Culture – Page 50 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Ovalia Egg Chair

I can’t give a personal story on this chair because it’s something I’ve always wanted but never could find. I missed a chance of buying an authentic one by being a few minutes too late. You can buy new ones now but I’ve always wanted an original one with the stereo speakers.

Arne Jacobsen designed “The Egg” in 1958 and today, it’s been trademarked as the Egg™ Chair… It’s still produced in Denmark, by the original manufacturer, Fritz Hansen.

Henrik Thor-Larsen designed his Ovalia Egg Chair ten years after Jacobsen, in 1968. OVALIA was exhibited for the first time at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair in 1968 and was an immediate success. It caught on and became an iconic piece of furniture of the 1960 and 70s.

I remember seeing one on Mork and Mindy and of course, they got popular again when the movie “Men in Black” featured several egg chairs. I’ve always liked futuristic designs from the 60s and 70s.

Henrik Thor-Larsen in his creation

When Waterbeds were cool

I had a waterbed in the early 80s as a young teen. I always liked it and thought it was comfortable. Two things I didn’t like about it was… if there was a leak you would not know until 2:30 am and on a school night…always. If the heater was either turned down or went out…you would wake up as a human popsicle at…you guessed it… 2:30 am. Nothing ever happened to it at noon on a Saturday.

in the early 1800s. Scottish physician Dr. Neil Arnott devised a water-filled bed to prevent bedsores in invalids.

In 1873, Sir James Paget, of St. Bartholomew Hospital in London, presented the waterbed designed by Dr. Arnott as a treatment and prevention of ulcers, a common condition at this time. Paget found that waterbeds allowed for even pressure distribution over the entire body. The only problem was that you could not regulate the water temperature.

In 1968 Charles Hall presented the waterbed as his Master’s Thesis project to his San Francisco State University design class. While showcasing their work, students rotated through workshops to see each other’s inventions. Once they reached Hall’s project – a vinyl mattress filled with heated water – the class never left. “Everybody just ended up frolicking on the waterbed,” Hall recalls.

Hall’s first waterbed mattress was called ‘the Pleasure Pit’ and it quickly gained popularity with the hippie culture of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Time Magazine in 1971 about waterbeds. “Playboy Tycoon Hugh Hefner has one–king-size, of course, and covered with Tasmanian opossum. The growing number of manufacturers and distributors, with such appropriate names as Aquarius Products, the Water Works, Innerspace Environments, Joyapeutic Aqua Beds and the Wet Dream, can hardly meet the demand. They have sold more than 15,000 since August.”

Sex always sells… one ad stated. “Two things are better on a waterbed. One of them is sleep.” and “She’ll admire you for your car, she’ll respect you for your position, but she’ll love you for your waterbed.”

By the 80s waterbeds were in the suburbs and gaining in popularity. In 1987, waterbeds had achieved their peak, representing 22 percent of all U.S. mattress sales.

At the end of the 1980s waterbed sales fell off. Some say it was because they were too connected to the 70s that had fallen out of favor (the horror!)… but most think it was because of the maintenance and pain in setting them up and moving them. Also, you had to make sure your floor was braced enough to have one depending on the size and weight of it.

Today you can still buy them but most are designed thinner to hold less water in rolls instead of sleeping on a lake beneath you.

I had mine until I was 20 with plenty of patches but it still held water and me… but I left it behind when I moved.

This egg-shaped one below I would gladly take home now

COME NOW! TO THE WATERBED WAREHOUSE!

Keith Moon talks about a waterbed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterbed

Badfinger – Baby Blue

Baby Blue never gets old to me…it is the perfect powerpop song. It has the right combination of crunch and pop with an irresistible guitar riff. I love the way they used the song in Breaking Bad that fit the scene perfectly. The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100 in 1972. The “Dixie” in the song was Pete Ham’s ex-girlfriend, Dixie Armstrong.

Dixie Armstrong and Pete Ham…I got this picture from http://soref.tv/the-true-story-behind-badfingers-baby-blue/

The song came off of the album “Straight Up” that also contained the hit “Day After Day” and it is considered by many their best album. I’m happy that Breaking Bad showcased this song so that another generation knows the song and hopefully that will lead more to learn about Badfinger.

