h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: One Toke Over the Culture Line: Spiro Agnew, Brewer & Shipley, and Lawrence Welk - A87906838
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

I felt guilty because I 'owed' the GEs an entry. FWR came up with this suggestion when I shared the Lawrence Welk video with him. So I decided to try and explain 1970 again.

Party on....

Love it!

you are bananas!

Thank you - this is an Entry of your usual high standard, neatly bringing together the threads around an event

"Did you know that the title referred to 'yellow, barbiturate capsules'? Did Paul McCartney?"

My only comment would be that I'm not sure I understood the sentence "If you expect them to support conservative politicians…well, that would be your second mistake." but maybe I'm not supposed to and the people who do expect will understand...

Thanks, folks!

Ah - 21st-century 'country music' fans tend to be more politically conservative than some of the fans of yesteryear.

Ah I see - I don't know any 21st-century 'country music' fans so this has passed me by indeed

It is interesting that you give us this. Until a week or two I ago thought 'one toke over the line' was a drug reference, like everyone else. Our local 'oldies' radio station played the song, and they claimed that 'toke' was just a short way of saying 'token' or 'ticket' Why else would the song start in a railway station? It makes perfect sense that they are singing about their ticket home. Our radio station said this explanation was given by the artists, but with the drug paranoia of the day it was ignored.
I am not saying that that you should scrap your entry, but I think - if you agree (please research it yourself) - this possibly rates at least a foot-note.

F S

is Mr Welk battling a nasty cough on the intro that video DG?

Just found the live Brewer and Shipley concert where they're talking about Agnew and Welk, hilarious stuff!

Hey, FS - Thanks for tipping me off to the broadcast classic! I found this with a little research - and no, it's bogus.

But it's also true that Casey Kasem retailed this 'explanation' on his AT40 broadcast. He says, 'This is our understanding...from their explanation.' We suspect Mr Kasem may have been trying to get around the FCC there. I have chased down the broadcast where he said this on 3 April 1971, and I want credit for this feat of research.

It's definitely worth a footnote, and I will supply one, thanks!

Here's a Brewer and Shipley interview, where they are upfront about the song:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/brewer-shipley-michael-brewer-interview/

Oh, and we're one up on Snopes.com with this one. In 2003, the Lawrence Welk performance was queried - and dismissed by skeptical Snopesers.

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=next_topic;f=75;t=000633;go=newer

FWR: The intro to the song was by Myron Floren, the indefatigable accordionist. He does seem to have a cold, or else he knows what's coming... Welk was the fella at the end. And yes, I *know* they all look alike...

PS Here's a Billboard article from 1971, where a programmer admits he stopped running the song when he found out what 'toke' meant:

http://books.google.com/books?id=5Q8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=one+toke+over+the+line+casey+kasem+why&source=bl&ots=NDE-dw2fCi&sig=Vx7CG-jcqm5xOelAqYghZGWywUI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji5dvHmYbaAhUFjlkKHWnoDvUQ6AEIWTAI#v=onepage&q=one%20toke%20over%20the%20line%20casey%20kasem%20why&f=false

Yes, I remember arguments about 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', but I didn't know about 'One Toke over the Line'. Thank you for telling me this story.

In retrospect, however, the row sounds a bit like a storm in a teacup

My apologies DG. Was there some kind of cloning experiment going on at the time? Freaky!

Myron Floren was known as 'The Happy Norwegian'. He's in the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame. As accordion players go, he was pretty much the top of his profession.

But I understand the confusion.

And MVP, you might see it as a 'storm in a teacup' - I can see why - but First Amendment issues *were* involved. Also, one historian pointed to this debate as the beginning of the 'culture wars' in the US, which have had such drastic consequences for the country, and indeed the entire world, since they were responsible for the current political situation.

We may find all this pop-music talk humorous - and I do - but there are broader implications.

I think the current political situation was caused by the financial crash in 2008 and austerity measures governments introduced to deal with it. The echoes of the 1930s are ominous.

Be that as it may, this was talking about the 'culture wars'.

The 'culture wars' in the US will eventually spill over the Atlantic, such things always do. And there is a full-blown culture war going on. It affects politics, but is not only about politics. And it wasn't caused by economics, but by social anxiety.

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