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One Toke Over The Line Lyrics
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 sail away a country mile,
Now I'm returnin' and showin' off my smile
I met all the girls and loved myself a few
And to my 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
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
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
One toke over the line
Sittin' downtown in a railway station
One toke over the line
Hopin' that the train is on time
Sittin' downtown in a railway station
One toke over the line
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
Now I'm returnin' and showin' off my smile
I met all the girls and loved myself a few
And to my 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
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
Hopin' that the train is on time
Sittin' downtown in a railway station
One toke over the line
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
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"over the line" means he's had one too many hits of the ol' goofy grass
"One toke poor fool, wait till you start seeing those damn bats!!!!!"
winner
winner
@devilnevercare We can't stop here! This is Bat Country!!
@devilnevercare We can't stop here! This is Bat Country!!
Weird fact: Lawrence Welk once did this song and introduced it as it as a "song about our Lord." This was right after B&S earned a rebuke from Nixon for corrupting American values. Ah, Lawrence Welk: toking for Jesus. How adorably naive is that? :)
Lawrence Welk was NOBODY'S FOOL...His NOT-Too-Distant Ancestors hailed from the Alsace-Lorraine Territory of--Most Often--Germany...tho' these lands along the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains have been Fought IN & OVER By France & Germany & even the Roman Empire--FOR CENTURIES. Actually--The Welk Family had even left Alsace-Lorraine for Odessa, Ukraine--Talk About Going From The "Frying Pan INTO The Fire"--Before FINALLY Immigrating To America (Strasburg, North Dakota) in the early 1890's.
Lawrence Welk was NOBODY'S FOOL...His NOT-Too-Distant Ancestors hailed from the Alsace-Lorraine Territory of--Most Often--Germany...tho' these lands along the Rhine River and the Vosges Mountains have been Fought IN & OVER By France & Germany & even the Roman Empire--FOR CENTURIES. Actually--The Welk Family had even left Alsace-Lorraine for Odessa, Ukraine--Talk About Going From The "Frying Pan INTO The Fire"--Before FINALLY Immigrating To America (Strasburg, North Dakota) in the early 1890's.
Lawrence Welk KNEW of Political Censorship of Writers & Artists & Musicians & Professors & Intellectuals of All Types & Stripes ALL TOO WELL--AND--The Need...
Lawrence Welk KNEW of Political Censorship of Writers & Artists & Musicians & Professors & Intellectuals of All Types & Stripes ALL TOO WELL--AND--The Need To STAND UP TO IT RIGHT AWAY...or There Could Be UnImaginable H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks To Pay LATER.
Lawrence Welk was born in 1903... His teen-years were--WW I... His 20-30-something years were--The Great Depression... His 30-40-something years were--WW II... His 50's were--The Second Red Scare--a.k.a. The McCarthy Era His 60's were--The Counter Culture Era...when--say what You Will about ALL That The "Free Spirits" Got & Did WRONG...What They Got & Did RIGHT Was To ADVANCE THE OPENING of GREATER AMERICAN SOCIETY To Previously Marginalized People of All Conceivable Identity Groups & Categories & Sources...AS WE'D NEVER DONE BEFORE--IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY...
So NOW--It's 1970...Woodstock, The Moon Landing & The Manson Family Helter-Skelter Killings were just last year..The Summer of '69...I haven't been able to find out exactly when Lawrence Welk played this song on His Show...So I can't be certain whether or not the May 4, 1970 Kent State Shootings Had Happened YET...But Student Rioting WAS The "Order of The Day" When--Just 4 Days Earlier...On April 30--President NIXON Had Announced in a Televised Address--America's Invasion of Cambodia.
When Nations Become Rocked By THIS MUCH Turmoil--Leaders Are ALWAYS Tempted To CRACK DOWN--"For The People's OWN Good"... 8 / --As Nixon Was Doing...in John Dean's words to..."use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies."...whose names were kept on a Master List of Nixon Political Opponents...a.k.a. "Nixon's Enemies List"...
ANYWHO...Along comes 2 hungry musicians--Mike Brewer & Tom Shipley--among the 100's & 100's of such American Folk Singer-Songwriters that mushroomed up during the 1960's-70's...and they wrote--mostly as a joke--THIS Song...One Toke Over The Line...
And It's cute & catchy & mentions Jesus & sweet Mary & Railway Stations & Momma & Going Home & Just ALL "Those Things" That A "Good" Country/Folk Song SHOULD Mention...and...Oh yeah...btw...it ALSO mentions "toke" several times because "toke" is in the Refrain about 4 x's...and the song is made up of MOSTLY--Repeating The Refrain...