Baby Blue

Guess I got what I deserved
Kept you waiting there too long, my love
All that time without a word
Didn’t know you’d think that I’d forget or I’d regret
The special love I had for you, my baby blue

All the days became so long
Did you really think, I’d do you wrong?
Dixie, when I let you go
Thought you’d realize that I would know
I would show the special love I have for you, my baby blue

What can I do, what can I say
Except I want you by my side
How can I show you, show me the way
Don’t you know the times I’ve tried?

guitar solo

Guess that’s all I have to say
Except the feeling just grows stronger every day
Just one thing before I go
Take good care, baby, let me know, let it grow
The special love you have for me, my Dixie, dear.

Stretch Armstrong

I remember having Stretch and stretch him I did. He lasted a few months before it happened. Mr. Armstrong sprung a leak and out came this gooey liquid everywhere.

Jesse Horowitz designed Stretch… he tried a sumo wrestler but it was too big and he dropped the idea. He thought about a stretch woman to rival Barbie but smartly dropped that idea.

In 1976 Stretch Armstrong was sold to the masses, and the $11 toy that made Kenner over $50 million in revenue had a secret: He was basically just a big sack of corn syrup… but to a kid…a fun $11 big sack of corn syrup.

The fad wore out after a while other companies started to do their own Stretch dolls. The Mega company started their own line with Batman, Spider-Man, and Superman stretchable figures. Kenner sued but by the time anything was done Stretch’s time in the sun was over and his popularity faded.

Maybe I shouldn’t have stretched Stretch so much…

Armstrong dolls in a box that aren’t leaking profusely from ’70s wounds can fetch over $1000 on auction sites, with especially rare versions or prototypes worth more.

8-Track Tapes

I had a stereo that had a record-able 8-track system built in. I would record straight off the radio to the 8-track and from records. I will add that it could be a miserable format to listen to music. If you had a favorite song that you wanted to hear a couple times in a row…get ready to wait till it came back around and then for the infamous “click” and you would switch tracks…and either wait some more or miss the beginning.

But there is more… you may be listening to a song and suddenly the song fades out for a while because it’s too long for the track and then finally the “click” and it finishes out on the next track.

William Powell Lear, the man behind LearJet, was also the inventor of the 8-track cartridge tape system. In 1964 William Lear convinced Ford to install the 8-track in their cars.

In September 1965, Ford Motor Company offered 8-track players as an option in their 1966 model cars. A Ford spokesperson reported that 65,000 players were installed in the first year. As a result of the popularity, the 8-track player soon became standard in all Ford cars.

In 1966 home units and portable units were offered. Now people could share their tapes with each other. The peak years of the eight-track were 1967 through 1975. Then, improvements in the tape quality of smaller cassettes and decreasing quality in eight-tracks led consumers away from the eight-track tape.

The last official release on 8-track was Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits in 1988. By then though Compact Disc had taken over the market.

I did have quite a collection of official 8-tracks and self-made 8-tracks. I also have an old 8-track system in my closet…hey you never know.

This video is a must. It shows an Eight Track Museum. It is interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape

CB Radio

Before chat rooms, My Space, Facebook, cell phones, WordPress, or messenger we had CB Radio. In the 1970’s this fad took off.

When Al Gross invented the CB radio in 1945, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quickly opened up radio services for personal users of the radio. in the 1960s businesses and hobbyist used the radio frequently.

In the early 1970s, the oil crisis caused gas to go up in price and the speed limit dropped to 55 mph. It was then people realized that CB’s could be used to spread the word about what gas stations had gas and what speed traps were set up ahead. Not only truckers were using the CB but it had caught on as a fad.

Movies such as Smokey and the Bandit helped popularize it more and also songs such as Convoy.

As a kid, I remember cars having the CB antennas and people at home. Everyone was getting into the game. People used CB slang and nicknames. Even The First Lady, Betty Ford, was on as “First Mama”…yea some cringe-worthy moments.

