Michael Brewer, Whose 'One Toke' Was a Big Hit, Is Dead at 80

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Michael Brewer, Whose ‘One Toke’ Was a Big Hit, Is Dead at 80

The duo Brewer & Shipley reached the Top 10 in 1971 with “One Toke Over the Line,” a ditty about marijuana that ran afoul of Nixon-era censors.


Michael Brewer in about 1970, the year that he and his musical partner, Tom Shipley, had a Top 10 hit with “One Toke Over the Line. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

By Alex Williams
Dec. 20, 2024

Michael Brewer, half of the folk-rock duo Brewer & Shipley, who scored an unlikely Top 10 hit in 1971 with “One Toke Over the Line” — one of the most overt pop odes to marijuana of the hippie era and presumably the only one to be performed on the squeaky-clean “Lawrence Welk Show” — died on Tuesday at his home near Branson, Mo. He was 80.

His death was confirmed in a social media post by his longtime recording and performing partner, Tom Shipley. No cause was given.

While often categorized as a one-hit wonder, Brewer & Shipley actually notched two other singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “Tarkio Road,” which climbed to No. 55 in June 1970, and “Shake Off the Demon,” which sneaked in at No. 98 in February 1972.

{snip}

The duo, who recorded many albums in the 1970s and a few more in the ’90s, were known for their songs’ socially conscious lyrics on topics like the Vietnam War. But it was their sunny signature tune, with its indelible line “One toke over the line, sweet Jesus,” that etched them into pop-culture history.

{snip}

Their signature song lived on as a playful totem of the hippie era. It was featured in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” the surrealistic 1998 drug odyssey based on the classic stoner chronicle by Hunter S. Thompson, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp.

Even more surreal was a performance of the song on Lawrence Welk’s wholesome variety show in 1971. “One Toke Over the Line,” with its reference to “sweet Jesus,” had been mistaken for a religious song, and the perky singers Gail Farrell and Dick Dale smiled and bobbed their way through a bouncy rendition.

“And there you heard a modern spiritual,” Mr. Welk, the show’s baton-wielding host, said afterward.

{snip}

A correction was made on Dec. 21, 2024: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this obituary misstated when “One Toke Over the Line” reached the Billboard Top 10. It was 1971, not 1970.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [e-mail] more

Alex Williams is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk. More about Alex Williams