Help support Alice Brock (the real life Alice!) by checking out, sharing, or giving "anything you want" to her gofundme. www.gofundme.com/f/you-can-give-anything-you-want Alice will soon be 80, but two years ago she was hospitalized with heart disease and COPD. Take a moment to read more about her, and discover the stories of generosity and kindness that she's shown to strangers and people in need.
@@littlewingmyoho ---- I hate to be that guy, but it's "dyed in the wool" instead of "died". Listening to this while smoking a fatty used to be a tradition of mine, too, until I married my second wife. She ruined this for me, just like she ruined everything else for 18 years. Thankfully, a good divorce lawyer fixed that problem for me. Good luck to you.
That's a wicked awesome thing for you to do , thanks for the link to Alice...love the song & your art, thank you & Happy Thanksgiving! This song a tradition in my home for decades ...
My brother just introduced me to this song for the first time the day after Thanksgiving, which was two days ago on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I took such a keen interest in the song that I came to this video and decided to _add a reply._ That's not what the reply says-- it's what the comment said before I typed the comment-- that's why I added it... Also, is this your original work? Because if it is, it's a masterpiece that's earned my profound respect, and God bless you for having the dedication to hand animate/illustrate this entire 18-minute song. If this is yours, I want to be the one to tell you it's criminally underrated, and I'm sharing it with everyone I know who knows the song.
It's Thanksgiving Day, 2023 and for the past 5 years, YOUR version of Arlo's musical masterpiece has become a Thanksgiving tradition. Thank you so much for doing this, Andrew. It's absolutely incredible and we've shared it with many. xo
When my kids were young, it was our Thanksgiving tradition to gather them together, sit them down together and play this/torture them with it from beginning to end. I can only hope that my grandchildren someday enjoy/survive the same experience.
I believe my dad just did the same for me. Why he did it early in the morning when I can hardly retain my own thoughts is beyond me, however on second listen I found this song to be very funny.
At a Arlo concert a couple years back after singing it he "if I had known I was gonna sing it every night for the next 50+ years I wouldn't have made it so dam long". Even sang it at my draft physical (1969) and every year at Thanksgiving. John Prine said "we lost Davie in the Korean War, still don't know what for,doesn't matter anymore ". Respect those who went and fought it wasn't thier fault, some come back in a box,some come back changed, and some don't come back at all.
Im 61 years old and this song has been a Thanksgiving tradition with my husband and kids. I just sent it to my 63 year old sister who'd never heard it before. She just texted me back laughing and said she and her 34 year old son just watched this and asked me if I remembered that in high school she and her friend were asked to take some garbage to the dump and it was closed. So they dumped the garbage. A few days later my dad received a call from the police that they'd found his name in the garbage... And you know the rest of the story! Hahaha. Good memories I had forgotten about from 1979. 😂
Now you've got me crying. My late nephew spent an ENTIRE summer learning to play and sing this song on his guitar! Drove us all nuts that year! Then he would sing this for us every Thanksgiving!! Now it makes me smile and cry, all at the same time! I miss him so very much it hurts Have a safe Holiday Season this year!!
I saw Arlo singing this in Les Cousins 'Cousins' a small basement club in Greek Street Soho, London in 1967. Nobody in the few dozen in the audience had any idea what they were in for when he started singing. The laughter went on and on. Most memorable concert!
In 1980 I turned 18, and escaped my parents’ cult by moving as far away as a $20 one-way Greyhound ticket could get me. For the first time, I made friends that no one in the cult could veto, and that November, I had my first Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat. A new friend also attended, bringing along a cassette boombox with a bootleg live performance of this song, explaining that this was his Thanksgiving tradition, and had been for as long as he could remember. Turned out to be true for most, if not all, of my new circle of friends, as the group continued preparing our feast and fell virtually silent for the 20+ minutes Arlo sang about Alice, Thanksgiving, garbage, and the war. 44 years later - a move two-thirds the way across the country, a marriage, three daughters, a divorce, a move back - and here I am, listening to Arlo about Alice, like I’ve done every year since my emancipation. And like every year since then, I prepare my special cranberry sauce to share with my latest circle of friends, and think of that first group of friends in 1980, wondering where they are, how they’re doing, and if they’re playing Arlo today. And for my newest group of friends, I’m heading to our feast soon with my ‘famous’ cranberry sauce, my iPhone, a Bluetooth speaker, and Arlo. I’m also bringing my DVD of the film. A toast: To friends old and new, traditions and memories, Arlo and Alice. Happy Thanksgiving 2024.
I have been a big fan of Arlo Guthrie since the Sixties. He wrote an updated version of Alice’s Restaurant in the 1990s; I saw him perform it at a local club in Seattle. I saw him again in the teens, performing the original version in Edmonds, Washington. He’s the best.
@@janach1305 That song took up the whole album side. Especially since at that time a song of three minutes was a long song. Such as all the hit parade, Beetles,etc.
I've been listening to Alice's Restaurant for over 30 years laugh every time. This time, with the illustrations, it takes it to a whole new level. Thank you for doing this Andrew!! Happy Thanksgiving!
This Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 2015, was the 50th anniversary of Arlo's arrest. (He was arrested the day after the Thanksgiving day that fell on Nov. 25 of that year, 1965.) The album was released in 1967. It was an immediate turntable hit on WBAI, the Pacifica Foundation's FM radio station in New York, where I first heard it as a 17-year old kid about to graduate high school, turn 18, register for the draft, and hope to hang on to a college deferment at least long enough until I figured out some other way to avoid Vietnam. So, a lot of my personal history is very tightly woven throughout Arlo's song with its cheerful fatalism. Over the past 24 hours, I've probably listened to it or read things about it more times than in the past 50 years combined, but Andy Colunga's wonderful line drawings and his invitation to discuss the importance of the song on a generation is both the most entertaining and evocative. I'm happy to have found it today. Thanks, Andy, for the nice work. I have one more personal memory to share. Although Arlo's advice never kept me out of Vietnam, Abbie Hoffman's advice did. In 1971, with the war's meat grinder about to force the end of student deferments, I was in the first draft lottery and received an alarmingly low number, but Hoffman found a loophole. If anyone was 1-A for any part of a calendar year and was not drafted in that year, they were automatically moved to the lowest draft category on Jan. 1 of the following year. So, on Dec. 31 at 4:59 pm, I walked into the office of my local draft board in Morristown, NJ and handed them a letter stating that I wished to be reclassified 1-A. I truly do remember seeing the appreciative look on the faces of the board members and hearing Arlo's words in my head, "You're our boy." I looked at the clock as I walked out. It was 5pm. The board secretary accompanied me to the door and locked it behind me, ending business for the day and for the year. In my head again I heard the verse that Arlo suggested we sing. I was part of the Alice's Restaurant Anti Mass-a-cree movement, and I was free.
Tony Russomanno, I’m totally in love with your story, Tony! I first heard “Alice’s Restaurant”, years after it’s release date. I was either a “Tween, or younger teenager. As I made it to 17, or so, I listened to the song entire. It was ONE SONG on an album sized record. Crazy, crazy! I loved that the “song” was so unusual and hip. This was back in the 1970s. Gahd! That’s sooo long ago! Anyway, better days, man.
You mean you were that in to the song but didn't try to get labeled nuts by a psych to get out of the army? I thought thats what he was encouraging at the end.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1965, I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base near Biloxi, Mississippi. Things turned out great for me. I was lucky. Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Thanksgiving 2020. My Dad used to play this on the radio at exactly 12:00 on the drive to our grandparents for lunch. Still listen to it every year at 12. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
That was a Thanksgiving tradition at a favorite radio station in my old home town. Every Thanksgiving day, at exactly noon, the deejay would play Alice's Restaurant Massacree for his audience. It was a tradition for decades. The station still exists, but it's changed hands a number of times and I don't know if they still carry on the tradition.
I was 10 in 1965 and the Viet Nam War was so confusing to us. Two of my cousins went--one came through o.k. The moral question of taking part in all of the criminal behavior of our military was VERY troubling. Being the brilliant son of Woody Guthrie, Arlo gave humor and voice to what we all were struggling with and I am grateful. Thank you, Arlo!!!
(no relation to Mary) Well said. I was only 7 in 1965, and the oldest child in my immediate family. So, I really had no idea about what was going on in Vietnam until much later. I still play this every year.
This takes me back to my days in the USMC. Nothing like a good ole protest song to play at 150 decibels from that Marantz reciever fresh off the plane from Okinawa. I don't have that stereo anymore but I used every bit of that unlimited wattage threshold on my Kenwood 999's. I don't think they ever sold stateside. I had this awesome slide tray pioneer cassette deck and a turntable that I don't recall but it cost a couple hundred bucks st the time and that was top notch. Anyways id rock the fuck out of the BEQ's .
This song came out as a single, 5 min., and was played on every radio station. It also came out on an LP, 27 min. which was not allowed to be aired. As a DJ in a small town, on Vancouver Island, I played the long version. My boss, who was in his car, rushed to the station, grabbed the record off the turn table and broke it, so I couldn't play it again. A year later I was working at another station, in the Cariboo Valley, my boss in the home station sent me a teletype (original texting, LOL) `You think this is an underground station?'. I noticed some parts were missing in this version, and in the song Arlo mentions that it is a 24 min. version, yet what we are listening to here is only 18 min. So if you want to hear the complete song, find an original LP and play the whole 27 min. Because, `You can get anything you want.........'
Never could play the guitar and sing at the same time.....my brother learned the words, I the guitar part and we did this as a duo many time for family and friends at parties and just sitting around.
Don't know why this pop up but..oh boy just brought in so sweet memories of my husband, who played this every Thanksgiving for 30 years. Loved and sang this song while eating a turkey leg over the sink and fixing himself a drink. Thanks for posting, I do love this type of story telling.
11-23-23 Just found your animation, loved watching Alice's Restaurant, instead of just listening to it! Thank you for keeping us glued to the song! This is now in my favorites. Happy Turkey Day 🦃 everyone, now let's stop the wars!