CB radio is still used today but the popularity is not like it was through the 70s and 80s… 10-4 (I just had to add that)

Lava Lamps

I own a couple of lava lamps and I run them quite a bit. I didn’t get my first one until the 80s and I still have it. They do nothing but do their thing…and they create a mood. I have one in my office at work…it helps at times.

The lava lamp was invented in 1963 by Edward Craven Walker. He was passing the time in a pub when he noticed a homemade egg timer crafted from a cocktail shaker filled with alien-looking liquids bubbling on a stove top. Craven Walker’s company was manufacturing millions of “Astro Lamps,” as he called them, per year. In 1965, he sold the U.S. manufacturing rights to a company called Lava Lite.

Lava lamps caught on in the sixties and continued to be big to the late seventies. The sales cooled off until the Austin Power movies and the sales started to pick up again in the hundreds of thousands a year. Now Lava Lite supplies millions of lava lamps to retailers.

Far Out Man

Lite-Brite

One of my favorite toys growing up. To this day I like collecting any vintage lighting fixture like soft drink clocks or signs probably because of this toy. They came with designs that you could use to create different cartoons and clowns but I never used those. I liked to create my own masterpieces.

This toy allowed you to be creative in a very different way. It brought out the artistic side in you. You could design different things and it would light up your room in the dark with colors.

Lite-Brite was invented by Joseph M. Burck, a senior designer at Chicago toy and game design company Marvin Glass and Associates.

Of course…when I got older I would make crude messages on the Lite Brite for friends.

Lite Brite commercial from the 1970s.

Mood Rings

When someone says mood rings now…we think of the cheap dime store versions that are available. In 1975 they were not cheap. They were marketed as “portable biofeedback aids” and a silver one would cost $45 and a gold Mood Ring would be $250.

They supposedly could tell how the wearer was feeling…their mood. Marvin Wernick was the first to invent them but failed to patent it. Wernick got the idea when he saw a doctor use thermotropic tape on a child’s forehead. He then filled a glass shell with thermotropic liquid crystals and he attached it to a ring.

Since Wenick didn’t patent it Joshua Reynolds ended up with it and popularizing the ring. He marketed it as “portable biofeedback aids” and he made a million in a 3 month period in 1975. The company then went bankrupt because of the imitations out on the market. I had one of those imitations along with a free green finger that went with them.

They were a big fad for a while but started to die out. They never completely went away though… You can still buy them now.

Below is the color guide to see what “mood” you are in…groovy

Mattel Electronic Football

If you were 10-15 years old in 1977-78 you probably remember this game.

My friend had this game and I basically took it over every time we were on the bus and the times he would come over because he liked the auto racing game. I ended up buying it from him.

It was released in June of 1977 as the second game released by Mattel (Auto Race was the first) and sold through Sears. After less than 100,000 were made, Sears determined that the games would not be big sellers, and most of the production for Football and Auto Race was stopped. Well, Sears was wrong and had to restart the production.

By mid-February 1978 the sales figures were up to 500,000.

Who would think that red dashes could be so much fun?

Here is a commercial for the football game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtUe4qi2yfw&ab_channel=31Mike

http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/Trivia.htm#9yards

The 50’s Revival in the 1970’s

When the Beatles arrived in 1964, the short hair and car hops of the fifties were going away. The sixties in some ways liberated people from the fifties for better or worse. The crew-cuts and simple times were giving way to Vietnam and the social unrest of the sixties.

Slowly as the sixties started to come to a close the fifties started to peak in again.

In the late sixties, Sha Na Na started their act and even toured with well-known acts. Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis’s popularity grew and Elvis started to make music again instead of soundtracks with his 1968 comeback special. In 1971 a disc jockey name Jerry Osborne started an “oldies” format on FM radio in Phoenix, Arizona and it was successful and other emulated it around the country.

In 1972 “Grease” a musical that took place in 1959 debuted on Broadway. In 1973 George Lucas came out with American Graffiti and boom really started. The soundtrack to American Graffiti peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100 in 1973. Happy Days debuted the following year and fifties music was gaining in popularity.

