Peak
10
Weeks
14
Score
2,179
Chart Year
1971
This song is about drugs, especially marijuana. A "Toke" is a puff from a marijuana cigarette or pipe. Tom Shipley explained: "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." Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley were folk singers in Los Angeles. This was their only hit. Brewer says of the song's origin: "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. We had no idea that it would ever even be considered as a single, because it was just another song to us. Actually Tom and I always thought that our ballads were our forte." (quotes from brewerandshipley.com) Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead was brought in to play played steel guitar on the Tarkio sessions. He didn't play on "One Toke Over The Line," but did appear on the B-side, "Oh Mommy' (I Ain't No Commie)." The incident that sparked this song happened at the Vanguard in Kansas City, Missouri. The band was playing the show because, in seeking to escape the LA music scene, they started a tour of their Midwest homelands. Shipley reports that he was given a block of hash and told to take two hits. He ignored the advice and instead took three. Shipley recounts 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." Brewer also remembers the occasion. "I just cracked up," he said. "I thought it was hysterical. And right on the spot, we just started singing, 'One toke over the line, sweet Jesus,' and that was about it; then we went onstage." Some radio stations refused to play this song because of the drug references, but not everyone got this meaning. In 1971 the song was performed on the Lawrence Welk Show by the wholesome-looking couple Gail Farrell and Dick Dale, who clearly had NO clue what a toke was. Welk, at the conclusion of the performance of the song, remarked, without any hint of humor, "there you've heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale." Brewer and Shipley spent 35 years trying to find the performance. They finally found a woman in Branson, Missouri who had one. Shipley posted the clip to his Youtube account in 2007, and ever since that moment, he says he's been trying to find a way to stop the automatic notifications that come in every time a comment is left on the video's page. "It just keeps filling up my email (inbox). But at the same time, I'm reticent to pull it down because so many folks like it." This appears on numerous compilation albums, making its way onto albums with songs about drugs, hits of the '70s, and one hit wonders. It remains a major source of income for Brewer and Shipley. There's a Quantum Leap episode titled "One Strobe Over the Line" where the main character, Sam Beckett, and his holographic sidekick Al travel back to June 15, 1965, to save a model named Edie Landsdale from drug addiction. The song isn't played in the episode, but the reference is obvious.
One toke over the line sweet Jesus One toke over the line Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line Awaitin' for the train that goes home, sweet Mary Hopin' that the train is on time Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line Whoooo do you love, I hope it's me I've bin a changin', 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, surely strike me dead Now I'm one toke over the line sweet Jesus One toke over the line Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line I'm waitin' for the train that goes home sweet Mary Hopin' that the train is on time Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line I bin away a country mile Now I'm returnin' showin' off a smile I met all the girls and loved myself a few Ended by surprise like everything else 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 Sittin' downtown in a railway station Don't you just know I waitin' for the train that goes home sweet Mary Hopin' that the train is on time Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line Don't you just know I waitin' for the train that goes home sweet Mary Hopin' that the train is on time Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line I want to be One toke over the line sweet Jesus One toke over the line Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line Don't you just know I waitin' for the train that goes home sweet Mary Hopin' that the train is on time Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over the line Sittin' downtown in a railway station One toke over line One toke, one toke over the line
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 13, 1971 | 84 | 42 |
| 2 | Feb 20, 1971 | 71 | 55 |
| 3 | Feb 27, 1971 | 57 | 69 |
| 4 | Mar 6, 1971 | 48 | 78 |
| 5 | Mar 13, 1971 | 39 | 87 |
| 6 | Mar 20, 1971 | 26 | 100 |
| 7 | Mar 27, 1971 | 22 | 104 |
| 8 | Apr 3, 1971 | 16 | 110 |
| 9 | Apr 10, 1971 | 10 | 116 |
| 10 | Apr 17, 1971 | 10 | 116 |
| 11 | Apr 24, 1971 | 11 | 115 |
| 12 | May 1, 1971 | 14 | 112 |
| 13 | May 8, 1971 | 20 | 106 |
| 14 | May 15, 1971 | 28 | 98 |