Alice's Restaurant

[Norrin Radd]

This snorefest escaped my notice until today. I guess I never had time for:

- SONS of great men (Arlo is not Woody)
- Hippie rantings
- Long songs that don't involve interesting musicianship
- Being bored

Yet, some of my Facebook friends and Twitter connections seem to be into this thing. So I present it for all of you.

Enjoy.

If possible.

 

[Riptide]

Why bother posting this if you're gonna throw veiled insults in there along with it?

 

[Norrin Radd]

Why bother posting this if you're gonna throw veiled insults in there along with it?

What's "veiled" about my post?

I was not aware that I should only post about things I think are wonderful. I'm sure some of you think it's really great.

 

[YGBFKM]

Terrible, stupid song.

 

[Riptide]

Why bother posting this if you're gonna throw veiled insults in there along with it?

What's "veiled" about my post?

I was not aware that I should only post about things I think are wonderful. I'm sure some of you think it's really great.

No wonder you're so popular. Nice work, Costanza.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Raddsputin would definitely be on the Group W bench.

 

[dixiehack]

Raddsputin would definitely be on the Group W bench.

Do you picture him more as a mother stabber or father raper?

 

[dooley_womack1]

I think eater of dead, burnt bodies.

 

[JR]

This album is proof that "You had to be there" is sometimes true. 18 in 1967

 

[britwrit]

I think eater of dead, burnt bodies.

You're our boy.

 

[PaperDoll]

As someone who has spent time in the Berkshires and even had dinner at Alice's restaurants -- she had three, I believe -- that song is part of my family's Thanksgiving tradition. In fact, I had to find it online via smartphone (in the middle of nowhere) while my mom was driving to a holiday gathering today.

Did you know that the LP version of the song is the exact length of the mysterious gap in the Watergate recordings?

 

[jr/shotglass]

I heard that if you play it backwards, it says, "Bob Dylan is the devil."

 

[albert77]

A playing of Alice's Restaurant has been a Thanksgiving tradition at my house for years.

The song is definitely a product of its time and loses something in translation to a generation that has never had to worry about being drafted to fight a bloody and unpopular war in an alien environment.

Trust me, it meant a lot to my generation.

 

[Norrin Radd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ZwJiK0fJ0

 

[waterytart]

A playing of Alice's Restaurant has been a Thanksgiving tradition at my house for years.

The song is definitely a product of its time and loses something in translation to a generation that has never had to worry about being drafted to fight a bloody and unpopular war in an alien environment.

Trust me, it meant a lot to my generation.

Just so.

When the army didn't have "volunteer" in front of it, the idea that this was a way to beat the draft was a shared, black comic WTF.

 

[waterytart]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ZwJiK0fJ0

What you're not getting is the song is about hippies. Lots of the folks who reacted to the song weren't.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Heard this song several Thanksgivings in a row when I was a kid and we were driving cross state to my grandmother's.

 

[Riptide]

It's not really a song, anyway. It's a protest story with a chorus.

 

[Buck]

Personally, I love the song.
But we have no tradition of listening to it.


Maybe if we have kids, I'll make them listen to it every year.

 

[Vombatus]

I enjoyed the song too, for years.

Then I saw the video, and didn't like it that much.

It's funny how seeing a music video can ruin a song. Or make it better. In this case, I preferred my own mental images of the song's story.