{"id":37827,"date":"2024-11-25T21:41:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T05:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=37827"},"modified":"2024-11-25T21:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T05:41:46","slug":"alices-restaurant-a-thanksgiving-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/25\/alices-restaurant-a-thanksgiving-story\/","title":{"rendered":"ALICE\u2019S RESTAURANT: A THANKSGIVING STORY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is about the song. For the album, see Alice\u2019s Restaurant (album)<\/a>. For the film, see Alice\u2019s Restaurant (film)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cALICE\u2019S RESTAURANT MASSACREE\u201d<\/th><\/tr>
SONG<\/a> BY ARLO GUTHRIE<\/a><\/th><\/tr>
FROM THE ALBUM ALICE\u2019S RESTAURANT<\/a><\/em><\/th><\/tr>
RELEASED<\/th>October 1967<\/td><\/tr>
RECORDED<\/th>1967<\/td><\/tr>
GENRE<\/a><\/th>Talking blues<\/a>[1]<\/a><\/sup>folk rock<\/a>[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/td><\/tr>
LENGTH<\/th>18:34<\/td><\/tr>
LABEL<\/a><\/th>Warner Bros.<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
SONGWRITER(S)<\/a><\/th>Arlo Guthrie<\/td><\/tr>
PRODUCER(S)<\/a><\/th>Fred Hellerman<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlice\u2019s Restaurant Massacree<\/strong>\u201c, commonly known as \u201cAlice\u2019s Restaurant<\/strong>\u201c, is a satirical talking blues<\/a> song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie<\/a>, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album Alice\u2019s Restaurant<\/a><\/em>. The song is a deadpan protest against the Vietnam War draft<\/a>, in the form of a comically exaggerated but largely true story from Guthrie\u2019s own life: while visiting acquaintances in Stockbridge<\/a>, Massachusetts, he is arrested and convicted of dumping trash illegally, which later endangers his suitability for the military draft<\/a>. The title refers to a restaurant owned by one of Guthrie\u2019s friends, artist Alice Brock<\/a>. Although Brock is a minor character in the story, the restaurant plays no role in it aside from being the subject of the chorus and the impetus for Guthrie\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song inspired the 1969 film Alice\u2019s Restaurant<\/em><\/a>, which starred Guthrie and took numerous liberties with the story<\/a>. The work has become Guthrie\u2019s signature song<\/a> and he has periodically re-released it with updated lyrics. In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry<\/a> by the Library of Congress<\/a> as being \u201cculturally, historically, or aesthetically significant\u201d.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characteristics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The song consists of a protracted spoken monologue<\/a>, with a constantly repeated fingerstyle Piedmont blues ragtime guitar<\/a> backing and light brush<\/a>-on-snare drum<\/a> percussion (the drummer on the record is uncredited). This is bookended by a short chorus about the titular restaurant. Guthrie has used the brief \u201cAlice\u2019s Restaurant\u201d bookends and guitar backing for other monologues bearing the Alice\u2019s Restaurant<\/em> name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The track lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds, occupying the entire A-side of the Alice\u2019s Restaurant<\/em> album. Due to Guthrie\u2019s rambling and circuitous telling with unimportant details, it has been described as a shaggy dog story<\/a>.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guthrie refers to the incident as a \u201cmassacree<\/a>\u201c, a colloquialism originating in the Ozark Mountains<\/a>[5]<\/a><\/sup> that describes \u201can event so wildly and improbably and baroquely messed up that the results are almost impossible to believe\u201d. It is a corruption of the word massacre<\/a><\/em>, but carries a much lighter and more sarcastic connotation, rather than describing anything involving actual death.[6]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prologue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Guthrie states that the song is titled \u201cAlice\u2019s Restaurant\u201d but clarifies that this is only the name of the song, not the business owned by his friend Alice. He then sings the chorus, which is in the form of a jingle<\/a> for the restaurant, beginning with \u201cYou can get anything you want at Alice\u2019s restaurant\u201d twice, and continuing with directions to it before restating the slogan once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part One<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
Alice Brock<\/a>, the titular host of the Thanksgiving dinner who bailed Guthrie and his friend out of jail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Guthrie recounts events that took place in 1965 (two years prior to the time of the original recording), when he and a friend spent Thanksgiving Day<\/a> at a deconsecrated<\/a> church on the outskirts of Stockbridge, Massachusetts<\/a>, which their friends Alice and Ray Brock had been using as a home. As a favor to them, Guthrie and the friend volunteered to take their large accumulation of garbage to the local dump in their VW Microbus<\/a>, not realizing until they arrived there that the dump would be closed for the holiday. They eventually noticed another pile of trash that had previously been dumped off a cliff near a side road, and added theirs to the accumulation before returning to the church for Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, the church received a phone call from the local police chief, \u201cOfficer Obie<\/a>\u201c, saying that an envelope in the garbage pile had been traced back to them. Guthrie, stating \u201cI cannot tell a lie<\/a>\u201d and with tongue in cheek, confessed that he \u201cput that envelope underneath\u201d the garbage. He and his friend drove to the police station, expecting a verbal reprimand and to be required to clean up the garbage, but they were instead arrested, handcuffed, and taken to the scene of the crime. There, Obie and a crew of police officers