If this title doesn't have you singing a few lines, you obviously haven't heard the song. It is almost twenty minutes of Arlo Guthrie finger pickin' and playing the same musical guitar chords while singing and telling a true story. The story is interjected between the start and the end of the lyrics;
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
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
Now, although this original 1967 writing was about the Vietnam war, one of the key factors in this song writing masterpiece can also be used to get what we want. Just like Guthrie got what he wanted; to get out of being drafted to serve in Vietnam, we will use it to avoid further environmental degradation.
The song tells a story about how Guthrie and friends went to Alice's for a Thanksgiving dinner. They noticed piles of garbage in the downstairs "pews' area of the Church that Alice and her husband were living in. Guthrie and his buddy decided to load it up into their VW micro bus and take it to the dump. Arriving at the dump they saw a sign so many of us see when we arrive at the City dumps across the country; Closed. It was Thanksgiving, in this case for Guthrie and crew. Hence begins the 18 minute long saga of how Arlo Guthrie was denied the right to go to Vietnam and kill men, women and children. He was apparently unfit to perform such honourable duties after being convicted of being a litterbug.
And this is where we begin our story.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
