Wunnerful, wunnerful…

Submitted by Douglas Wood July 13th, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

It’s a mystery to me how this song actually made it on the Lawrence Welk Show. Easy to accept that Lawrence was clueless, but surely one of the hipper band members HAD to know what the song, “One Toke Over the Line” referred to. Maybe it was the inclusion of “Sweet Jesus” in the lyrics that threw Welk off– surely any song that mentions the savior couldn’t possibly be counter-culture. And is it just coincidence that the guy who intros the song coughs and clears his throat? What the hell was going ON on that set, anyway?

7 Responses to “Wunnerful, wunnerful…”

  1. Allee Willis

    I’ve seen this clip before because I absolutely love watching all the old Lawrence Welk shows because of how saturated all the color was and how nutty all the fashions and hairdos were. Without question, this is one of the more curious song choices. I have to believe that none of the principals involved had a clue what the song referred to but that many of the band members did. Whatever the case, I’m glad that they left it to posterity to enhance any of the tokes that may be occurring today.

  2. Mark Blackwell

    wow, i remember this one…brings back fond memories of watching lawrence welk and hee haw and such over at my grandparents house in s.c. when i was a kid…

  3. Douglas Wood

    I used to watch it at my grandparents’ house too and even as a child I recognized there was something very bizarre about the show. My grandmother knew all the names of the performers and who was married to whom, etc.

  4. windupkitty

    Lawrence Welk is one of my favorite shows of all time…yep, wa definitely on at the grandparent’s house… I agree completely about the color saturation, those costumes the themes, the choreography,the arrangements and they also pulled in/had some INCREDIBLE musicians…i especially love the earlier shows when the cut away to the dancers in the audience….i live for those shots….broke my heart when tv went digital cause it was the only thing i looked forward to watching at 7pm on saturday night!

    When my grandmother first gave me her old accordion, i began the search to find out about it and wound up at my first Silicon Valley Accordion Society meeting (first Sunday of every month at Harry’s Hoffbrau in San Jose, CA, for those of you local)….MOst of the members are at least a few generations ahead of me, but I knew I was home when the gentleman taking my donation and making my name tag, said “Hey did you catch the Lawrence Welk show last night?!” Of course I had (!) and we spent a good few minutes talking about the accordion solo at the end of the show…there are some really,really fine musicians in the SVAS!

    this video is EPIC and has truly made my day! thanks for posting!

      • windupkitty

        ha! NO! I pretty much suck at playing…not being humble here, i actually do! it will be a long time before i will be able to keep up with the players at the meetings…i haven’t been in ears too…i’ve got to get my act together and get down there again soon….here’s their website and June newsletter
        http://victorkole.ipower.com/index.html
        http://svasociety.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2010June.pdf

        I think the only pic i have of myself with my big,beautiful,squeezebox is very,very old…i literally look NOTHING like the “me” in the pic now, but it’s one of my fave photos ever cause i was giving a little lesson to one of my most beloved friends’ daughter,eva…she was a natural ( her dad is a chilean rock star, her mom, my friend since highschool is truly gifted when it comes to picking up any instrument and has a voice like an angel) the pics on facebook:
        http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30937285&id=1086481146