My 2 sisters and I hopped on our bikes and road down the road from our house to the pond where we used to ice skate and catch crayfish, came across a whole mob of people with garbage everywhere, cars camera's and thought they were destroying our bushland. Well we stopped and like very concerned citizens asked why they were trashing our bushland to which they said " you can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant" They were filming the garbage part of the film. Told our parents and when it was released they took us to see the move. Ah, memories.
I'm enjoying this at the right time of the year and - it's the 50th Anniversary of Alice's Restaurant (The Massacree) Song. This is so great! Heard it first in the 70's, love his album and his songs, this was the and is the best, it makes me laugh and wonder if I'd ever end up in this same situation, really seem's to be my kind of luck. It's funny, brings much laughter and fun smile's for many years. Thanks for Arlo Guthrie - this is great!
Dude listening to this song is our Thanksgiving tradition, and your illustrations have made it even more entertaining! Thankful for talent like this, very cool!
Haven't heard this in years and a young man, who surprised me by making reference to this song. Had to download it of course am so happy that this is the original, Period. I was 18 when this came out and it was our "motto" - a group of hippies in Hollywood who had moved there from all over to find peace, love and freedom. Well done.
First I've seen your illustrated version. Excellent drawings. You captured it all. Thanks for taking the time to do this, a labor of love. And thanks for for encouraging DISCUSSION, altho, sadly, that hasn't happened. I came across this since it was next to the album on UA-cam, and I've gotta have me some Alice's Restaurant every thanksgiving. Hell with the turkey dinner. This is my tradition for 50 years.
Just wanted to say I started listening to this when I was 14 years old someone told me about it that it come on every Thanksgiving att12 so I started then listening to every year then when I started having kids and I would have family and friends that would come over every Thanksgiving at 12 we listen to Alice's Restaurant and now at 41 years old I'm standing in the kitchen baking with my youngest child who's 15 and still listen to it at 12 every Thanksgiving my other children that don't live with me anymore they listen to it I have family States over no matter where we are and my family and friends at 12 every Thanksgiving we listen to Alice's Restaurant because no matter where we are we're still together
I listened to this for the first time in the back of a milk truck on a portable record player. My daughter grew up listening to it on Thanksgiving. Now my granddaughter listens to it. Thanks to Arlo for all the memories. 💙😊✌️
I've heard of the song over the years, but this is the first time actually hearing the song sung. The idiocy or what happens in the song reflects some of the craziness of war but not the debilitating agony of its aftermath.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm an old guy, who was a young guy when Arlo came out with this. It's a Sunday morning in December 2022, having just read news contemplating the state of the world, being kinda sad imagining the hopelessness of the little remaining future I have and what's in store for my children. By chance I clicked on this video, and remembered the hope for the future this song presented. Hope during a time when manmade extinction was a clear and present fear. Now, maybe, just maybe the spirit of this song, that generation's small but powerful optimism, is still lingering. Now, too I have a little hope we will still be around in fifty years. We may have new struggles then but maybe also this song can be played, now 100 years old, and someone will again have their spirits lifted, and manage to hang on for another day.
... look up lee Michales & Frosty Stormy Monday ...thanks 75 years old myself ... remember some never get to our age ... enjoy best you can ... worry about nothing at this point ...
We had two brothers in our church youth group who would take one guitar, one would strum, the other would finger the chords, and start singing Alice's Restaurant. Mid-way through, they would switch places, generally without missing a beat, or a word! Good times!
BEST hour I've spent laughing in my life. Obviously, I watched it several times. Then posted to FB under the heading, "In Quotations." " ' In Bold Lettering.' " "IF YOU NEED A GOOD LAUGH YOU MUST LISTEN/WATCH." Thanx for bringing this to the attn of "our" generation; I was very tired of explaining who Arlo Guthrie was to 100 musically illiterate friends.
I have loved this song since I first heard it years ago, but this illustrated version adds a entirely new and wholly entertaining dimension to the lyrical genius - fantastic job, sir!
So many years later, this is still my tradition to salute Arlo Guthrie and the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement on Thanksgiving Day. This year, 2019, it means something really important.
Sittin down town Creal Springs just about a half mile from the railroad track, after they done rolled up the sidewalks, listening to Heck and Big Tom strummin on their guitars, to something we liked to call "You can get anything you want at Mini Jane's Restaurant" as Bonneva sashad by, and being the fun lovin person she is, said " I like that song".!!!! We loved that song... Thanks Arlo for giving us that song !!!!!!!!!! I introduced it to my kids this past Thanksgiving 2013....
Just an outstanding video to commemorate the song's anniversary. Much appreciated. Born in 1952. Got my college deferment for 3 semesters. Then decided that my disability of a mangled leg and lower leg lack of feeling would probably save me, even with a very low draft number, I let them send me the "greetings" letter. Finally got my permanent 4F and every day of school, I remembered this song....
Thank you so much for this video. I'm trying to teach American culture to college students in Kazakhstan -- I mean, REAL American culture, not the crap they see in cineplexes. I wanted to play this song for Thanksgiving but knew they would never make it through the audio alone. THIS will keep them paying attention! 👍 Meanwhile, I wish you and everyone back home a happy and reflective Thanksgiving. "Let us dedicate ourselves to that" -- to echo words from Arlo's day -- "and say a prayer for our country and for our people."
