I know a guy who says he actually got out of the draft by doing what the song says. He started singing "You can get anything you want..." over and over again until they declared him mentally incompetent.
I took some guitar lessons a long time ago and someone in the group blurted out to the instructor “teach us Alice’s Restaurant”.
just finished listening to the thirtieth anniversary live edition on WMMR with pierre robert. on at two again!!
I finally heard the song tonight on the radio. It's a funny story and a good Fall song. Reminded me a bit of Desolation Row.
I wonder if anyone ever said "What the heck is this?"upon hearing it on their local classic rock station.
We don't do Thanksgiving where I am. however, this topic is reminding me that it's time that I do "Alice's Restaurant" again!
I wondered the first time I heard it. Our local rock station played it a couple of times on Thanksgiving day in Hawaii.
The rest of the album is great, as well. I love Chilling of the Evening. Listen to this tune on a cold winter's night. Arlo's so great.
The song represents a number of things since I made it through several draft lotteries with out being selected. I've played it several times a year since it was released and have never missed playing it on Thanksgiving.
Still enjoying another Thanksgiving dinner with leftovers that can't be beat....and spinning Arlo, but this time with a UK twist...
My wife turned me on to the tradition, which prompted me to get The Best of Arlo Guthrie on CD. (Her old Alice's Restaurant LP was pretty beat up.) This Thanksgiving, we went on a road trip. For these trips, I bring along a USB drive with music that we both like and set the audio on random play. I made sure to include "Alice's Restaurant "on this one. She was quite pleased when it came up. She insisted that our 13 year old listen to it. He was not happy.
There's a compilation called something like Lost Classics of the 60s that had it. I'll have to dig it out to confirm the title and label.
Alice's Restaurant is a well-crafted piece of light-hearted entertainment with some important social implications. Desolation Row is a masterclass in how to completely realize an abstract vision of social schism. I mean, to me.
My brother was in the Draft, but not even for a year, before they dropped it. He had a strong interest in the gee-tar and folk music, but...he was a lot more interested in planning a "visit" to Canada around that time, than he was Arlo Guthrie. Guess something or other was "distracting" him at the time... ...maybe he couldn't pull off the, "I wanna kill..." thing convincingly?
I used to listen to this every year on the radio. I can't really do that anymore. So I bought a copy a few year ago. It's a great song, apparently about littering.
Just got back from the annual Carnegie Hall concert. Another full family affair. They even did a Patsy Cline cover. Great time as always.
