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Who Sang One Toke Over The Line Sweet Jesus?

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Brewer & Shipley – Wikipedia

Brewer & Shipley
Brewer & Shipley in concert, Boston, Massachusetts, 1971
Background information
Genres Folk rock, country rock
Years active 1967–19781995–present
Labels Kama Sutra, A&M, Capitol
Website BrewerandShipley.com
Members Mike BrewerTom Shipley

Brewer & Shipley are an American folk rock duo who peaked in popularity during the late 1960s and early 1970s.The group is comprised of singer-songwriters Mike Brewer (born on April 14, 1944) and Tom Shipley (born on April 14, 1944).(born on April 1, 1941).Heavily influenced by the music of their time, they were well-known for their sophisticated guitar work, vocal harmonies, and socially aware songs that represented their concerns about the Vietnam War, as well as the battle for personal and political independence.

  1. It was the song ″One Toke Over the Line,″ from their 1970 album Tarkio, that was their most successful commercial hit.
  2. Two further songs by them reached the top of the Billboard charts: ″Tarkio Road″ in 1970 and ″Shake Off The Demon″ in 1971.
  3. (1971).
  • They continue to perform, both individually and as a group, mostly throughout the Midwest United States of America.

Early history

The two Midwestern natives met multiple times at various coffeehouse events before relocating in Los Angeles in 1968 to make music together, resulting in the release of their first two albums, Down in L.A.and Weeds, in 1969 and 1970, respectively.The band departed California in 1969, despite the fact that they shared similar acquaintances in bands such as The Association and Buffalo Springfield who were based in Los Angeles.They returned to Kansas City, Missouri, where they made a minimal income by performing college towns.

  1. Tarkio is the name of the band’s upcoming album, which was inspired by a regular concert they performed in Tarkio, Missouri.
  2. With the inclusion of the song ″One Toke Over the Line,″ which they created as a joke while rehearsing backstage for a performance, this album became their most financially successful.
  3. On The Lawrence Welk Show, a television program noted for its conservative, family-oriented style, a duet known as ″Gail and Dale″ performed the song ″One Toke Over The Line,″ which was written by Gail and Dale.
  • The song was performed by Gail and Dale, and at the conclusion of the performance, Welk said, without a trace of cynicism, ″There you’ve heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.″ This prompted Michael Brewer to make the following observation: ″The Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, directly identified us as a subversive to American youth, yet at the same same moment Lawrence Welk did the insane thing and promoted it as a gospel song,″ he said.
  • That demonstrates just how ludicrous the situation is.
  • Of course, we received far more publicity than we could have afforded to pay for.
  • A number of noteworthy artists, including Stephen Stills, Bruce Springsteen, Black Sabbath, and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead (who played pedal steel guitar on ″Oh, Mommy″), have collaborated with Brewer & Shipley on stage throughout the years.

Regrouping, touring, and present-day status

During 1989, they played a concert again, and a short time later, they began working together again, resulting in the release of two albums, SHANGHAI (1993) and Heartland (1996).(1997).Since the 1990s, they have continued to tour together on a part-time basis.A performance on Main Street in Tarkio, Missouri, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Tarkio record took place in 2011.

  1. The acoustic duo is known for their original music.
  2. Michael Brewer is currently residing just outside of Branson, Missouri, with his family.
  3. Tom Shipley resides in Rolla, Missouri, where he works as a member of the faculty at Missouri University of Science and Technology (previously known as the University of Missouri – Rolla) and is married with two children.
  • He is semi-retired as manager of video productions, but he continues to work on special video projects for the university in his capacity as manager of video productions.
  • Engineering Without Borders is a group he belongs to, and he has flown to the Amazon and Andes of Bolivia on two separate occasions to film movies for the organization.
  • In 2021, a documentary about Brewer and Shipley, One Toke Over the Line…
  • and Still Smokin’, will be made available on Vimeo on Demand on April 20, 2021.

Discography

Albums

  • Down in L.A. (1968) on A&M Records
  • Weeds (1969) on Kama Sutra Records
  • Tarkio (1970) on Kama Sutra Records, US Billboard30
  • Down in L.A. (1968) on A&M Records
  • Down in L.A. (1968) on A&M Records
  • Down in L.A. (1968) on A&M Records
  • Down in L.A. (1968) on A&M Records
  • Down in L.A.
  • Shake Off the Demon (1971), released on Kama Sutra Records and charted at number 164 on the US Billboard
  • Rural Space (1972), released on Kama Sutra Records and charted at number 174 on the US Billboard
  • ST11261 (1974), released on Capitol Records and charted at number 185 on the US Billboard.
  • Welcome To Riddle Bridge (1975), released by Capitol Records, reached number 202 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
  • Brewer and Shipley’s Greatest Hits (Pair Records, 1989)
  • Brewer and Shipley’s Greatest Hits (Pair Records, 1989)
  • Brewer and Shipley’s Greatest Hits (Pair Records, 1989)
  • Brewer and Shipley’s Greatest Hits (Pair Records, 1989).
  • Shanghai (1993), released by One Toke Productions
  • Archive Alive! (1997), released by Archive Recordings
  • Heartland (1997), released by One Toke Productions
  • and Archive Alive! (1997), released by Archive Recordings.
  • Buddah Records released One Toke Over the Line: The Best of Brewer & Shipley in 2001, which is a compilation of their best work.