Love this song. Arlo has an album called Live In Sidney. He sang the song (sort of) and then talked about trying to perform it a few years before and forgetting the lyrics. Absolute hoot.
Great job making this Thanksgiving day celebration more fun. My son just named my first grand daughter Arlow Mae. This made my day today. Peace and happiness.
I've been listening to Alice's restaurant for decades. Can't believe I've never seen this version before now. So glad it was made, the animated pics brings it to life so much more.
just moved across the country. listening to this is my family’s tradition. this is first time listening to this song on thanksgiving so far away from my family and i can’t even finish it. definitely seems different this year
I first heard this song when I was in the 6th grade. I was a playing a workhouse boy in the highschool play Oliver. The High School music director had recruited grade school students to play parts. This song was played by a High School Student in the cafeteria to keep us kids occupied. I thought he was so old. He couldn't have been more than 18. You can get any thing you want at Alice's Restaurant.
Heard this on the radio in the UK in the 60's love the guitar work and the lyrics! Another big favourite of mine and my pals in THE MOTORCYCLE SONG as we all rode motorbikes at the time! Never fail ti make us laugh!!!
I just came here to listen to this song because its been like 2 years since I last heard it. I completely forgot it was anything related to thanksgiving :D
Loved this! Such a great tradition listening to the song. Thanks Andy for adding a new tradition starting this year, I will remember to watch every Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
I’ll be 66 next Month (2022) today is Thanksgiving. I love this and Arlo. The draft ended and I sure wasn’t volunteering Oddly I have “survivors guilt” and think I should have enlisted? Whatever… Happy Thanksgiving people… wake up
Help support Alice Brock (the real life Alice!) by checking out, sharing, or giving "anything you want" to her gofundme.
www.gofundme.com/f/you-can-give-anything-you-want
Alice will soon be 80, but two years ago she was hospitalized with heart disease and COPD. Take a moment to read more about her, and discover the stories of generosity and kindness that she's shown to strangers and people in need.
My only died in the wool Thanksgiving tradition is this song for many decades... Thank you 😍
@@littlewingmyoho ---- I hate to be that guy, but it's "dyed in the wool" instead of "died". Listening to this while smoking a fatty used to be a tradition of mine, too, until I married my second wife. She ruined this for me, just like she ruined everything else for 18 years. Thankfully, a good divorce lawyer fixed that problem for me. Good luck to you.
That's a wicked awesome thing for you to do , thanks for the link to Alice...love the song & your art, thank you & Happy Thanksgiving! This song a tradition in my home for decades ...
My brother just introduced me to this song for the first time the day after Thanksgiving, which was two days ago on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I took such a keen interest in the song that I came to this video and decided to _add a reply._ That's not what the reply says-- it's what the comment said before I typed the comment-- that's why I added it...
Also, is this your original work? Because if it is, it's a masterpiece that's earned my profound respect, and God bless you for having the dedication to hand animate/illustrate this entire 18-minute song. If this is yours, I want to be the one to tell you it's criminally underrated, and I'm sharing it with everyone I know who knows the song.
A great song and video.
Heads up, everyone. Alice just passed away this year in 2024. RIP, Alice.
It's Thanksgiving Day, 2023 and for the past 5 years, YOUR version of Arlo's musical masterpiece has become a Thanksgiving tradition. Thank you so much for doing this, Andrew. It's absolutely incredible and we've shared it with many. xo
When my kids were young, it was our Thanksgiving tradition to gather them together, sit them down together and play this/torture them with it from beginning to end. I can only hope that my grandchildren someday enjoy/survive the same experience.
"SURVIVE" 😂
That is more appropriate than Ever.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
My dad this to us every year and my kids will carry on the tradition :')
I believe my dad just did the same for me. Why he did it early in the morning when I can hardly retain my own thoughts is beyond me, however on second listen I found this song to be very funny.
Every year!!
My family STILL plays this every year. We actually LOVE it.
Thanksgiving 2024.
Thanks for everything, Alice.
RIP Alice Brock (February 28, 1941 - November 21, 2024)
At a Arlo concert a couple years back after singing it he "if I had known I was gonna sing it every night for the next 50+ years I wouldn't have made it so dam long". Even sang it at my draft physical (1969) and every year at Thanksgiving. John Prine said "we lost Davie in the Korean War, still don't know what for,doesn't matter anymore ". Respect those who went and fought it wasn't thier fault, some come back in a box,some come back changed, and some don't come back at all.
This is Alice's Restaurant. We dodge the draft here.
Hysterical!!! Hearing this for the 1st. time @ age 81. ❤
Im 61 years old and this song has been a Thanksgiving tradition with my husband and kids. I just sent it to my 63 year old sister who'd never heard it before. She just texted me back laughing and said she and her 34 year old son just watched this and asked me if I remembered that in high school she and her friend were asked to take some garbage to the dump and it was closed. So they dumped the garbage. A few days later my dad received a call from the police that they'd found his name in the garbage... And you know the rest of the story! Hahaha. Good memories I had forgotten about from 1979. 😂
You can get Anything you want at Alice's Restaurant! 😂
Now you've got me crying. My late nephew spent an ENTIRE summer learning to play and sing this song on his guitar! Drove us all nuts that year! Then he would sing this for us every Thanksgiving!! Now it makes me smile and cry, all at the same time!
