Banned Songs: One Toke Over the Line

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Today’s song in this monthlong look at songs that have been banned is probably one of the most widely-banned songs (of the time), and one of the best-known (proving it’s hard to keep a good song down). With nothing but a middle finger to Spiro Agnew, here’s today’s song. One Toke Over the Line - Brewer & Shipley Now, why would I be so mean to a former vice president? Well….(other than my mom hated him so much that, in 1972, she voted for Nixon for president but Shriver for VP! ) Tricky Dicky’s equally tricky veep hated this song, and campaigned to have it banned. So much so that he got the Federal Communications Commission involved. The FCC sent a love letter of sorts to radio stations, indicating that broadcasting material (like this song) that encouraged, condoned, or gave a positive impression of “illicit drugs” (remember, most of the people who made Reefer Madness in the 30s were still around at this time) “is clearly a violation of the basic principle of the licensee's responsibility for, and duty to exercise adequate control over, the broadcast material presented over his station. It raises serious questions as to whether continued operation of the station is in the public interest.” Translating that out of government mumbo-jumbo, “play this song and you risk your broadcast license.” So, most AM radio stations wouldn’t play it. FM radio, however, was more “underground” at the time and gave the aforementioned middle appendage to the feds. The song made the Billboard top ten, which gave more problems to radio stations carrying programs like the fledgling American Top 40. Well, a couple of years later, Agnew was out of office, having resigned as part of an income tax evasion case. Wait, here comes the punch line!! Agnew avoided jail time by paying the taxes and wanted to get back into a law practice. However, he was disbarred in his home state of Maryland. The reason the Court of Appeals gave was that Agnew’s tax crime made him “morally obtuse.” Brewer (79) and Shipley (82) are still around, living in Missouri according to Picky Wedia. I hope they sent an autographed copy of this 45 to Agnew as a resignation gift. One Toke Over the Line Written by Mike Brewer & Tom Shipley Recorded by Brewer & Shipley From Tarkio, 1971 Reason banned: drug reference Who do you love: