They have no idea what the song is about

Your little doodad isn't showing(no not that one) the one above "All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. " in your sig, just the little square placeholder thingy.

Did a little digging. Chances are that while Mr. Welk may not have known the meaning of 'toke' there were certainly others who did. This show was aired at a time when the networks were looking to improve the reach of the show in the ratings and we pushing to add more modern country and pop songs to the show's repertoire.
 
It was also the same time as the Nixon administration, specifically Vice President Agnew came out and labelled the song (among others) as having a profoundly negative effect on America's youth and songs like it should be banded from the radio. The FCC went so far as to put out a listing of banned songs and 'one toke' was on that list.
 
Two good articles we found on the subject are "One Toke on Lawrence Welk" from the Brewer and Shipley web site (http://www.brewerandshipley.com/misc/OneTokeWelk.htm) and "One Toke Over the Line meets Lawrence Welk again ... 45 Years Later" from the The Vinyl Dialogs Blog (http://vinyldialogues.com/VinylDialoguesBlog/one-toke-over-the-line-meets-the-lawrence-welk-show-again-45-years-later).
 
In the second article it states that Gail Farrell is creating a one-woman show in which she answers the question of how much they knew at the time:
"Oh, and as for the question of what Gail knew and when she knew it about “One Toke Over the Line” in 1971, well . . . we still don’t know for sure. They talked a lot about the whole thing at dinner, but neither Brewer nor Shipley directly asked Gail the question, at least not that I witnessed. I guess we’re all just going to have to go see her one-woman show next year for the answer.

A lot of Americans were singing this song in the early 80s, having no idea what "turning Japanese" meant in the UK.
 

Live and learn. My roommate from Germany misled me. Of course, I'm easily misled. 

I showed this to my wife a few years back. We both had a good laugh, having both been brought up watching Lawrence Welk (Best thing going in those days). I like Myron Floren's intro "...one of the newer songs.".
Welk was actually quite innovative; in the early TV broadcasts, they tried panning the TV sound all to one side, and you were supposed to tune your radio to a certain station which was panned to the other side, and Voila...Stereo! Didn't work all that well, I guess, and they gave it up.
 

Bit,
 
Really got to thank you for this and rbecker, MandolinPicker for their historical perspective.
 
Busted my gut apart and has made my day for several days now. We all got our filters and what turns us on or off. This is one of the most outrageous takes on Youtube or anywhere else thru my filter..
 
Maybe can't be as much appreciated as by us old relics who lived thru the LW era and were thoroughly indoctrinated into the cardinal significance of the Lawrence Welk Show.
 
Old black and white version of LW with semi test-the-waters hiphop and safe big band sounds. Old decrepit couples casting off their walkers and wheel chairs, propping each other up to dance. Then there was the bubble machine…
 
This was iconic and carved into American stone.
 
The black and white era of LW reintroduced itself in full technicolor but with a new twist. Big band stuff for the casket generation was still there, but there was now the cover inclusions with wholesome couples singing the latest pop hits. Appeal to a younger generation.
 
So clean, innocent, pristine. On occasion, you could see a LW dancer twirl and get a peek at her panties, but everything was otherwise straight, formal, American family entertainment. The kids would rather sniff glue in the cellar, but it was a show that all could watch across the generations and nobody was offended.
 
Back when Ed Sullivan upped the heat by having the actual band, Beatles, Eric Clapton show up. Lawrence did covers, but both were avant geniuses. Took me a long long time to realize just how cool they were. Wonder if LW really knew what was going on with the song and dropped a well planned publicity stunt to up ratings and viewership.
 
John
 
(edit...forgot MandolinPicker)

Hint...
 
I ride a white horse, and have a side kick called "Tonto".

Interestingly, my children (ages 2 - 11) love the LW show and still watch it. My hyperactive nephew who's also 2, is a LW addict and stops all his running around/calms down when the LW show is put on (daily). Even has a mini conductors baton that he uses following the show.
 
I hope he's not one toke over the line....