EPs

  • Kama Sutra Records LP Sampler, 1970

Singles

  • A&M 905, 1968
  • ″Truly Right″ / ″Green Bamboo,″ 1968
  • ″Time and Changes,″ 1968
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider″ / ″Boomerang,″ 1969
  • Buddah 154, 1969
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider,″ 1969
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider,″ 1969
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider,″ 1969
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider,″ 1969
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider,″ 1969
  • ″Rise Up Easy Rider,″
  • ″People Love Each Other″ / ″Witchi-Tai-To″ (Kama Sutra 512, 1970)
  • ″One Toke Over the Line″ / ″Oh Mommy″ (Kama Sutra 516, 1971), US Billboard10, US Cash Box8, Canada5
  • ″Tarkio Road″ / ″Seems Like a Long Time″ (Kama Sutra 524, 1971), US Billboard55, US Cash Box39, Canada41
  • ″Y
  • ″One Toke Over the Line″ / ″Oh Mommy″ (Flashback BF10)
  • ″One Toke Over the Line″ / ″Tarkio Road″ (Collectables 3515)
  • ″People Love Each Other″ / ″Witchi-Tai-To″ (Radio Active Gold RD-74, 1978)
  • ″Indian Summer″ / ″Song from Platte River″ (Radio Active Gold RD-77, 1978)
  • ″Indian Summer″ / ″S

In popular culture

  • During the first chapter of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Raoul Duke’s attorney, Dr. Gonzo, sings the line ″One toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line″ while driving from Barstow to Las Vegas with Raoul
  • this is a reference to the line ″One toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line.″
  • One Toke Over the Line is an addiction state in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV
  • Shipley, a cat featured in Tom Cox’s Under the Paw, Confessions of a Cat Man is named after Tom Shipley
  • and Tom Shipley is a fictional character in the television series The Walking Dead.
  • When Bill Murray’s headphones are plugged in, the song ″One Toke Over the Line″ may be heard playing on the soundtrack of the film St. Vincent (2014). The song is also included on the soundtrack credits.

See also

  • List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States

References

  1. A b c d e f g Colin Larkin is the editor (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise Edition). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise Edition). Virgin Books, p. 178, ISBN 1-85227-745-9
  2. ″Quotes – One Toke Over The Line.″ Virgin Books, p. 178, ISBN 1-85227-745-9. BrewerandShipley.com published an article on April 18, 2009. The original version of this article was published on January 22, 2010. I was able to get a hold of it on October 23, 2009.
  3. ″One Toke Over the Line, Brewer & Shipley Live″
  4. ″One Toke Over the Line, Brewer & Shipley Live″
  5. On April 11, 2007, YouTube posted a video. The original version of this article was archived on December 21, 2021. I was able to get a hold of it on October 23, 2009.
  61. Joel Whitburn is a writer who lives in the United Kingdom (2018). From 1955 until 2016, the best-selling pop albums were compiled. It is published by Prometheus Global Media with the ISBN 978-0-89820-226-7. Joel Whitburn is a writer who lives in the United Kingdom (2015). The Billboard/Cash Box/Record World Comparison Book spans the years 1954 through 1982. It is published by Sheridan Books with the ISBN 978-0-89820-213-7. Tom Cox is a writer who lives in the United Kingdom (2008). ″Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man″ is a book about the life of a cat man. St. Vincent (2014) is published by Simon & Schuster under the ISBN 978-1847371416. IMDb.com. retrieved on the 16th of October, 2019.

Further reading

Michael Supe, Granda, Michael Supe (2008). It Shined: The Saga of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils is a novel about a group of daredevils who live in the Ozark Mountains. ISBN: 1-4343-9166-3 from AuthorHouse.

External links

  • Official website
  • YouTube upload of Lawrence Welk’s 1971 rendition
  • official Facebook page.

One Toke Over the Line – Wikipedia

″One Toke Over the Line″
Single by Brewer & Shipley
from the album Tarkio
B-side ″Oh Mommy″
Released March 1971 (U.S.)
Genre Country rock, folk rock
Length 3:16
Label Kama Sutra Records
Songwriter(s) Mike Brewer, Tom Shipley
Producer(s) Nick Gravenites
Brewer & Shipley singles chronology
″One Toke Over the Line″ (1971) ″Tarkio Road″ (1971)

Brewer & Shipley’s song ″One Toke Over the Line″ is a folk rock song written and performed by the American duo Brewer & Shipley. A tune from their 1970 album Tarkio, it was released as the band’s first single in early 1971, and it has since become a classic.

Background

Mike Brewer provides the following story of the song’s inception: ″On one occasion, we were pretty well stoned to the point of insanity when Tom exclaimed, ″Man, I’m one toke over the line today.″ I liked the way that sounded, so I created a song based on it to share with you.″ The song achieved widespread recognition while the band was on tour as the opening act for Melanie, when they were asked to perform an encore but had ran out of other songs to perform with.Deputy Secretary of State Spiro Agnew said the song, which contained a reference to marijuana use, was ″blatant drug-culture propaganda″ that ″threatens to sap our national strength,″ and urged the Federal Communications Commission to include the song on its list of music that should not be broadcast because of drug references.According to reports, a tiny number of copies of the album contained a demo version of the song.Because of the religious connections to Jesus and Mary in this song, it was outlawed in various locations, including the Deep South, the Bible Belt, and rural portions of the Midwest.

  1. The song is especially notable for the use of pre-recorded vocals that are layered together in the final choruses.
  2. The lyric ″Sitting downtown at a train station, one toke across the line″ became the song’s key catchphrase, as did its last hook line, ″One toke, one toke over the line,″ which was repeated over and over again.

Chart history

During the spring of 1971, the song reached at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 8 on the Cash Box, becoming the duo’s sole Top 40 success. It also made it to the top 5 in Canada and the top 7 in New Zealand.

Cover versions

During the first half of 1971, Gail Farrell and Dick Dale did a cover version of the song on The Lawrence Welk Show, which Welk described as a ″contemporary spiritual.″

Later uses

Doctor Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) performs the song in the 1998 film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is based on the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

See also

  • List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States

References

  1. Ben Fong-Torres wrote ″Radio: One Toke Behind the Line″ on April 15, 1971, for the New York Times. The magazine Rolling Stone. BrewerAndShipley.com provided the information that was retrieved on November 25, 2018. The article ″″One Toke Over the Line″ — More Than a ″One Hit″ Wonder″ by Frank Mastropolo was published on December 3, 2012. Cellar of the Rocks.
  3. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, April 24, 1971
  5. ″Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada″. Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1971-05-01. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  7. Flavour of New Zealand, 28 June 1971
  9. ″Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada″. Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1971-05-01. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  11. ″Item Display David Kent is the author of this work (1993). (Illustrated edition of the Australian Chart Book, 1970–1992).
  12. ″Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada″. collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1971-05-01. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  13. ″Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 1″ (PDF). collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1971-05-01. The original version of this article was published on October 6, 2016. ″One Toke On Lawrence Welk,″ which was published on February 15, 2019. BrewerAndShipley.com.
  14. ″Toking″ with Lawrence Welk on YouTube, which was retrieved on November 22, 2018