A spin-off from Happy Days Laverne and Shirley, also set in the fifties, was a huge success and still is syndication to this day. In 1974 the 50s era movie The Lords of Flatbush with the pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler of Happy Days.

In 1977 Sha Na Na started a variety show…Unfortunately I remember this…

In 1978, two big fifties era movies were released. Grease and American Hot Wax which featured performances by Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Styles seem to recycle every 20 years or so but in the 1970s the fifties revival was really strong. Maybe it was a want for a more simpler time.

The 1972 London Rock and Roll Show

The Six Million Dollar Man

Voice #1: It looks good at NASA One
Voice #2: Roger
Voice #1: B.C.S. Arm switch is on
Steve Austin: Okay, Victor
Voice #2: Lighting rods are armed. Switch is on. Here comes the throttle
Circuit breakers in
Steve Austin: We have separation
Voice #2: Roger
Voice #1: Inboard and outboards are on. I’m comin’ forward with the side stick
Voice #2: Looks good
Voice #1: Uh, Roger
Steve Austin: I’ve got a blow-out in Damper Three!
Voice #2: Get your pitch to zero
Steve Austin: Pitch is out! I can’t hold altitude!
Voice #1: Correction, Alpha Hold is off. Turn selectors–Emergency!
Steve Austin: Flight Com, I can’t hold it! She’s breaking up! She’s break–
(Impact)
Rudy Wells: Steve Austin, astronaut–a man barely alive
Oscar Goldman: Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We
Have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man
Rudy Wells and Steve Austin: Will be that man
Oscar Goldman: Better than he was before: better, stronger, faster

So began one of the biggest television shows of the mid-seventies. Steve Austin, astronaut (Lee Majors) was in a terrible accident in an experimental aircraft. He was near death and operated on and he had parts replaced such as two bionic legs, bionic eye, and a bionic arm. Steve Austin was essentially a superhero. He could lift and toss around almost anything, he had an eye with super focus and night vision and he could run up to 60 mph and jump 2-3 stories. He worked for the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) with Oscar Goldman as his boss. The Oscar character was popular also.

Oscar Goldman

The series was on for 5 seasons (99 episodes) 1974-1978 with 6 TV movies…with the last one coming in 1994.

The show had a huge impact on kids. We would imitate him at school and with kids in the neighborhood. We would also imitate the noise that was made when he did some terrific stunt (da da da da da da da). Back in the seventies, some of us kids thought this would really work.

Merchandising was huge for the show. Everything from lunch boxes and running shoes to children’s eyeglasses through to jigsaws, coloring books, comic books, trash cans, slide viewers, board games and bedsheets. I don’t have the statistics on the most merchandised tv show in the 1970s but this show has to be near the top. A little later on Star Wars would take merchandising it to another level.

The merchandising didn’t stop with Steve Austin either. Lindsey Wagner (Jamie Sommers) stared as the Bionic Woman and out came the merchandise again. Jamie was Steve’s girlfriend and they went skydiving and Jamie’s parachute malfunctioned and Steve asked Oscar Goldman to use bionic parts on her to save her. Her body rejected them but she pulled through and ended up and working for the OSI also.

The Bionic Woman lasted three seasons with 58 episodes airing from 1976 – 1978. In the final season, a bionic dog was introduced named Maximillian. There was a thought of another spinoff show with Maximillian but it did not happen. The dog could run 90 mph and bite through steel…Maybe it was good they drew the line.

In the 1994 TV Movie, “Bionic Ever After” Steve and Jame ties the knot.

The Intro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Million_Dollar_Man

Dr. Suess on the Loose

I’ve always liked the peculiar World of Dr. Suess. It could be strange but it was wonderful. The strange creatures that spoke in rhyme kept me hooked.

In 1973 the cartoon “Dr. Suess on the Loose” (Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories) aired and featured three stories. The Sneetches, The Zax, and the great Green Eggs and Ham. I still enjoy this cartoon.

I will admit that every time I watch a Dr. Suess cartoon that when I have a conversation afterward I want to talk in rhyme.

The Zax – One day in the Prairie of Pax a North-Going Zax and a South-Going Zax run into each other. Both are trying to get to their desired locations, but neither will move out of the way to let the other one pass. Both are too proud to compromise, they fail to see that the world continues on moving and time passes by.

The Sneetches – The Sneetches is about two types of creatures, separated by having or not having stars on their bellies. The Star-Belly Sneetches think they are the best, and look down upon Sneetches without stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches remain depressed and cannot associate with the Star-Belly Sneetches…Until a fellow named Sylvester McMonkey McBean comes with a Star off and Star on machine and after every Sneetch goes the machine over and over again…and McBean takes all of their money…No one knows who had stars or not… It’s a great message in this…to treat everyone the same no matter their background. (http://www.umich.edu/~childlit/Sneetches/display1.htm)

I am a sucker for Green Eggs and Ham. Still, love it and can read it or watch the cartoon in a box…with a…nevermind. The book was released in 1960 and as of 2016, it has sold over 8 million copies. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Eggs_and_Ham)

Green Eggs and Ham – is about Sam-I-Am, trying to convince an unnamed character to try green eggs and ham. He will stop at nothing but the more he tries to convince him to try green eggs and ham the more this character refuses. I love the wordplay in this as Sam-I-Am is a persistent little…uh…whatever he is…but he wins at that end.

“GREEN EGGS AND HAM” (by Doctor Seuss)

I AM SAM. I AM SAM. SAM I AM.

THAT SAM-I-AM! THAT SAM-I-AM! I DO NOT LIKE THAT SAM-I-AM!

DO WOULD YOU LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM?

I DO NOT LIKE THEM,SAM-I-AM.
I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM.

WOULD YOU LIKE THEM HERE OR THERE?

I WOULD NOT LIKE THEM HERE OR THERE.
I WOULD NOT LIKE THEM ANYWHERE.
I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

WOULD YOU LIKE THEM IN A HOUSE?
WOULD YOU LIKE THEN WITH A MOUSE?

I DO NOT LIKE THEM IN A HOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM WITH A MOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM HERE OR THERE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM ANYWHERE.
I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

WOULD YOU EAT THEM IN A BOX?
WOULD YOU EAT THEM WITH A FOX?

NOT IN A BOX. NOT WITH A FOX.
NOT IN A HOUSE. NOT WITH A MOUSE.
I WOULD NOT EAT THEM HERE OR THERE.
I WOULD NOT EAT THEM ANYWHERE.
I WOULD NOT EAT GREEN EGGS AND HAM.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

WOULD YOU? COULD YOU? IN A CAR?
EAT THEM! EAT THEM! HERE THEY ARE.

I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT, IN A CAR.

YOU MAY LIKE THEM. YOU WILL SEE.
YOU MAY LIKE THEM IN A TREE!

I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT IN A TREE.
NOT IN A CAR! YOU LET ME BE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM IN A BOX.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM WITH A FOX.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM IN A HOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM WITH A MOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM HERE OR THERE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM ANYWHERE.
I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

A TRAIN! A TRAIN! A TRAIN! A TRAIN!
COULD YOU, WOULD YOU ON A TRAIN?

NOT ON TRAIN! NOT IN A TREE!
NOT IN A CAR! SAM! LET ME BE!
I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT, IN A BOX.
I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT, WITH A FOX.
I WILL NOT EAT THEM IN A HOUSE.
I WILL NOT EAT THEM HERE OR THERE.
I WILL NOT EAT THEM ANYWHERE.
I DO NOT EAT GREEM EGGS AND HAM.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

SAY! IN THE DARK? HERE IN THE DARK!
WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, IN THE DARK?

I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT, IN THE DARK.

WOULD YOU COULD YOU IN THE RAIN?

I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT IN THE RAIN.
NOT IN THE DARK. NOT ON A TRAIN.
NOT IN A CAR. NOT IN A TREE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM, YOU SEE.
NOT IN A HOUSE. NOT IN A BOX.
NOT WITH A MOUSE. NOT WITH A FOX.
I WILL NOT EAT THEM HERE OR THERE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM ANYWHERE!

YOU DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM?