I miss him so very much it hurts
Have a safe Holiday Season this year!!
This is a thousand percent better than looking at the album cover for the duration.
Hear, hear! I was gonna post the same thing, but, I got lost trippin down everyone's winding roads of stories!
Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies!
I saw Arlo singing this in Les Cousins 'Cousins' a small basement club in Greek Street Soho, London in 1967. Nobody in the few dozen in the audience had any idea what they were in for when he started singing. The laughter went on and on. Most memorable concert!
In 1980 I turned 18, and escaped my parents’ cult by moving as far away as a $20 one-way Greyhound ticket could get me. For the first time, I made friends that no one in the cult could veto, and that November, I had my first Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat.
A new friend also attended, bringing along a cassette boombox with a bootleg live performance of this song, explaining that this was his Thanksgiving tradition, and had been for as long as he could remember. Turned out to be true for most, if not all, of my new circle of friends, as the group continued preparing our feast and fell virtually silent for the 20+ minutes Arlo sang about Alice, Thanksgiving, garbage, and the war.
44 years later - a move two-thirds the way across the country, a marriage, three daughters, a divorce, a move back - and here I am, listening to Arlo about Alice, like I’ve done every year since my emancipation. And like every year since then, I prepare my special cranberry sauce to share with my latest circle of friends, and think of that first group of friends in 1980, wondering where they are, how they’re doing, and if they’re playing Arlo today.
And for my newest group of friends, I’m heading to our feast soon with my ‘famous’ cranberry sauce, my iPhone, a Bluetooth speaker, and Arlo. I’m also bringing my DVD of the film.
A toast: To friends old and new, traditions and memories, Arlo and Alice.
Happy Thanksgiving 2024.
I can remember the words to this whole song yet I can't remember where I left my keys.
Bravo on the deciphering what the sergeant said at 12:30 !
LOL everyone used to memorize that part in particular--even if you didn't know all of the rest of it!
Well done, sir!
"Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Best line in this terrific story. Love the understated sarcasm.
"Shut up, kid"
that's OFFICER Obie, kid.
I always liked "one big pile is better than two little piles".
I have been a big fan of Arlo Guthrie since the Sixties. He wrote an updated version of Alice’s Restaurant in the 1990s; I saw him perform it at a local club in Seattle. I saw him again in the teens, performing the original version in Edmonds, Washington. He’s the best.
I heard the updated version too and laughed so much!
@@sadhumarga7422 “How many things in the world are exactly eighteen minutes and twenty seconds long?” 😸
@@janach1305 That song took up the whole album side. Especially since at that time a song of three minutes was a long song. Such as all the hit parade, Beetles,etc.
RIP Alice!
I've been listening to Alice's Restaurant for over 30 years laugh every time. This time, with the illustrations, it takes it to a whole new level. Thank you for doing this Andrew!! Happy Thanksgiving!
This Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 2015, was the 50th anniversary of Arlo's arrest. (He was arrested the day after the Thanksgiving day that fell on Nov. 25 of that year, 1965.) The album was released in 1967. It was an immediate turntable hit on WBAI, the Pacifica Foundation's FM radio station in New York, where I first heard it as a 17-year old kid about to graduate high school, turn 18, register for the draft, and hope to hang on to a college deferment at least long enough until I figured out some other way to avoid Vietnam. So, a lot of my personal history is very tightly woven throughout Arlo's song with its cheerful fatalism.
Over the past 24 hours, I've probably listened to it or read things about it more times than in the past 50 years combined, but Andy Colunga's wonderful line drawings and his invitation to discuss the importance of the song on a generation is both the most entertaining and evocative. I'm happy to have found it today. Thanks, Andy, for the nice work.
I have one more personal memory to share. Although Arlo's advice never kept me out of Vietnam, Abbie Hoffman's advice did. In 1971, with the war's meat grinder about to force the end of student deferments, I was in the first draft lottery and received an alarmingly low number, but Hoffman found a loophole. If anyone was 1-A for any part of a calendar year and was not drafted in that year, they were automatically moved to the lowest draft category on Jan. 1 of the following year. So, on Dec. 31 at 4:59 pm, I walked into the office of my local draft board in Morristown, NJ and handed them a letter stating that I wished to be reclassified 1-A.
I truly do remember seeing the appreciative look on the faces of the board members and hearing Arlo's words in my head, "You're our boy." I looked at the clock as I walked out. It was 5pm. The board secretary accompanied me to the door and locked it behind me, ending business for the day and for the year. In my head again I heard the verse that Arlo suggested we sing. I was part of the Alice's Restaurant Anti Mass-a-cree movement, and I was free.
