“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” by Arlo Guthrie

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is sarcastic and comical in its approach, even though it is based on real-life events. Or another way of looking at it is as said events being exaggerated partially for comic effect. But the other reason is to get the ultimate point of the song across, with it actually being a piece critical of the Vietnam War and indeed ‘stupidity’ in general.

Beginning of the Story

The story originates on Thanksgiving Day, 1965 when Arlo, a buddy named Richard Robbins (who is never called by name in the song) and others decided to spend the holiday with the titular “Alice” and “her husband Ray”. This pair were actually individuals who worked at the boarding school Guthrie attended and at the time were residing in a defunct church. 

The turning point in the story comes when Arlo and his pals decide to clean said premises up due to their being a accumulation of garbage. When they reach the place in town designated for dumping, they are surprisingly greeted by a “Closed on Thanksgiving” sign. So they end up depositing the rubbish at an illegal site. And when law enforcement discovers what they had done, they are promptly arrested the next day for  “littering”.

Now if that doesn’t sound extreme enough, when they are taken back to the scene of the crime, they are greeted by “five police officers” and “three police cars” in addition to reporters. Indeed it is a big scene – so big in fact that the narrator sarcastically classifies it as “the biggest crime of the last 50 years” in the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where the song is set. Then after this entire fiasco the pair is actually thrown in jail, to be eventually bailed out by Alice. And finally they end up appearing before a judge and having to pay $50 in fines in addition to ‘picking up the garbage in the snow’.

Now Alice, as we know, is the only person mentioned in the title. However, she is actually a background character in the song. And it should be noted that at this point she does not have a restaurant. Rather “she lives in the church nearby the restaurant”. But we’ll get more into what the title represents later.  

Second Act

And that brings us to the second act of this lengthy track. This particular scene takes place in New York City. And it seems the narrator is there specifically for the purpose of being inspected by the military as a potential solider to be sent to Vietnam. In other words, he’s been drafted, as in called to report for military duty against his will.

But that of course doesn’t mean he actually wants to go to war. Rather to the contrary – he gets drunk the night before to negatively alter his disposition. And while being evaluated by the army psychiatrist, he makes himself appear as mentally unstable as possible. And the persona he utilized in that regard is one of a deranged killer.

At first this plan works against him, as such seems to be exactly the kind of recruit the Army is looking for. But to make a long story short he is ultimately deemed ineligible, specifically due to his prior littering conviction. In fact they proceed to take his fingerprints and send them “off to Washington” to keep on record just in case he decided to cause any such similar trouble in the future.

And conclusively, he advises others who may find themselves in a similar predicament to proclaim “you can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant”. His belief is that uttering these words, especially if it is done so in mass, will have the desired affect of letting interested parties know that a person is indeed against the war. So the overall implication is that singing this phrase will make a draft officer think of this song. And when he thinks of this song, he will know that the singer is indeed anti-War. In fact on a grander scale, ‘pulling an Alice’s Restaurant’ ultimately became a colloquialism for people who feigned insanity or some other negative condition in order to fool draft officers.

Conclusion

So in the end, it is pretty clear that this song is intended to express an anti-War sentiment. But along the way there are quite a few criticisms of aspects of American society in general. For instance, it is obvious that the singer does not perceive law enforcement favorably, as in considering them to take their jobs to the extreme. Also he alludes to the idea of small towns having dull residents. But his most-pointed critiques are arguably against the US Army itself. He presents the organization as one that encourages and perpetuates hardcore-killing behavior. And again, the stories featured throughout are all supposed to allude to such organizations lacking in intelligence.

So conclusively, you can tell that Arlo Guthrie was a teenager – indeed one growing up during the tumultuous 1960s – when he wrote this song. For the overall disposition of the singer is that he is stereotypically anti-establishment. That is he attacks the police, legal system, military and even the government, all figures of authority, in a farcical and over-the-top fashion. Indeed the word “massacree” found in the title is basically a comical take on the word massacre. And such was the prevailing sentiment of many American youth during the era from which this song originated due to the Vietnam War and other things happening with the country. But that being said the singer he obviously made some valid or at least prevailing points, as this track has since been preserved by the American government itself.

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” Meaning

In this classic, Arlo Guthrie uses a tale about getting arrested for littering which ultimately leads to a criticism of American society at large. This, folks, is what “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is all about!

Who wrote “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”

Arlo Guthrie is the writer of this song, and its producer is Fred Hellerman.

Release Date of “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”

The abbreviated title of this track (“Alice’s Restaurant”) is also the name of the album it is featured on. It was Arlo Guthrie’s first album and came out during October of 1967.

This is the song which put Arlo Guthrie on the map and it is the signature track of his long, distinguished career. In fact the Library of Congress added “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” to the National Recording Registry as recently as 2017, some 50 years after its initial release.

In fact this song was so popular in its heyday that an entire movie, properly entitled “Alice’s Restaurant”, was released about it in 1969. Arlo Guthrie stars as himself, and it also featured the real-life officer who arrested him and his friend for littering (William Obanhein). It also featured the judge that actually fined them (James E. Hannon).

Moreover “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is traditionally played by many radio stations to this day on Thanksgiving. 

Arlo’s Arrest was actually published in a Newspaper

It has been verified that Arlo Guthrie’s arrest for littering was in fact featured in the local newspaper, which is called “The Berkshire Eagle”, on the date of 29 November 1965.

The Guthrie Center

And eventually Alice’s church residence mentioned at the beginning of the song was purchased by Arlo Guthrie himself in 1991. The site is actually in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. And Alice, whose full name is Alice Brock, sold the place many years ago due to the site becoming an unwanted tourist attraction as a result of the popularity of the song and film. Upon purchasing it, Arlo renamed the building the Guthrie Center. The center now serves cultural and educational in addition to religious purposes.

Arlo doesn’t like performing “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” Live

Despite this being the best-known song in his catalog, Arlo Guthrie had developed a disdain towards playing “Alice’s Restaurant” live. One primary reason is that the actual theme it is based on, the Vietnam War, has long passed. Another is that he wanted audiences to appreciate his fresh material or opposed to something he dropped back in the day. Moreover as you can likely imagine actually remembering all of the words to this song, which number well over 2500, is not an easy task.

Bill Cosby inspired the Lyrics of “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”

Arlo Guthrie cited legendary comedian Bill Cosby as one of the lyrical inspirations behind this track. That’s because in his eyes, Bill possessed the admirable ability of reciting lengthy yet engaging stories.

Another spoken word artist/comedian whom Arlo acknowledged as influencing the lyrical style of “Alice’s Restaurant” is Lord Richard Buckly (1906-1960). And the primary musician he recognized as influencing the track’s instrumental side is Mississippi John Hurt (1893-1966).

A Very Long Track!

At a duration of well over 15 minutes, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” is indeed a lengthy track. In fact Arlo logically presumed that the song was not going to blow up. This was because back in the 1960s tracks commonly played on the radio rarely exceeded three minutes.

The reason that a song as popular as “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” didn’t make the Hot 100 was due to its aforementioned length disqualifying it from doing so. However, a later studio version which he dropped as part of the movie did peak at number 97. In actuality though the latter version was not as popular as the original. And one of the main differences between the two is that the first was a live rendition, while the second was recorded under conventional studio protocols.

FYI

Many people have utilized a strategy similar to the one Arlo details in this song in an attempt to evade the draft. One such person, who later became a famous musician himself, is Bruce Springsteen. In fact in reminiscing on this event, the Boss went on to say that he “pulled the whole Alice’s Restaurant” scheme in order to get out of going to war.