External links

  • Listen to ″One Toke Over the Line″ on YouTube

One Toke Over The Line by Brewer & Shipley – Songfacts

  • The subject of this song is drugs, namely marijuana. Taking a ″Toke″ from a marijuana cigarette or pipe is referred to as smoking marijuana. Tom Shipley provided the following explanation: ″At the time we composed the song ″One Toke Over the Line,″ it appeared to me that we were one toke over the line. Marijuana was somewhat of a sacrament in my eyes at the time. If you pay attention to the words of the song, you’ll see that the phrase ″one toke″ was only a metaphor. It’s a song about overindulgence. To consume too much of anything will almost certainly result in your death.″
  • Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley were two folk singers from Los Angeles who met via mutual friends. This was their lone success, and according to Brewer, the song’s origins are as follows: ″A friend and I were writing in the dressing room of a coffee shop one night. We were literally simply having a good time with ourselves. Our group came together the next day to do some picking and wondered aloud what we had been fooling about with the night before. After we recalled what it was, it only took us about an hour to write the song ‘One Toke Over the Line.″ Really, it’s only for the sake of amusement. When we recorded the song, we had no clue that it would ever be considered a hit
  • it was simply another song to us at the time. Actually, Tom and I have always believed that our songs were our strongest suit.″ In addition, Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead was called in to play steel guitar for the Tarkio recordings, according to brewerandshipley.com. However, he did feature on the B-side, ″Oh Mommy’ (I Ain’t No Commie),″ which was released the same day as ″One Toke Over The Line.″ In the Vanguard in Kansas City, Missouri, an incident occurred that spurred the creation of this song. The band was performing at the performance since they had embarked on a tour of their respective home states in order to get away from the Los Angeles music culture. Shipley claims that he was handed a block of hash and instructed to take two hits from the substance. He chose to ignore the advise and instead drank three shots. Shipley discusses his experiences in The Vinyl Dialogues. ″In the dressing room, I remarked to Michael (Brewer): ″Jesus, Michael, you have one toke over the line.″ Michael (Brewer) looked at me like I was crazy. I’m a banjo player as well, but I didn’t have a banjo with me, so I was playing my guitar. And, to be quite honest, I have no recollection of whether or not Michael was present when I took the blow. My recollection is that it was a ‘no,’ but I believe Michael recalls it as a ‘yes.’ And he started singing along to the music I was playing, and I joined in, and then we had the entire line.″ Brewer, too, recalls the event with fondness. ″I couldn’t stop laughing,″ he remarked. ″I thought it was just hilarious. After that, we just started singing ‘One toke over the line, darling Jesus,’ and that was about it
  • then we walked on to the platform and sang some more.″
  • Although some radio stations refused to broadcast this song due of the drug references, not everyone understood what was being said. When the song was first performed on the Lawrence Welk Show in 1971, the wholesome-looking couple Gail Farrell and Dick Dale, who appeared to have no idea what a toke was, appeared to have no idea what a toke was. The song was performed by Gail and Dale, and at the conclusion of the performance, Welk stated without a trace of humour, ″now you’ve heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.″ Brewer and Shipley spent 35 years attempting to figure out how to get the performance they wanted. They were able to track down a woman in Branson, Missouri who owned one. Shipley uploaded the video to his YouTube account in 2007, and he claims that he has been attempting to find a method to remove the automated alerts that come in every time a remark is placed on the video’s page since that time. Currently, he has not been successful. ″It simply keeps piling up in my inbox (inbox). Nonetheless, I’m hesitant to take it down because so many people seem to enjoy it.″
  • A lot of compilation albums include this song on them
  • it may be found on albums featuring songs about drugs, hits from the 1970s, and one-hit wonders, among other things. Despite the fact that it is no longer a major source of income for Brewer and Shipley, it is featured in the Quantum Leap episode ″One Strobe Over the Line,″ in which the show’s protagonist Sam Beckett and his holographic sidekick Al travel back to June 15, 1965, in order to save a model named Edie Landsdale from drug addiction. However, although the song isn’t performed in the episode, the allusion is clear.

Brewer & Shipley – One Toke Over The Line Lyrics

″One Toke Over The Line″ is a phrase that means ″one toke over the line.″ oh, Jesus, such a beautiful Jesus Just one more toke and we’re done.Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.Waiting for the train that will take me back home, lovely Mary, and hoping that the train will arrive on time.Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.

  1. I’m hoping it’s me who you’re madly in love with.
  2. You can see that I’ve changed, as you can clearly see, I’ve experienced joy and learnt about the anguish that my mother warned me about if I were to chose to create a part of myself, she would undoubtedly strike me dead.
  3. I’ve crossed the finish line by one cigarette.
  • oh, Jesus, such a beautiful Jesus Just one more toke and we’re done.
  • Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.
  • I’m waiting for the train that will take me back home, beautiful Mary, and I’m hoping that the train will arrive on time.
  • Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.

I sailed away from the docks by a country mile.Having returned, I’m displaying my cheerful disposition.I met all of the females and fell in love with a handful of them.And, to my amazement, just like everything else that I’ve gone through, it opened my eyes, and now I’m seeing things clearly again.

Just one more toke and we’re done.oh, Jesus, such a beautiful Jesus Just one more toke and we’re done.Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.

  • Don’t you know that I’m waiting for the train that will take me back home, beautiful Mary, and I’m hoping that the train will arrive on time?
  • Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.
  • Don’t you know that I’m waiting for the train that will take me back home, beautiful Mary, and I’m hoping that the train will arrive on time?
  • Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.
  • I was created to give and receive, and as I continue to develop, I’m bound to make some mistakes.
  • The sun is going to set, and the bird is going to take flight.
  • They are not deceitful.
  • My one and only desire for the future will be a simple one.
  • When I die, I want to be remembered as a happy person.
  • Just one more toke and we’re done.
  • oh, Jesus, such a beautiful Jesus Just one more toke and we’re done.
  • Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.
  1. I’m sure you’re aware that I’m waiting for the train that will take me back home.
  2. Mary is crossing her fingers that the train will arrive on time.
  3. Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done.

Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown One slip-up across the line One toke, one toke, one toke, one toke over the line Brewer Michael and Shipley Thomas N are the authors of this work.

‘One Toke Over the Line’ on ‘Lawrence Welk’—Huh?

  • It’s strange enough that Brewer and Shipley’s ″One Toke Over the Line,″ which Rolling Stone named the sixth best stoner song of all time, managed to sneak into the Billboard top 10 in 1971, at a time when the mere possession of a single joint of marijuana could result in a lengthy prison sentence in all 50 states. Where did the song, which not only makes direct reference to the condition of being high on cannabis but also features Jesus as its principal character, come to be broadcast on The Lawrence Welk Show, whose primary viewing demographic consisted of everyone’s pot-averse grandparents? It wasn’t even intended to be released as a single. As a couple of twenty-something folk-rockers were working on their third album, Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley were holed up in a Kansas City coffeeshop when the inspiration for the song came to them. ″It was simply another song to us,″ Brewer said in an interview with The New York Times published in 1998. ″It wasn’t even one of our favorites,″ says the group. On Best Classic Bands, you will see a photo of Lawrence Welk for the first (and, perhaps, final time). However, Brewer and Shipley—who were Midwesters who moved to Los Angeles and then to Kansas City to get away from the city—included it on their 1970 Tarkio album, and FM radio DJs quickly became enamored with the country-flavored track, which featured the irresistible sing-along chorus: ″One toke over the line, sweet Jesus.″ Just one more toke and we’re done. Sitting in a train station in the heart of downtown Just one more toke and we’re done. ” The plot of the narrative isn’t very noteworthy. Having been smoking it up, the singers are now waiting for a train to take them back home to meet their ″dear Mary″ for the first time. He and his friends have gone away and about, they’ve ″meet all the gals and loved myself a few,″ but they’ve had enough of it all at this point. Let’s start by listening to Brewer and Shipley perform their tune. Because of the drug content, several stations, particularly those on the more commercial AM spectrum, refused to broadcast it. According to reports, Vice President Spiro Agnew, who never missed an opportunity to disparage the counterculture, referred to the song as ″blatant drug-culture propaganda″ that ″threatens to sap our national strength″ and ″threatens to sap our national strength.″ His employer, President Nixon, is rumored to have placed the singers on his famous enemies list, which includes people like Elvis Presley. Brewer and Shipley have never disputed that they were high when they composed the song, but they have refrained from claiming that the song is about cannabis in general. The following is an excerpt from an interview whose source is unknown at this time: ″When we wrote ‘One Toke Over the Line,’ I believe we were one toke over the line,″ Shipley stated. In my mind, marijuana was a kind of religious rite. If you pay attention to the words of the song, the phrase ″one toke″ was only a metaphor. It’s a song about overindulgence. ″Eating too much of anything will almost certainly kill you.″ ″It’s anything somebody wants it to be,″ Brewer told the Associated Press in a cryptic statement. Related: What were some of the other unexpected blockbusters of the 1970s? Kama Sutra released ″One Toke.″ as a single in early 1971, which was produced by Nick Gravenites, a former lead vocalist for the Electric Flag, and watched as it remarkably rose all the way to number 10 on the national chart, despite the fact that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a warning to radio stations informing them that a ″toke″ was hippie code for inhaling the evil weed, a veiled suggestion that playing the record may not be a Brewer and Shipley founded the company in 1972. Someone at the Lawrence Welk Show must have missed the message about the upcoming episode. When the song ″One Toke Over the Line″ was chosen as a featured number on a TV show that was already surreal (have you ever actually sat down and watched it? ), it had to be considered one of the most surreal moments ever on a show that was already surreal—seriously, have you ever actually sat down and watched it?—because it had to be assumed that few of its viewers had much experience with smoking. Some time after the song had been a smash, it was played on Welk’s show, which was then in its final season following a 16-year run on the ABC network. The variety show, which was one of the most purposefully wholesome offerings on television, featured some of the squarest music imaginable—dance tunes and polkas, big-band standards, and the like—watered down to within an inch of its life as soap bubbles floated crazily around the set and the sound of champagne corks popping could be heard. The majority of the music was created by a group of in-house singers and musicians, all of whom were well-known to fans of the program by name. In other words, when resident accordionist Myron Floren (coughing while he spoke, as though he’d just swallowed a toke himself) introduced regulars Gail Farrell and Dick Dale (who was most definitely not the same Dick Dale who is often credited with inventing the sound of surf guitar) performing ″one of the newer songs,″ viewers had no reason to suspect they’d be singing a song about, well, whatever they thought it was about. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s your turn. Take part in the Lawrence Welk Show’s toke-along tradition. I’ll give you a one and a two. Welk was born on March 11, 1903, in New York City. He passed away on May 17, 1992, at the age of 89. Some have claimed that the presence of the name of Jesus prompted the programmers to conclude that this was a new gospel hit, which they were correct. Others have argued that they misunderstood the phrase and thought it said ″one toe″ over the line instead. We’ll probably never know what was going through their minds when they weren’t high on drugs. In those few moments, there it was: the tune so ominous and ominous-sounding that it was condemned by the leaders of the free world, flashing across television screens in living rooms and nursing homes throughout America. Brewer and Shipley’s mouths fell somewhere in the United States. As an added bonus, here’s a video: Brewer and Shipley performed their biggest hit live in 1998, and you can see it here. About
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It’s strange enough that Brewer and Shipley’s ″One Toke Over the Line,″ which Rolling Stone named the 6th best stoner song of all time, managed to crack the Billboard top 10 in 1971, at a time when even possessing a single joint of marijuana could result in a lengthy prison sentence in all 50 states.Where did the song, which not only makes direct reference to the condition of being high on cannabis but also features Jesus as the key character, come to be broadcast on The Lawrence Welk Show, whose primary viewing demographic consisted of everyone’s pot-averse grandparents?A single wasn’t even on the cards for this track.When Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley, a couple of twenty-something folk-rockers, were working on their third album, the inspiration for the song spontaneously came to them when they were holed up in a coffeeshop in Kansas City, according to the band.