Tony Russomanno, I’m totally in love with your story, Tony! I first heard “Alice’s Restaurant”, years after it’s release date. I was either a “Tween, or younger teenager. As I made it to 17, or so, I listened to the song entire. It was ONE SONG on an album sized record. Crazy, crazy! I loved that the “song” was so unusual and hip. This was back in the 1970s. Gahd! That’s sooo long ago! Anyway, better days, man.
You mean you were that in to the song but didn't try to get labeled nuts by a psych to get out of the army? I thought thats what he was encouraging at the end.
I always wondered why our local radio station plays this song every year, thanks for a bit of history on it :)
Right on Abbie.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1965, I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base near Biloxi, Mississippi. Things turned out great for me. I was lucky. Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone . 2024 .
Said kid we found a...... such a great song.
Alone on Thanksgiving because of Covid. This was the best part of the day! Thank you for sharing- brought back great memories!
RIP Alice
This must have been a LOT of hard work. We all appreciate your efforts. Very cool...
Thanksgiving 2020. My Dad used to play this on the radio at exactly 12:00 on the drive to our grandparents for lunch. Still listen to it every year at 12. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
That was a Thanksgiving tradition at a favorite radio station in my old home town. Every Thanksgiving day, at exactly noon, the deejay would play Alice's Restaurant Massacree for his audience.
It was a tradition for decades. The station still exists, but it's changed hands a number of times and I don't know if they still carry on the tradition.
We had the same tradition at our house. Bonus was the DJ for the radio station was named Arlo.
I was 10 in 1965 and the Viet Nam War was so confusing to us. Two of my cousins went--one came through o.k. The moral question of taking part in all of the criminal behavior of our military was VERY troubling. Being the brilliant son of Woody Guthrie, Arlo gave humor and voice to what we all were struggling with and I am grateful. Thank you, Arlo!!!
South Vietnam asked for our help and we tried our best to give it.
The funny thing is that there are more communists in the USA now then in Vietnam...
(no relation to Mary) Well said. I was only 7 in 1965, and the oldest child in my immediate family. So, I really had no idea about what was going on in Vietnam until much later. I still play this every year.
@@CIorox_BIeach no they didnt they literally wanted you guys to leave
@@LunacyFringe The opposing side did, the allies didn't.
Checking in in 2020, on the 55th anniversary of Also's arrest. This version is now my go-to version of this song on Thanksgiving.
It really WAS around the back, and about a half a mile from the railroad track.
Oh man I haven't heard that song since the 70's, put a smile on my face this Thanksgiving day.
This takes me back to my days in the USMC. Nothing like a good ole protest song to play at 150 decibels from that Marantz reciever fresh off the plane from Okinawa. I don't have that stereo anymore but I used every bit of that unlimited wattage threshold on my Kenwood 999's. I don't think they ever sold stateside. I had this awesome slide tray pioneer cassette deck and a turntable that I don't recall but it cost a couple hundred bucks st the time and that was top notch. Anyways id rock the fuck out of the BEQ's .
This song came out as a single, 5 min., and was played on every radio station. It also came out on an LP, 27 min. which was not allowed to be aired. As a DJ in a small town, on Vancouver Island, I played the long version. My boss, who was in his car, rushed to the station, grabbed the record off the turn table and broke it, so I couldn't play it again.
A year later I was working at another station, in the Cariboo Valley, my boss in the home station sent me a teletype (original texting, LOL) `You think this is an underground station?'.
I noticed some parts were missing in this version, and in the song Arlo mentions that it is a 24 min. version, yet what we are listening to here is only 18 min.
So if you want to hear the complete song, find an original LP and play the whole 27 min.
Because, `You can get anything you want.........'
.... congrats on you ... still a great happy hour bar song ...
This is the version we Australians got on LP for the initial release.
Never could play the guitar and sing at the same time.....my brother learned the words, I the guitar part and we did this as a duo many time for family and friends at parties and just sitting around.
In 1967, at the Enlisted Club at Naval Communications Station Adak Alaska, a sign appeared one day designating a corner area as “The Group W Bench”.
Happy Thanksgiving once again, America. This song & video makes my heart full of tears somehow. It's a good thing.
R.I.P. Alice
I still listen to this every yr at Thanksgiving, a 50 year tradition I made my son listen to for 30 years of his life👍
I’m 68. I have goosebumps. Thank you. ❤️✌🏼
Thanksgiving 2019 checking in.
every year
I'm a little late but here I am. See you all next year!
2020
Thanksgiving 2022 checking in
Don't know why this pop up but..oh boy just brought in so sweet memories of my husband, who played this every Thanksgiving for 30 years. Loved and sang this song while eating a turkey leg over the sink and fixing himself a drink. Thanks for posting, I do love this type of story telling.
11-23-23 Just found your animation, loved watching Alice's Restaurant, instead of just listening to it! Thank you for keeping us glued to the song! This is now in my favorites. Happy Turkey Day 🦃 everyone, now let's stop the wars!
My 2 sisters and I hopped on our bikes and road down the road from our house to the pond where we used to ice skate and catch crayfish, came across a whole mob of people with garbage everywhere, cars camera's and thought they were destroying our bushland. Well we stopped and like very concerned citizens asked why they were trashing our bushland to which they said " you can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant"
They were filming the garbage part of the film. Told our parents and when it was released they took us to see the move. Ah, memories.