...So NOW--The Vice President of the United States Under President Nixon--Spiro T Agnew--Feels The Need To PERSONALLY NAME Brewer & Shipley & THEIR Song--As Being..."subversive to American youth"...
And--BAM!!--The NEXT Thing Anyone Knows IS That...Lawrence Welk has "Gail & Dale" perform "One Toke Over The Line" ON HIS SHOW and saying to His Audience..."There you've heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale."
At The Time...MOST of US College Kids (Yes--I was a freshman in College in 1970-71--do the math)...were snickering & thinking that Welk was "clueless"...BUT NOW--40+ years later...I think that Ol' Lawrence Welk Knew EXACTLY WHAT He Was Doing...And He Sent A CLEAR MESSAGE To Spiro T & Co...When He Put This Number ON His "Clean Cut Family Show"...
...Because ANYONE Who Knows ANYTHING About Protestant SUPPRESSION of The Role of Mary IN THEIR VERSION of The Life & Story of Jesus Christ--And Protestant OBJECTIONS To Catholics As Being "A Cult of Mary" & "Mary Worshippers" etc. ... And Therefore--We TRUE AMERICANS MUST Keep "Un-American Thinking" Catholics OUT of Seats of Power & Authority ... Can Hear ANOTHER little Message Tucked INto This "subversive" Song.
Anyway...Spiro T Agnew background was--Most Likely--Greek Orthodox...kissin' cousins of catholics...so--It's ALSO HIGHLY Likely That Spiro T Heard This (Mary) message--AS WELL--And Deliberately Pitched His "Subversive" Comments At THIS Song...Scoring Twice--
First--With "Republican Patriots" ALARMED By A "Toke" 'n "Mary" Song...
And AGAIN--When Lawrence Welk Swung At Spiro's Pitch...Striking A Homerun HIT for a couple of starving musical artists...
It's HOW Our American System Works--BEST... Learn The Rules...And How To Play...Pick A Team...And Join IN... THEN--It Becomes...Seriously Good...Fun.
I thought I it was religious when I was a kid. Thought they were talking about staying on the straight and narrow. "one toe over the line, sweet Jesuz" that's what I sang as a child
I thought I it was religious when I was a kid. Thought they were talking about staying on the straight and narrow. "one toe over the line, sweet Jesuz" that's what I sang as a child
He just wants like a chill high and shit, nothing too conscious-expanding, but he had one too many hits man and then he's just like, I fucking opened the door to my mind a little too wide, I gotta sit down.
One toke over the line? Wait 'til you see the bats. Sorry, but whenever i hear this song it reminds me of Fear and Loathing. Good song. Not much I can think to say about this song as far as the meanings go.
He's saying he's been out in the world, he's "felt the joy" and "learned about the pain", he's "met all the girls" and loved a few of them, he's smoked just a bit too much weed - - - in other words, he's experienced all the excesses of life, and everything he's been through has "opened up" his eyes. He's changed a lot, and the change is probably obvious to everyone. Now he's returning home after having "been away a country mile" (meaning, been a long way off) a different person.
Well... according to Lawrence Welk, it's a modern spiritual. :)
hmmm...the 60's movement had a strange but fun way of mixing drugs, sex, rock in roll with religion. You see Jesus and God mixed into many songs in that era. I think the thought was..."the government is evil because of the war...but we are peaceful, loving, an trippin to get closer to God". It wasn't the first time we justified our pleasures by pointing at someone else that was worse. I'm trying to figure out if B&S are saying...they tried it...but are coming home to get things straight with their Maker? They definately are not coming home for a chick.
Maybe it's just that they are high...and thought of a cute little tune.
I think this song is talking about the end of life...ready for death to come and take you away.
In the first line, he is waiting for the train to take him home...he's talking to "sweet Jesus". Obviously in this case, 'home' is heaven. In the 5th line, he's talking to "sweet Mary".
In the first line, second verse, again he's talking to Jesus when he says, "Who do you love, hope it's me" And at some point everyone who believes in God says 'I can be better, I'll change." This is the next line, "I've bin a changin', as you can plainly see". The 'Joy' and the 'Pain' that his 'momma said' is, I think, teachings, stories and hardships learned from the Bible...easy to read...hard to obey.
The singer strayed from faith and religion "a country mile" (a long way). He experienced life, probably good and bad. Now he's back with a renewed faith and a glad heart. "showin' off a smile". With his eyes open, by golly, he can see The Way...
...and he's ready for the train to take him home.
Never thought I'd agree with Lawrence Welk, but this is a spiritual...
How am I the first to comment on this song?????????????
This song is fun to listen to.