  1. The New York Times reported in 1998 that Brewer described the tune as ″simply another song.″ We didn’t even like it, and it wasn’t even our favorite.″ This is the first (and perhaps last) occasion you will see a photograph of Lawrence Welk on Best Classic Bands.
  2. Although Brewer and Shipley, who were originally from the Midwest and then relocated to Kansas City to escape the city, included it on their 1970 Tarkio album, FM radio DJs quickly became enamored with the country-flavored track, which featured the irresistible sing-along chorus ″One toke over the line, sweet Jesus.″ A one swig is plenty.
  3. A railway station in the heart of downtown A one swig is plenty.
  • ” The plot of the story isn’t really interesting.
  • Having been smoking it up, the singers are now waiting for a train to take them back home to visit their ″dear Mary,″ as they call her.
  • But now that they’ve had enough of everything (including ″meeting all the females and falling in love with a few″), they’re ready to go home.
  • Watching Brewer and Shipley perform their song is a good place to start.

Because of the drug content, several stations, particularly those on the more commercial AM frequency, refused to air it.Vice President Spiro Agnew, who never missed an opportunity to condemn the counterculture, allegedly termed the song ″blatant drug-culture propaganda″ that ″threatens to sap our national strength.″ Vice President George H.W.Bush has also criticized the song.He is reported to have been on President Nixon’s list of renowned foes, which included the musicians.

However, while Brewer and Shipley have never disputed that they were high when they created the song, they have refrained from claiming that the song is about marijuana.The following is an excerpt from an interview whose source is unknown at this time: ″When we composed ‘One Toke Over the Line,’ I believe we were one toke over the line,″ Shipley explained.In my mind, marijuana was a kind of religious ritual…

  • The phrase ‘one toke″ was only a metaphor, according to the song’s lyrics.
  • Extremism is the subject of this song.
  • You will almost certainly die if you consume too much of anything″.
  • It’s anything someone wants it to be,″ Brewer told the Associated Press in ambiguous terms.
  • Related: Is there anything else from the 1970s that was a surprise hit?
  • After releasing ″One Toke…″ as a single in early 1971—which was produced by Nick Gravenites, a former lead vocalist for the Electric Flag—Kama Sutra marveled as the song climbed all the way to number 10 on the national charts, despite a warning from the Federal Communications Commission, which informed radio stations that ″toke″ was hippie code for inhaling the evil weed, and thus suggesting that playing the record might not be the best idea.
  • Originally published in 1972 by Brewer and Shipley.
  • That must have slipped by the producer of The Lawrence Welk Show.
  • When the song ″One Toke Over the Line″ was chosen as a featured number on a TV show that was already surreal (have you ever actually sat down and watched it?
  • ), it had to be considered one of the most surreal moments ever on a show that was already surreal—seriously, have you ever actually sat down and watched it?—because it had to be assumed that few of the viewers had much experience with smoking.
  • Soon after the song became popular, it was used on Welk’s show, which was then in its final season following a sixteen-year run on ABC.
  • The variety show, which was one of the most purposefully wholesome offerings on television, featured some of the squarest music imaginable—dance tunes and polkas, big-band standards, and the like—watered down to within an inch of its life while soap bubbles floated crazily around the set and the sound of champagne corks popping could be heard.
  1. The majority of the music was created by a group of in-house singers and musicians, who were all well-known to fans of the program.
  2. In other words, when resident accordionist Myron Floren (coughing while he spoke, as though he’d just swallowed a toke himself) introduced regulars Gail Farrell and Dick Dale (who was most definitely not the same Dick Dale who is often credited with inventing the sound of surf guitar), performing ″one of the newer songs,″ viewers had no reason to suspect they’d be singing a song about, well, whatever they thought it was about.
  3. We have reached the conclusion of our discussion, ladies and gentlemen Toke along with the Lawrence Welk Show is encouraged.

I’ll give you a one and two…March 11, 1903 marked the birth of Welk.On May 17, 1992, he passed away at the age of 89 years and eight months.

Some have hypothesized that the presence of the name of Jesus prompted the programmers to conclude that this was a new gospel hit, which they were right to believe.Many others have speculated that they misunderstood the phrase and thought it said ″one toe″ over the line instead.Most likely, we’ll never know what was going through their minds while they weren’t high on marijuana.

Nevertheless, for a brief while, there it was, the song so dangerous that the leaders of the free world were obliged to denounce it, flashing across television screens in living rooms and nursing homes across the United States of America.Brewer and Shipley’s jaws hit the floor somewhere in the United States.As an added bonus, here’s a video of the author reading from his book.Brewer and Shipley performed their biggest hit live in 1998, and you can see it here.

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Mike Brewer on 50 Years of Tarkio Road

  • Brewery and Shipley (photo courtesy of 90.9 FM) The Bridge was built with the assistance of the artists.
  • Fifty years ago this March, Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley celebrated the publication of an album that earned them a slot on The Lawrence Welk Show, a show that was notoriously unpopular at the time, as well as a place on President Richard Nixon’s enemies list.
  • The singer Carol Channing, quarterback Joe Namath, actor Gregory Peck, and journalist Daniel Schor were all included to the list, putting them in the same category as them.
  • Although Nixon was furious, the song ″One Toke Over the Line″ reached as high as number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album that included it, Tarkio Road, featured tight vocal harmonies (neither sang lead), guitar work from Grateful Dead mastermind Jerry Garcia, nods to Kansas City geography, and pointed social commentary that seems to be still applicable.
  • Some listeners who were inexperienced with cannabis culture were under the impression that ″One Toke″ was a hymn (more on that later).
  • Depending on whether they were listening to the B-side of the record, ″Oh Mommy,″ they could have heard the word ″marijuana″ plainly said.
  • As if to demonstrate that some of the information we were given about THC was inaccurate, both Brewer and Shipley are still alive and performing, both together and separately.
  • Brewer has even released an album in 2018, titled After the Storm, which fans may buy for $23 by writing to Michael Brewer, PO Box 150, Powersite, MO 65731.
  • The Pitch visited Brewer at his house outside of Branson to find out how moving from Los Angeles to Kansas City helped him and Shipley soar to new heights in their careers.
  • Despite the fact that ″One Toke″ is a song about taking one too many puffs, the playing from the session guys and your vocal sections are both really well done.

