Alice's Restaraunt by Arlo Guthrie

This song from the Sixties was a protest song. You had to think about it to know it was. At eighteen minutes many might not get far enough into the song to understand the absurdity of the story Guthrie tells. He was not considered a military candidate due to an arrest for littering which is the basis of the song.

This song has special relevance for me and my children. We listened to it often when they were quite young. They did not understand it but they did like the rhythm and how the song went around and around.

LAter when my son was nine I took him to an Arlo Guthrie concert at the University. He enjoyed the show as much as any nine year old that gets tired. He remembers it though. We enjoyed the show.

As he approaches 16 he still enjoys the song. Last weekend he tells me that Alice's Restaraunt came on his shuffle and he listened to it. He listened. He remembers.

We usually play it once or twice around Thanksgiving. It is one of the only songs I know that relates to Thanksgiving.