I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

COULD YOU, WOULD YOU, WITH A GOAT?

I WOULD NOT, COULD NOT WITH A GOAT!

WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, ON A BOAT?

I COULD NOT, WOULD NOT, ON A BOAT.
I WILL NOT, WILL NOT, WITH A GOAT.
I WILL NOT EAT THEM IN THE RAIN.
NOT IN THE DARK! NOT IN A TREE!
NOT IN A CAR! YOU LET ME BE!
I DO NOT LIKE THEM IN A BOX.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM WITH A FOX.
I WILL NOT EAT THEM IN A HOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM WITH A MOUSE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM HERE OR THERE.
I DO NOT LIKE THEM ANYWHERE!
I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!
I DO NOT LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM.

YOU DO NOT LIKE THEM. SO YOU SAY.
TRY THEM! TRY THEM! AND YOU MAY.
TRY THEM AND YOU MAY, I SAY.

sAM! IF YOU LET ME BE,
I WILL TRY THEM. YOU WILL SEE.

(… and he tries them …)

SAY! I LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!
I DO! I LIKE THEM, SAM-I-AM!
AND I WOULD EAT THEM IN A BOAT.
AND I WOULD EAT THEM WITH A GOAT…
AND I WILL EAT THEM, IN THE RAIN.
AND IN THE DARK. AND ON A TRAIN.
AND IN A CAR. AND IN A TREE.
THEY ARE SO GOOD, SO GOOD, YOU SEE!
SO I WILL EAT THEM IN A BOX.
AND I WILL EAT THEM WITH A FOX.
AND I WILL EAT THEM IN A HOUSE.
AND I WILL EAT THEM WITH A MOUSE.
AND I WILL EAT THEM HERE AND THERE.
SAY! I WILL EAT THEM ANYWHERE!
I DO SO LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU, SAM I AM.

Brewer & Shipley – One Toke Over the Line…and another version

This is a catchy counterculture song by Brewer and Shipley. It was released in 1970 and it peaked at #10 in the Billboard 100 and was their only top 40 hit.

This song was performed on the Lawrence Welk Show sung by Welk Musical Family singers on his weekly television show. In 1971, singers Gail Farrell and Dick Dale performed “One Toke Over the Line” on the show. And after the song, Welk is seen on camera saying, “There you heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.”

Lawrence liked to have popular songs performed on is show…I don’t think he got the full meaning of this one.

From Songfacts.

The incident that sparked this song happened at the Vanguard in Kansas City, Missouri. The band was playing the show because, in seeking to escape the LA music scene, they started a tour of their Midwest homelands. Shipley reports that he was given a block of hash and told to take two hits. He ignored the advice and instead took three. Shipley recounts in The Vinyl Dialogues, “I go out of the dressing room – I’m also a banjo player, but I didn’t have one, so I was playing my guitar – and Michael (Brewer) came in and I said, ‘Jesus, Michael, I’m one toke over the line.’ And to be perfect honest, I don’t remember if Michael was with me when I took that hit or not. I remember it as ‘not’; I think Michael remembers it as ‘yes.’ And he started to sing to what I was playing, and I chimed in and boom, we had the line.”

Brewer also remembers the occasion. “I just cracked up,” he said. “I thought it was hysterical. And right on the spot, we just started singing, ‘One toke over the line, sweet Jesus,’ and that was about it; then we went onstage.”

Brewer and Shipley…below is the Lawrence Welk version

The Lawrence Welk Show

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 bin away a country mile
Now I’m returnin’ showin’ off a smile
I met all the girls and loved myself a few
Ended by 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
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

Five Baseball Songs

Since the playoffs are in full swing…thought I would list my 5 favorite baseball songs in no certain order.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game – The classic song of the game written in 1908 and still going strong.

Talking Baseball – Terry Cashman released this in 1981 but it didn’t do much in the charts when it was released but has caught on to be a classic.

Centerfield – John Fogerty on his “comeback” album of the same name. This is played at every ballpark.

Glory Days – Bruce Springsteen – Based off a true encounter with an ex-classmate that Bruce played little league baseball with when they were young.

Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball – Count Basie