It sort of goes against the grain of the stereotype of stoners.It was because to Nick Gravenites (Janis Joplin), the producer, that we were able to come in and get our act together when it was time to shoot the scene.We’d been putting on shows for the tunes.His responsibility was to put together a band that would adequately support us and supplement what we already had.Actually, it was rather impressive considering that it was comprised of a large number of blues musicians from Chicago, including former members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Michael Bloomfield, among others (keyboardist Mark Naftalin and bassist John Kahn).

  • It was a group of blues musicians and a couple of folk musicians.
  • We came up with kind of a hybrid sound, to be honest.
  • Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead plays steel guitar on the song ″Oh, Mommy,″ which is a nice touch.
  • He’d just recently begun to play pedal steel guitar, and we recorded five albums at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, where he learned the instrument.
  • For a lot of those folks, it felt like they were heading to the workplace.
  • It was usually the Jefferson Airplane or one of its offshoots, such as Hot Tuna or Papa John Creach, playing in Studio A.
  • In another studio, the Grateful Dead were performing, or Jerry was working on his side projects, or Crosby, Stills, and Nash were in the studio.
  • On the song ″Oh Mommy,″ we needed pedal steel.
  1. ″Do you want to play pedal steel?″ we simply asked Jerry when we got down to business.
  2. He agreed, brought the item in, and we worked it out together.
  3. You and I both know what ″One Toke″ is about, but the people who worked on The Lawrence Welk Show didn’t know what it was.
  4. Obviously.
  5. I have something I need to share with you.
  6. Inquiring about whether or not anyone on the set had any idea what they were doing with ″One Toke,″ I spoke with the Lennon sisters’ children, who grew up on the set.
  1. They said, ″I assure you some of the men in the band did.″ (Laughs) Nevertheless, Gail and (Dick) Dale (not the surf guitarist) who sang it didn’t, and Lawrence was certainly not one of those who didn’t.
  2. ″A modern-day spiritual,″ he referred to it, which was a funny description.
  3. When did you initially become aware that ″One Toke″ would be appearing on the show?
  4. We were in London at the time, so we didn’t get to witness it, or we didn’t believe it when we heard it, or whatever.
  5. You’ve got to be kidding me, haven’t you?

My family was the ones who informed me.The Lawrence Welk Show was being watched by my mother, and my brother Keith claims he was just strolling into the room when it came on, and he was instantly halted, with our mother exclaiming, ″No, Lawrence!No!” Anyway, 32 years later, my darling girlfriend Scarlett was able to obtain a copy of the film, which we then uploaded to YouTube for the entire world to enjoy.We finally got to see it after 32 years of waiting.

  • Gail and Dale were the members of the singing duo that sang the song.
  • A number of years ago, Tom and I were performing on the east coast, somewhere outside of Philadelphia, and Gail Farrell and her husband traveled all the way from Los Angeles just to see our concert.
  • We went out to eat with them and found them to be extremely charming and pleasant people.
  • Tarkio Road has a song that may be described as a modern spiritual in nature.
  • The Light is a very beautiful piece of music.
  • Thank you very much.

That song is also one of my favorites.We’ve never done a show like that before.There are a few of our songs that we have written and recorded but have never played live.I’m not really sure why we didn’t put on that particular show.The Midwest was your destination, as were you and Tom, although you came from different parts of the region.Oklahoma City is where I was born and reared.

  • Tom grew up in Bedford, Ohio, where he was born and reared.
  • How did you come to choose Kansas City as your home base in the early 1970s?
  • We both began our careers performing on the folk circuit.

There was an entire circuit of folk ensembles who traveled all over the country performing.After touring and playing at several of the same clubs, we were able to see each other’s images of dressing room walls or anything else they had taken.In some point, we discovered that we had common connections in Ohio, and we ended up meeting at a coffee shop named The Blind Owl in Kent, Ohio.Both ended up in California as a result of their journey.After I’d already secured employment with A&M Records, which was a brand new business at the time, Tom moved to town and ended up staying just across the street from where I worked.In the meanwhile, we began hanging out and composing songs together, and he eventually joined the A&M songwriters’ team.

Then there was the time when we would go into the studio to record demos of our songs for the record label so that they could pitch them to other musicians.As well as some cuts from other people, but our demos didn’t sound like demos; they sounded like records, so A&M suggested that we record our own songs instead of using others’.That’s how we came up with the idea for our first album (Weeds).We labeled our second album Down in L.A., and we moved away from Los Angeles because we weren’t pleased in the city.We just believed that there had to be a more effective method to create music and, perhaps, earn a livelihood doing it that did not need being a part of the Hollywood music industry.It was simply not our cup of tea, and as a result, we received a phone call.

  • To go back a little farther, on the folk club circuit, there was a club in Kansas City called Vanguard Coffeehouse, which was run by a group of musicians.
  • Everybody in the world was there, including Tom and I, who were playing alone.
  • People affiliated with that club, as well as friends we’d made there, expressed an interest in forming a business.
  • It was clear that we were on the same page, and they felt the same way we did, but they wanted someone with a track record, and we happened to have Down in L.A on our hands.

The story goes like this: we were performing at a school in Wisconsin when we received a phone call from the school asking if we were interested in going to Kansas City and assisting them in the formation of a company.So we did, and then we founded Good Karma Productions.We began by performing at the Vanguard and every school that existed in Kansas City and throughout the heartland of the United States.Photograph courtesy of the painters You and Tom have been claimed by both Kansas and Missouri.You’ve been inducted into the musicians’ hall of fame in both states.

  • Trump is completely oblivious to the distinction.
  • We spent a lot of time in both states.
  • When you live in Kansas City, you have to travel over the state border frequently to play at a college that is in Kansas rather than Missouri or both states.
  • As a result, we were among the inaugural honorees into the Kansas and Missouri sports halls of fame, respectively.

In addition, I prefer to exaggerate my own accomplishments.At the end of last year, I was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, which was my first honor.I’m quite pleasant company.Woody Guthrie, Leon Russell, and Vince Gill are all mentioned.The list could go on and on forever.That is something I am really proud of.

