"Alice's Restaurant" - Classic or Dud?

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Classic! Why would it not be? It evokes fond childhood memories (driving to my grandparent's house in Connecticut every Thanksgiving with my mom and my sister, and sometimes with my dad.), it's pretty and bouncy and absolutely generic, and I listen to it so rarely that the story is still, not only pleasant, but sometimes actually interesting.

This is all my mom's fault (which reminds me of that thread from a few weeks back about our parent's impacts on our musical tastes)--we should discuss that at more length.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 5 January 2004 08:26 (twenty years ago) link

I thought the title of this thread was surely a movie and I wanted to be all smartass like "Wrong board, dickfaaaaaace!" but the joke was on me. Who sings it?

― The Thinking Man's Paris Hilton (DarrenK), Monday, 5 January 2004 08:39 (twenty years ago) link

Arlo Guthrie does.

― Schwingung (Damian), Monday, 5 January 2004 08:40 (twenty years ago) link

Classic.
"I cannot tell a lie, sir. I put that envelope at the bottom of the pile of garbage."

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Monday, 5 January 2004 17:08 (twenty years ago) link

Classic.

"There was all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly-lookin' people on the bench there . . . there was mother-rapers . . . father-stabbers . . . father-rapers! FATHER-RAPERS sittin' right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible and crime fightin' guys were sittin' there on the bench, and the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one . . . the meanest father-raper of them all . . . was comin' over to me, and he was mean and ugly and nasty and horrible and all kinds of things, and he sat down next to me. He said, "Kid, what'd you get?""

― Nik (Nik), Monday, 5 January 2004 17:24 (twenty years ago) link

I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage."

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 13:33 (twenty years ago) link

classic ... as is its follow-up (where Arlo muses on his possible "connection" to the Nixon Tapes).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:29 (twenty years ago) link

Alice now lives in Provincetown Massachusetts where she paints on rocks that she leaves on the beach for people to find.People even take her rocks and leave them in different spots all around the world. This i learned from my cape & island npr station.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 6 January 2004 15:45 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

officer obie. i cannot tell a lie. i put that envelope under that garbage.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 03:30 (nineteen years ago) link

i like ian...

the movie is supposed to be not-bad. i got wore out on the song in summer camp.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 04:10 (nineteen years ago) link

I liked the movie when I saw it (age 14-ish), and tho I haven't seen it for decades, I suspect it would have much nostalgic value.

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 04:40 (nineteen years ago) link

A pretty good song. Unfortunately, several years ago I ended up doing sound for Arlo, and let me tell you, it's a lot longer live. Like a total of 45 minutes. At that point, it gets INTOLERABLE. On album, however, I liked it. Now that I have heard the extended live mega-ultra-meandering-mix version, it's turned into something I'm glad to own, but will never be able to listen to again. Nice guy, though, albeit a bid acid-drenched and scattered.

As a side note, he has held true to his dirty folksie roots with the most minimal rider I have ever seen, which consists of (I kid you not):

2-clean white towels
6-bottled waters (non-local preferred)
one dressing room isolated no less than 20 yards from the stage that must have switchable overhead lights

That's it. So, the next time you wonder where Arlo Guthrie is, he's drinking water with a towel wrapped around his neck in the dark.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 06:21 (nineteen years ago) link

The very idea of Arlo Guthrie amuses me, just for his priceless Woodstock blather. ("Yeah, it's...far out, man! Like I was rappin to the fuzz, man, can you dig it? New York State Thruway's closed, man! Heh heh heh. Lotta freaks!") Clearly, the man was made for the stage. As for the "Alice's Restaurant Massacree": C'mon, how badly can you hate a song that you only hear once a year? (Or possibly twice, keeping in mind that Canadian Thanksgiving is in October.) I always get a laugh outta that recruiting officer and his breathless run-on sentence that lasts "45 minutes and nobody understood a word he said!" And, who knows?, it might even have inspired Lou Reed's Take No Prisoners.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 08:35 (nineteen years ago) link

i like the motorcycle song

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 08:42 (nineteen years ago) link

Every time I see the title of the song the first thing to pop into my head is the DNA remix of "Tom's Diner".

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 19:02 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't want a pickle. Just wanna ride in my motor sickle.
I don't wanna die. Jus wanna ride in my moooootor. Si.

Alice's restaurant is great. I can still do most of it off the top of my head.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 21:53 (nineteen years ago) link

...cle.

― OleM (OleM), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 11:37 (nineteen years ago) link

45 minutes?!?!?

i wonder, who goes to arlo guthrie concerts nowadays? this is not a slam, i really wonder who goes to arlo guthrie concerts nowadays.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 19:24 (nineteen years ago) link

He really does look like a wierd looking girl when he smiles. At least he does in the film "Alice's Restaurant"

Which is more annoying/mildly interesting than actually good. Woody's in it, though.

What else has Arlo recorded that worth checking out?

― Tannenbaum Schmidt (Nik), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 23:48 (nineteen years ago) link

coming into los angeles is a pretty great song, i'm surprised i've never heard anyone cover it yet

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Thursday, 10 March 2005 04:11 (nineteen years ago) link

That freakin' song pops into my head everytime I fly into that place.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 10 March 2005 05:23 (nineteen years ago) link

ten years pass...

50th anniversary of this one, Happy Thanksgiving

― thom yorke state of mind (voodoo chili), Friday, 27 November 2015 01:51 (eight years ago) link

and i went up there, i said, shrink, i want to kill. i mean, i wanna, i wanna kill. kill. i wanna, i wanna see, i wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. eat dead burnt bodies. i mean kill, kill, kill, kill. and i started jumpin up and down yellin kill! kill! and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumpin up and down yelling KILL! KILL! and the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, you're our boy. didn't feel too good about it.

― denies the existence of dark matter (difficult listening hour), Friday, 27 November 2015 05:58 (eight years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BHUQ56AWwI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0a6iWHSWbA

― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Friday, 27 November 2015 06:15 (eight years ago) link

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