Cooooooooll!!!
I'm enjoying this at the right time of the year and - it's the 50th Anniversary of Alice's Restaurant (The Massacree) Song. This is so great! Heard it first in the 70's, love his album and his songs, this was the and is the best, it makes me laugh and wonder if I'd ever end up in this same situation, really seem's to be my kind of luck. It's funny, brings much laughter and fun smile's for many years. Thanks for Arlo Guthrie - this is great!
Mine 2
Thank you for illustrating this great song! You've done it proud!
Been there,done that,stopped at Norman rockwells studio ,too several times,God bless Alice such good memories listening to this!Thanks!😊
Total Thanksgiving tradition for from the first time I heard it (ie when it was first released - I’m a genuine old hippie chick lol)
Dude listening to this song is our Thanksgiving tradition, and your illustrations have made it even more entertaining! Thankful for talent like this, very cool!
Twin cities KQRS fm 92.5 Thank you for playing this version 3 times every Thanksgiving day
This song was brilliant...Droll...clever....I've always loved the humor with a 'moral' to the story.
Whoever did these pictures, you are fantastic. Portrays so much with very simple line drawing. Amazing! Much talent.
Haven't heard this in years and a young man, who surprised me by making reference to this song. Had to download it of course am so happy that this is the original, Period. I was 18 when this came out and it was our "motto" - a group of hippies in Hollywood who had moved there from all over to find peace, love and freedom. Well done.
Back again after another year. I listen to this every Thanksgiving after working for 18hrs at my own restaurant. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
First I've seen your illustrated version. Excellent drawings. You captured it all. Thanks for taking the time to do this, a labor of love. And thanks for for encouraging DISCUSSION, altho, sadly, that hasn't happened.
I came across this since it was next to the album on UA-cam, and I've gotta have me some Alice's Restaurant every thanksgiving. Hell with the turkey dinner. This is my tradition for 50 years.
this will always hold a special place in my heart
Just wanted to say I started listening to this when I was 14 years old someone told me about it that it come on every Thanksgiving att12 so I started then listening to every year then when I started having kids and I would have family and friends that would come over every Thanksgiving at 12 we listen to Alice's Restaurant and now at 41 years old I'm standing in the kitchen baking with my youngest child who's 15 and still listen to it at 12 every Thanksgiving my other children that don't live with me anymore they listen to it I have family States over no matter where we are and my family and friends at 12 every Thanksgiving we listen to Alice's Restaurant because no matter where we are we're still together
I listened to this for the first time in the back of a milk truck on a portable record player. My daughter grew up listening to it on Thanksgiving. Now my granddaughter listens to it. Thanks to Arlo for all the memories. 💙😊✌️
I've heard of the song over the years, but this is the first time actually hearing the song sung. The idiocy or what happens in the song reflects some of the craziness of war but not the debilitating agony of its aftermath.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm an old guy, who was a young guy when Arlo came out with this. It's a Sunday morning in December 2022, having just read news contemplating the state of the world, being kinda sad imagining the hopelessness of the little remaining future I have and what's in store for my children. By chance I clicked on this video, and remembered the hope for the future this song presented. Hope during a time when manmade extinction was a clear and present fear. Now, maybe, just maybe the spirit of this song, that generation's small but powerful optimism, is still lingering. Now, too I have a little hope we will still be around in fifty years. We may have new struggles then but maybe also this song can be played, now 100 years old, and someone will again have their spirits lifted, and manage to hang on for another day.
... look up lee Michales & Frosty Stormy Monday ...thanks 75 years old myself ... remember some never get to our age ... enjoy best you can ... worry about nothing at this point ...
You are fantastic! We used to go arm and arm in the halls of high school repeating this wonderful story/song...
We had two brothers in our church youth group who would take one guitar, one would strum, the other would finger the chords, and start singing Alice's Restaurant. Mid-way through, they would switch places, generally without missing a beat, or a word! Good times!
To Andrew Colunga: ("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF")
Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for this excellent version w/ the artwork.
Love the illustrations! They made me refresh my appreciation of this wonderful work. Thank you!
I have NEVER seen the illustrated video of this song before. I LOVE it!!!
Listened to this song every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. Today I am thankful for finding this awesome illustrated version! Thank you!
I'm back for the third year. It's not Thanksgiving without "Alice's Restaurant." 😎 Happy Thanksgiving everyone! See you next year. 🦃
Only old farts gets this. Sadly we are a dying breed.
I came back early this year (August 2023. I'll see ya again in November, friend. I was one who gave a thumb up last year. 😁👍
I saw Arlo Guthrie and Jon Prime 2 years in a row together in the 80s .
What a treat . what a time period .
BEST hour I've spent laughing in my life. Obviously, I watched it several times. Then posted to FB under the heading, "In Quotations." " ' In Bold Lettering.' " "IF YOU NEED A GOOD LAUGH YOU MUST LISTEN/WATCH." Thanx for bringing this to the attn of "our" generation; I was very tired of explaining who Arlo Guthrie was to 100 musically illiterate friends.