Apparently, the album is full of local connections, including the title track and a tribute to Kansas City in the song ″Don’t Want to Die in Georgia.″ It’s a bit difficult to recall exactly what was going through our insane minds at the time.We were playing college games in Georgia at a time when the Vietnam War was still raging and the civil rights movements were well underway in the state.There was a lot of rioting and social unrest going on, and people were protesting one thing after another.Tom and I had the appearance of hippies.We were kind of living the Easy Rider lifestyle at that point.

  1. We had to be picky about where we stopped for gas, and we were.
  2. We were turned down for hotel rooms on many occasions.
  3. And this was in the middle of America!
  • The journey to the south was much more terrifying.
  • Tom said, euphemistically, ″I don’t want to die in Georgia,″ and I responded by singing, ″Don’t want to die in Georgia.″ That’s how a lot of our tunes came to be, in a lot of cases.
  • In the case of ″One Toke Over the Line,″ the situation was the same.
  • The Vanguard Coffeehouse was packed one night, and he announced, ″Man, I’m one toke over the line,″ just as we were getting ready to go on stage for the final performance of the evening.

I’ve only recently begun putting it to music.″What was that item we were fooling with in the dressing room?″ we wondered the next day, and that’s how we came up with the name ″One Toke.″ We’ve written a number of songs as a result of something one of us has said, and then we’ve set it to music, collaborated with other people, and then we’ve turned it into something musical.Although the CD makes reference to many of the injustices you mentioned, for some reason when I hear ″50 States of Freedom,″ I find myself wanting to raise the American flag.You should know how much we adore our nation.We both despise what we see happening to it and wish it would stop.

We have always believed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and will continue to do so.That’s what we were fighting for.The song ″Oh, Mommy″ has the lyrics ″It says right there in the Constitution/actually It’s alright to have a revolution″ if the leaders that you choose don’t live up to your expectations.To a certain extent, we consider ourselves patriots in our own right.

  • We’re not big political supporters; instead, we’re spiritual supporters.
  • We believe in treating individuals in the manner in which they would like to be treated.
  • It’s delightfully ironic that Spiro Agnew picked you out for special attention when he’s in the White House accepting bribes.

Isn’t that the truth, by the way?He singled us out on national television as subversives of America’s young, and he did it personally.And we were included to Nixon’s Enemies List as a result of the song ″One Toke Over the Line″ as well as the other songs we were creating at the time.It was something we wore as a badge of honor.

I continue to do so.It’s not dissimilar to what’s going on right now.It’s ridiculous that Trump acknowledged to doing things on international television, just to turn around and claim that ″it never occurred.″ ″Fake news,″ says the author.

Get me started on this guy, and I’ll be done.One encouraging indicator is that the substances you used to sing about are now partially legal in Missouri, which is a step in the right direction.Did you ever imagine something like this would happen?Actually, yes, it is correct.Tom and I both predicted that it would occur in the 1970s.We had anticipated that it would take place a long time ago.

  • It’s incredible to me that it’s taken this long to get to this point.
  • I mean, who would have thought it?
  • In the past four years, I’ve issued four independent solo album CDs, the most recent of which (After the Storm) has a song titled ″First Legal Joint.″ It is entirely based on my experience.
  • It was a few years ago that we were in Colorado for a couple gigs.

Someone had given us something, and after the performance, we went outside to smoke it before returning to the hotel.It occurred to us that we were smoking our very first legal joint, and I decided to write a song to commemorate the occasion.Since millennia, people all throughout the world have used marijuana for medical and spiritual purposes, as well as for recreational purposes.Personally, I’ve always found it appealing.It appeals to me much.It was reportedly stated that when Bob Dylan introduced Paul McCartney to marijuana, it simply ″opened his mind″ and allowed him to see things he had never seen before.

It has been the same for me as well.Whether it’s due to Pavlov’s Dog Syndrome or something else entirely, whenever I smoke, my mind automatically goes to the music section of the radio station.I’m not sure if I’ve ever written a song without being under the influence of alcohol or drugs to some extent.

Folk music has always been about social commentary, and a lot of the songs that we created were about the times that we were living in, especially on Tarkio, and the people that lived there.I’ve met folks from the midwest in a little town in Iowa, Nebraska, or anywhere, and they all seem to be feeling a little lost and alone in their new surroundings.They simply had different feelings about things and their minds operated in a different way, and they believed they were alone until they heard our Weeds or Tarkio records and realized, ″Wow, I’m not alone after all.″ You know, there are other individuals out there that feel the same way I do about a lot of things.You should know that.

Several hundred years old, we were singing songs with social criticism that had been around for a couple of hundred years.Tarkio Road received favorable treatment from your record company because Motown was wary of the political overtones included in Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On?That was with Buddha’s Kama Sutra Records label, which released the album.When we left Los Angeles, people assumed we’d given up on the music industry and returned home because, back then, if you didn’t live in Hollywood, San Francisco, Nashville, or New York, people didn’t consider you to be still working in the industry.However, we had every intention of continuing to make music.

The Weeds tape was sent to Buddha Records, which was a bubble gum label at the time, when we broke out of our contract with A&M and traveled to the east coast with the demo.Neil Bogart was the company’s CEO, and the company had hits like ″Yummy, Yummy, Yummy.″ In his community, he was known as the bubbly type, and he wanted to dispel that image because times were changing and FM radio was still in its infancy.Furthermore, it was referred to as ″underground radio.″ The last thing you’d hear would be a hit single from someone else.They were looking for album artists.

Tom and I are unquestionably both record producers.Every song on every album meant something to us, and even the order in which the songs were played and the flow of the music were important considerations.As a result, he decided to sign us.When we created ″One Toke,″ we wrote it primarily for the purpose of making our friends laugh.We didn’t even give it a second thought.

  • The first time we performed at Carnegie Hall, we opened for Melanie (″One Tin Soldier″), and the show was a big hit with the audience.
  • Because we had already performed two encores and had run out of songs, we decided to perform that particular song.
  • As a result, we performed ″One Toke,″ which was a huge hit with everyone.
  • Neil came backstage and said, ″You’ve got to put that on the album,″ which startled us a little.
  • He then decided to release it as a single instead of on the album.
  • In any case, he didn’t appear to be concerned about any potential trouble.

