An Album/Song A Week: "One Toke Over The Line" - Brewer & Shipley

Did I have any idea what this song was really about? Hell no!  I was seven years old when "One Toke Over The Line" was released.  Still living in North Carolina.  But not for long.  By the summer my Dad got his Military orders to move to Mannheim, Germany.  This is how I heard the song.  By the summer of '71, the song was ending its chart run, but I still heard it being played both before and after we moved to Germany.

Whenever I hear the song today, which peaked at #10, and think back to those days just before we moved out of the U.S. to Germany.  But I also think about other songs that my young never understood.  Because at a young age, it's the music more than the words, that stick with you.  And "One Toke" was indeed catchy.  

Honestly, I didn't even get the meaning of the song until I was in my late teens.  "Oh, that's what it's about", was a common reaction whenever I heard the song on an oldies station.  

For comic relief, I give you this 1971 clip from the Lawrence Welk show.  

Can't believe no one spoke up and said that maybe we should sing something else.

Lawrence Welk: "One Toke Over The Line"