I have loved this song since I first heard it years ago, but this illustrated version adds a entirely new and wholly entertaining dimension to the lyrical genius - fantastic job, sir!
Added so much depth for me too to see the illustrated pictures!
So many years later, this is still my tradition to salute Arlo Guthrie and the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement on Thanksgiving Day. This year, 2019, it means something really important.
Sittin down town Creal Springs just about a half mile from the railroad track, after they done rolled up the sidewalks, listening to Heck and Big Tom strummin on their guitars, to something we liked to call "You can get anything you want at Mini Jane's Restaurant" as Bonneva sashad by, and being the fun lovin person she is, said " I like that song".!!!! We loved that song... Thanks Arlo for giving us that song !!!!!!!!!! I introduced it to my kids this past Thanksgiving 2013....
Love this classic…🦋
Been listening to this song for many decades now... loved seeing the illustrations.
Happy Thanksgiving 2015.
Just an outstanding video to commemorate the song's anniversary. Much appreciated. Born in 1952. Got my college deferment for 3 semesters. Then decided that my disability of a mangled leg and lower leg lack of feeling would probably save me, even with a very low draft number, I let them send me the "greetings" letter. Finally got my permanent 4F and every day of school, I remembered this song....
Thank you so much for this video. I'm trying to teach American culture to college students in Kazakhstan -- I mean, REAL American culture, not the crap they see in cineplexes. I wanted to play this song for Thanksgiving but knew they would never make it through the audio alone. THIS will keep them paying attention! 👍 Meanwhile, I wish you and everyone back home a happy and reflective Thanksgiving. "Let us dedicate ourselves to that" -- to echo words from Arlo's day -- "and say a prayer for our country and for our people."
Love this song.
Arlo has an album called Live In Sidney. He sang the song (sort of) and then talked about trying to perform it a few years before and forgetting the lyrics. Absolute hoot.
Our kids ,26-38, all 6 of them, will not miss this on Thanksgiving. Been hearing it their whole life! Rock on Pierre😁
Lost Jimmy, Janis and Jim Morrison in 1971 and ate at Alice's restaurant but this restaurant was in Vietnam, (Chu-Che) its now 2022 🤗🖖🖖👋✌️
Great job making this Thanksgiving day celebration more fun. My son just named my first grand daughter Arlow Mae. This made my day today. Peace and happiness.
This will always be a song that will lift my spirits! You have to smile while you listen.
Checking in on Thanksgiving. November 28, 2024
I've been listening to Alice's restaurant for decades. Can't believe I've never seen this version before now. So glad it was made, the animated pics brings it to life so much more.
Awesome 👏🏼
I haven't heard this in years. It's still just as good as it was the first time I heard it.
just moved across the country. listening to this is my family’s tradition. this is first time listening to this song on thanksgiving so far away from my family and i can’t even finish it. definitely seems different this year
God Bless Pierre Robert! Wmmr! Plays it's 3 times on Thanksgiving every year.
This video is 12 years old and I'm just now finding it, and it's FANTASTIC!!
Thanksgiving 2022. We've made it to another one.
I know people that still play this every Thanksgiving as a tradition. “Shut up, kid “. “The group W bench” always gets me
Always enjoyed doing thanksgiving prep work while listening to this.
It's that time of year again...
Once again I get to enjoy this...2017
one old hippydippy momma who heard it way back when...even make a pilgrimage to the old site back in the 90's.
I first heard this song when I was in the 6th grade. I was a playing a workhouse boy in the highschool play Oliver. The High School music director had recruited grade school students to play parts. This song was played by a High School Student in the cafeteria to keep us kids occupied. I thought he was so old. He couldn't have been more than 18. You can get any thing you want at Alice's Restaurant.
Heard this on the radio in the UK in the 60's love the guitar work and the lyrics! Another big favourite of mine and my pals in THE MOTORCYCLE SONG as we all rode motorbikes at the time! Never fail ti make us laugh!!!
I just came here to listen to this song because its been like 2 years since I last heard it. I completely forgot it was anything related to thanksgiving :D
Loved this! Such a great tradition listening to the song. Thanks Andy for adding a new tradition starting this year, I will remember to watch every Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
To the maker of this video, it still holds up today, everyone keep sharing and watching.
A great man, a great song, in a time long ago that changed and hurt many people. Never forget.
I’ll be 66 next Month (2022) today is Thanksgiving.
I love this and Arlo.
The draft ended and I sure wasn’t volunteering
Oddly I have “survivors guilt” and think I should have enlisted? Whatever…
Happy Thanksgiving people… wake up
Here it is, the amazing illustrated Alice's Restaurant!
Great job with this, I watch this every Thanksgiving at least four times. :)
I've loved this song for so long and loved your illustrations! Absolutely wonderful
So easy to picture the scenes described. Classic.
5 yrs ago today this has been my go to Thanksgiving video! Excellent job and thanks for the fun! 50 yrs ago this was recorded about Thanksgiving 1965!
Loved the video. Thank you so much for the illustrations. Well made, great job!