Brewer & Shipley Are ″Still Smokin’″ After 52 Years

  • This folk-rock duet was one of the most successful groups to emerge from the United Kingdom in the 1970s.
  • Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley, better known as Brewer & Shipley, are still composing music together, more than 50 years after they initially collaborated on a project.
  • They’ll be performing at the Fox Theatre on Park Central Square on Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m.
  • (Brewer claims it’ll be the first time they’ve performed in Springfield in a LONG time).
  • In a phone chat last week, I asked Michael to tell me about how he and Tom met and fell in love with each other for the first time.
  • ″We both ended up working as staff songwriters for A&M Records while the label was still in its infancy,″ he recalled.
  • ″And we weren’t planning on becoming a pair; instead, we were going to go into the studio and record demos of our songs for the record label to use in pitching to other performers.″ Not long after, both ourselves and A&M realized that we were sort of on our own in terms of our own little world.
  • Then A&M responded, ″Why don’t you guys go ahead and record your songs?″ So that’s what we did.
  • Our first record, ‘Down In L.A.,’ was born out of this, and it was through this that we came to be known as Brewer & Shipley.″ Although the ″Down In L.A.″ record was released 50 years ago this year, Brewer notes that the band has been together for 52 years.
  • ″Still Smokin’,″ as the Brewer & Shipley national tour of this year is dubbed, means ″still going strong.″ ″Tarkio,″ the duo’s third studio album, was released in 1970.

And it featured something that Michael Brewer has insisted was a fluke, a joke, or a novelty number for years.However, it has had a long-lasting impact on music and pop culture, as seen by the song ″One Toke Over The Line.″ When it was released in April 1971, it reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 list, reaching number 10.I inquired as to whether Michael and Tom Shipley were prepared for such a high degree of accomplishment.This came as a complete surprise to us, as we hadn’t even intended on recording the song in the first place!We genuinely composed the song for the sole purpose of amusing ourselves and our friends when they listened to it.

  • Melanie was our opening act for our first performance at Carnegie Hall, which was also our first time there.
  • And we were received so well that we were asked back for a couple encores.
  • In the end, we had run out of tunes and decided, ‘Well, let’s try that new song.’ We did, and it was a huge hit with everyone.
  • The head of the record label with whom we were touring came backstage and said, ‘Aw, you need to record that—you’ve got to put it on the album!’ We were stunned.
  • We were working on a project named ‘Tarkio,’ which stands for Tarkio.
  • As a result, it took us a little by surprise.
  • The song, on the other hand, was recorded, and the record label ultimately opted to release it as a single.
  • And it rocketed to the top of the charts…
  1. We were in serious problems with the Nixon government at the time!
  2. He was offended, and he did all he could to get our music removed off the radio.
  3. Randy, you have to remember that this was at the time when Richard Nixon had the Federal Communications Commission threaten radio stations with losing their licenses if they did not censor so-called ″drug lyrics″ in rock’n’roll.
  4. And it was ludicrous because, I mean, it contained songs like ‘Puff the Magic Dragon,’ ‘Rocky Mountain High,’ and ‘Puff the Magic Dragon.’ It was just absurd.
  5. It was the equivalent of setting fire to books in our opinion!
  6. ″However, owing to certain courageous radio station managers, as well as those who wished to hear the music, it was broadcast regardless.″ The song ″One Toke Over the Line″ was forbidden to be played on several stations…
  1. and in light of the fact that, despite the controversy, the album reached at No.
  2. 10 on the Billboard chart, Michael Brewer said, ″Everyone believes it might have gone to No.
  3. 1 if it hadn’t been for the issue.″ It is a badge of honor for Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley to have been included on President Nixon’s ″White House Enemies″ list, and they wear it with pride to this day.
  4. Now, at the same time that the debate over ″One Toke″ was reaching its zenith, the song was played on the Lawrence Welk television show, of all places.
  5. In fact, Welk referred to the song as ″a modern-day spiritual″ after having two of his squeaky-clean vocalists perform it.

I inquired of Michael Brewer whether or not anybody ever informed Welk of the true meaning of the lyrics.″I have absolutely no idea!″ he exclaimed with a giggle.Our location at the time (London) meant that we didn’t witness or believe what was happening at the time.’You’ve got to be kidding—LAWRENCE WELK was the one who played it?!’ we exclaimed.

  • Moreover, it was referred to as a’modern-day spiritual by him.’ ″To put it another way, it’s ‘gospel’ to us,″ says the author.
  • Indeed, the song became an anthem of the counter-culture movement of the 1970s.
  • After more than a decade of composing, singing, and traveling, the two Missouri natives decided to take a break from the road and pursue a variety of other hobbies.
  • Michael Brewer continued to collaborate with partners such as Linda Ronstadt and Dan Fogelberg on musical projects.
  • As a television producer/director, Tom Shipley went on to start his own video production firm, Tarkio Communications, which has worked on projects for public television, commercial television, and industry.
  • The Oral History of the Ozarks Project, a non-profit organization that produces movies on life in the Missouri Ozarks, was established by Shipley later in life.

When a classic-rock radio station in Kansas City requested Brewer and Shipley to rejoin for a special concert to commemorate the station’s first anniversary in 1986, the two accepted the invitation.We’ve been together ever since,″ replied Brewer.″Well, sure, we’ve been together ever since.″ Indeed, I can’t even say that we ‘went our own ways’ since it would be inaccurate.″ We’d been on the road for what seemed like an eternity.You should know that we were already on the road when we met up: we were both musicians on the folk (music) circuit.That’s how we ended up meeting, while we were both performing in coffee shops around the country as solo musicians.After that, we both ended up in Los Angeles.″ —which is where they both worked as staff songwriters for A&M Records at the time.

  • ″But we didn’t truly go our own ways,″ says the author.
  • ″ We simply needed a vacation, and Tom had other interests that he wanted to pursue during his time away.
  • Eventually, we came to the conclusion that ″we needed to start performing some gigs again,″ which we did.

Since then, we’ve continued to do so since it was so much fun.″ Brewer and Shipley are both from Missouri, albeit they r

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