from the surrounding areas collected extensive forensic evidence of the litter, including \u201ctwenty-seven 8-by-10<\/a> color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was, to be used as evidence against us\u201d amid a media circus<\/a> of local media trying to get news stories on the littering. The young men were briefly jailed, with Obie taking drastic precautions to prevent Guthrie from escaping or committing suicide. After a few hours, Alice bailed<\/a> them out and held another Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guthrie and his friend stood trial the next day. When Obie saw that the judge relied upon a seeing-eye dog<\/a>, he realized that the officers\u2019 meticulous work had been foiled by a literal \u201ccase of American blind justice<\/a>\u201c, as the judge would not be able to see the evidence. Guthrie and his friend paid a $50 fine to the court and were ordered to pick up the garbage, in the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part Two<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
The Army Building where Guthrie had his physical examination<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Guthrie then states that the littering incident was \u201cnot what I came to tell you about\u201d and shifts to another story, this one based at the Army Building on Whitehall Street<\/a> in New York City<\/a> as Guthrie appeared for a physical exam related to the Vietnam War<\/a> draft<\/a>. He tried various strategies to be found unfit for military service, including getting drunk the night before so he was hung over, and attempting to convince the psychiatrist that he was homicidal, which only earned him praise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several hours, Guthrie was asked whether he had ever been convicted of a crime. He nodded, began to tell his story, and was sent to the \u201cGroup W\u201d bench to file for a moral waiver<\/a>. The other convicts (\u201cmother-rapers\u2026 father-stabbers\u2026 father-rapers\u201d) were initially put off that his conviction had been for littering, but accepted him when he added \u201cand creating a nuisance\u201d. When Guthrie noticed one of the questions on the paperwork asked whether he had rehabilitated himself since the crime, he noted the irony of having to prove himself reformed from a crime of littering when the realities of war were often far more brutal. The officer in charge of the induction process commented, \u201cWe don\u2019t like your kind\u201d, rejecting Guthrie and sending his fingerprints to the federal government to be put on file<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Epilogue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the final part of the song, Guthrie explains to the live audience that anyone finding themselves in a similar situation should walk into the military psychiatrist\u2019s office, sing the opening line from the chorus and walk out. He predicts that a single person doing it would be rejected as \u201csick\u201d and that two people doing it, in harmony, would be rejected as \u201cfaggots<\/a>\u201c, but that once three people started doing it they would begin to suspect \u201can organization\u201d and 50 people a day would be recognized as \u201cthe Alice\u2019s Restaurant Anti-Massacree Movement\u201d. As he continues fingerpicking, he invites the audience to sing the chorus along with him \u201cthe next time it comes around on the guitar\u201d. When they do so, Guthrie claims that their singing \u201cwas horrible\u201d, and challenges them to sing it with him \u201cwith four-part harmony<\/a> and feeling\u201d. Guthrie and the crowd then sing the chorus, and the song concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Guthrie cited the long-form monologues of Lord Buckley<\/a> and Bill Cosby<\/a>, and the movies of Charlie Chaplin<\/a>, as inspirations for the song\u2019s lyrics, and a number of different musicians (in particular Mississippi John Hurt<\/a>) as inspirations for the Piedmont fingerstyle<\/a> guitar accompaniment, noting that he took about \u201ctwo seconds\u201d to come up with the accompaniment because he wanted something easy to play mindlessly while narrating the story.[7]<\/a>[8]<\/a><\/sup> The song was written as the events happened over the course of approximately one year;[9]<\/a><\/sup> it grew out of a simple joke riff Guthrie had been working on in 1965 and 1966 before he appeared before the draft board (the opening was originally written as \u201cyou can hide from Obanhein<\/a> at Alice\u2019s restaurant\u201d, which is how the restaurant got tied into the original story), and he later added his experience before the draft board to create the song as it is known today.[10]<\/a><\/sup> Additional portions of the song were written during one of Guthrie\u2019s many stays with the English songwriter and music journalist Karl Dallas<\/a> and his family in London.[11]<\/a>[12]<\/a><\/sup> Guthrie sent a demo recording of the song to his father Woody Guthrie<\/a> on his deathbed; it was, according to a \u201cfamily joke\u201d, the last thing Woody heard before he died in October 1967.[10]<\/a><\/sup> Because of the song\u2019s length, Guthrie never expected it to be released, because such extended monologues were extremely rare in an era when singles<\/a> were typically less than three minutes.[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More at: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alice%27s_Restaurant#:~:text=The%20song%20is%20a%20deadpan,his%20suitability%20for%20the%20military<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the song. For the album, see Alice\u2019s Restaurant (album). For the film, see Alice\u2019s Restaurant (film). \u201cALICE\u2019S RESTAURANT MASSACREE\u201d SONG BY ARLO GUTHRIE FROM THE ALBUM ALICE\u2019S RESTAURANT RELEASED October 1967 RECORDED 1967 GENRE Talking blues[1]folk rock[2] LENGTH 18:34 LABEL Warner Bros. SONGWRITER(S) Arlo Guthrie PRODUCER(S)… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37828,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37827\/revisions\/37828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}