the Disney film The Little Mermaid. In more recent years, she has appeared in several Welk retrospectives on PBS and in the revue show (with fellow cast-mates) Four Wunnerful Women. A street has been renamed Gail Farrell Drive in her childhood home of Durant, Oklahoma.
Dedicated by the Oklahoma Lt GovEnter a Philadelphia music writer named Mike Morsch, who interviewed B&S in 2013, asking about the YouTube video (which apparently Tom Shipley found first). Morsch eventually tracked-down Gail Farrell and asked her the big question: Did she (or any others) in the show … know what the word toke meant?
She would not answer, for this reason: she has written and plans to perform in a one-woman-show (which has not yet taken place) …. and the answer to that question is part of the show. She did stay in touch with Morsch, and when Morsch saw that Brewer & Shipley were to perform this past November, 2016 in suburban Philadelphia, he invited Gail and her husband Ron to come East to watch the show and meet B&S. (As a joke, he thought).
To his surprise, they accepted— and B&S had dinner with her, introduced her to the audience and she participated in the post-show meet-and-greet.
Mike Brewer, Gail Farrell & Tom ShipleyUntil we find out the Big Question answer — let’s have Gail Farrell close tonite:
“I’ve read so much about them and heard ‘One Toke Over the Line’ so many times I almost don’t feel like it was the first time I heard it live. But I just was amazed at how much sound they got out of two guitars,” said Gail.
“I was pleased and a little surprised because you never know how these things are gonna go. All they know about me is that I’m this little dorky goody-two-shoes wearing a little pinafore with a butterfly on it … that all the YouTube commenters say should have been a marijuana leaf.”
Now, on to Top Comments:
From my colleague Tara the Antisocial Worker:
In the hillaryous diary by Mopshell about Secretary Clinton— ontheleftcoast had this comment….. and then Cali Scribe had the perfect response.From my other colleague Mike the Liberal:
In the same diary noted above— I would like to nominate this reply from OllieGarkey in response to my post. It’s not the most insightful, thought provoking comment ever written ... but I did get a kick out of it, it provided a secondary reason for my comment, and maybe Ms. Clinton should take responsibility for this one!Highlighted by kiss my left behind:
In the diary by Torta about the story in Vanity Fair about the “unravelling” — this remark by Crashing Vor should be a Top Comment.Highlighted by zbob:
In the diary by ursulafaw about a potential Senator Roy Moore— the last sentence by sandrad23 is a top comment.And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by Frank DiPrima about the late University of Pennsylvania marketing professor who referred to the Trumpster as the worst student he ever had — Tamar related a story about her experience with legacy admissions at highly-selective universities … that tallied quite well with this diary.And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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