Celebrating A Thanksgiving Tradition: Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant Massacre’

• You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant
• Walk right in, it’s around the back
• Just a half a mile from the railroad track
• You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant

Arlo Guthrie – “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre”

Listening to Arlo Guthrie‘s 18-plus minute anti-establishment, anti-war ode “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre” is a Thanksgiving tradition that seems almost as poignant now as when it was first released back in 1967. The song, which takes up the entire A-side of Guthrie’s debut album, circuitously tells the true story of his Thanksgiving Day two years prior, with a hilarious detour through small town politics revolving around a littering citation. Midway into the winding tale it takes a sharp turn to Guthrie’s true purpose of writing the song: a protest of the Vietnam War.

Guthrie details how despite his best efforts to convince the U.S. Army he was unfit for service, it was a simple littering ticket that eventually helped him evade being sent to Vietnam. As Guthrie wraps up his story, he implores listeners that may find themselves in a similar situation to start a social protest movement and to sing the song’s chorus, which he finally gets to after nearly 17-minutes.

Almost 50 years after its release, Arlo’s message of the power of socio-political protest rings just as true today as it did in the 1967. As the country appears headed for uncertain times, and some are channeling their energies into self-expression in the form of peaceful protest, there is always music as a source of solace and inspiration.

Find some time this Thanksgiving to listen to arguably Guthrie’s best-known song. Share it with those that may have forgotten its actual meaning and message or with someone that’s never heard the tune, and perhaps even go out and start a new “Alice’s Restaurant Anti-Massacree Movement.”

https://open.spotify.com/track/4OjKHySJHstsImlUW3qfml