Alice's Restaurant: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|US talking blues song by Arlo Guthrie}}

The song inspired the 1969 film [[Alice's Restaurant (film)|''Alice's Restaurant'']], which starred Guthrie and took [[Alice's Restaurant (film)#Differences from real life|numerous liberties with the story]]. The work has become Guthrie's [[signature song]] and he has periodically re-released it with updated lyrics. In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the [[National Recording Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or artisticallyaesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-028/|title=National Recording Registry Reaches 500|date=March 21, 2018|work=Library of Congress|access-date=March 21, 2018}}</ref>

Guthrie states that the song is entitledtitled "Alice's Restaurant" but clarifies that this is only the name of the song, not the business owned by his friend Alice. He then sings the chorus, which is in the form of a [[jingle]] for the restaurant, beginning with "You can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant" twice, and continuing with directions to it before restating the slogan once more.

It has become a tradition for many [[classic rock]] and [[adult album alternative]] radio stations to play the song each Thanksgiving.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/11/23/as_a_holiday_staple_alices_lives_here_evermore/ |title=As a holiday staple, 'Alice's' lives here evermore – The Boston Globe |publisher=Boston.com |date=2006-11-23 |access-date=2015-11-26}}</ref> Despite its usemention of the slur "faggots", radio stations generally present the song as originally recorded, and the [[Federal Communications Commission]] has never punished a station for playing it.<ref name=51things>[https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2015/08/26/things-about-arlo-guthrie-alice-restaurant-its-anniversary/n9KOboD8L9X32UownPPFtK/story.html 51 things about Arlo Guthrie and Alice's Restaurant on its 51st Anniversary]. ''Boston Globe'' (August 26, 2015). Retrieved November 7, 2017.</ref> When performing the song in later years, Guthrie began to [[Expurgation|change the line to something less offensive]] and often topical: during the 1990s and 2000s, the song alluded to the ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode "[[The Outing (Seinfeld)|The Outing]]" by saying "They'll think you're gay—not that there's anything wrong with that," and in 2015, Guthrie used the line "They'll think they're trying to get married in some parts of Kentucky", a nod to the controversy of the time surrounding county clerk [[Kim Davis]].

The Alice in the song was restaurant-owner [[Alice Brock|Alice May Brock]] (born 1941). In 19641962, shortly after graduatingdropping fromout of [[Sarah Lawrence College]], Alice used $2,000 supplied by her mother to purchase a [[deconsecration|deconsecrated]] church in [[Great Barrington, Massachusetts]], where Alice and her husband, Ray Brock (1929–August 1, 1979), would live. Alice was a painter and designer, while Ray was an architect and woodworker who originally was from [[Hartfield, Virginia]];<ref>{{Cite web |last=DiAngelo |first=Bob |date=2022-11-29 |title=Arlo Guthrie, woman who inspired 'Alice's Restaurant' hold 1st Thanksgiving together since 1965 |url=https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/arlo-guthrie-woman-who-inspired-alices-restaurant-hold-1st-thanksgiving-together-since-1965/TW5ZZ6SM55HPDJI3JWFKLVWCUQ/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=KIRO 7 News Seattle |language=en}}</ref> the two had met while in [[Greenwich Village]] in 1962. Both worked at a nearby private academy, the music and art-oriented [[Stockbridge School]], from which Guthrie (then of [[Howard Beach]], a neighborhood in [[Queens]], [[New York City]]) had graduated. [[File:stockbridge-alices-restaurant.jpg|thumb|Sign to restaurant]]

Alice Brock operated a restaurant called "The Back Room" in 1966, at 40 [[U.S. Route 7 in Massachusetts|Main Street in Stockbridge]], located behind a grocery store and directly underneath the studios of [[Norman Rockwell]].<ref name="nytobit">[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/14/obituaries/william-j-obanhein-alice-s-restaurant-lawman-69.html William J. Obanhein; 'Alice's Restaurant' Lawman, 69]. ''The New York Times'' (September 14, 1994). Retrieved October 29, 2015.</ref> The Back Room was already closed by the time the song was released; it ceased operations in April 1966.<ref name=andrewflint/> (Theresa's Stockbridge Café was last known to occupy the site; the café's sign makes note that the space was "formerly Alice's Restaurant". Theresa's was closed by 2022, but the sign pointing to the restaurant remained.<ref name=BM>Stanmeyer, Anastasia, [https://berkshiremag.com/holiday-22/breaking-bread-with-alice "Breaking Bread with Alice"], ''Berkshire Magazine'', Holiday 2022. Retrieved 2024-02-22.</ref>) After a breakup and abortive reconciliation, Alice divorced Ray in 1968; she went on to launch two more restaurants (a take-out window in [[Housatonic, Massachusetts|Housatonic]] in 1971 and a much larger establishment in [[Lenox, Massachusetts|Lenox]] in the late 1970s)<ref name=andrewflint>Flint, Andrew (April 23, 2014). [http://www.berkshireeagle.com/food/ci_25618578/alices-restaurant-reborn-at-dream-away-lodge Alice's Restaurant reborn at Dream Away Lodge] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815062410/http://www.berkshireeagle.com/food/ci_25618578/alices-restaurant-reborn-at-dream-away-lodge |date=2016-08-15 }}. ''Berkshire Eagle''. Retrieved October 24, 2015.</ref> before leaving the restaurant business in 1979.<ref>Brown, Jane Roy (February 24, 2008). [http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/massachusetts/regions/capecod/articles/2008/02/24/after_alices_restaurants/?page=full After Alice's restaurants]. ''The Boston Globe''. Retrieved October 24, 2015.</ref> Ray returned to Virginia after the divorce and took on various projects until his death in 1979.<ref name=wsj2006>[http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/celebrities/2006/11/22/Arlo-Guthrie-s-Alice-is-alive-glad-to-be-here/stories/200611220390 Arlo Guthrie's Alice is alive, glad to be here]. ''The Wall Street Journal'' via the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' (November 22, 2006). Retrieved September 8, 2017.</ref><ref name=bfa2014/>

The incident which Guthrie recounts in the first half of the song was reported in ''[[The Berkshire Eagle]]'' on November 29, 1965. It describes the conviction of Richard J. Robbins, age 19, and Arlo Guthrie, age 18, for illegally disposing of rubbish, and a fine of $25 each, plus an order to remove the trash. The arresting officer was [[Stockbridge, Massachusetts|Stockbridge]] police chief [[William J. Obanhein]] ("Officer Obie"), and the trial was presided over by Special Judge James E. Hannon. It identifies the incriminating evidence as an envelope addressed to a male resident of Great Barrington (presumably Ray Brock) rather than Guthrie.<ref name=eagle>{{cite news| url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3747386/alices_restaurant_massacree/ | title = Youths Ordered to Clean Up Rubbish Mess | newspaper = Berkshire Eagle | date = November 29, 1965 | location = Pittsfield, Massachusetts | page = 25 | via = Newspapers.com | quote = Richard J. Robbins, 19, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Arlo Guthrie, 18, of Howard Beach, N.Y.. each paid a fine of $25 in Lee District Court after pleading guilty of illegally disposing of rubbish.}}{{openaccess}}</ref> In a 1972 interview with ''Playboy's Music Scene'', Obanhein denied handcuffing Guthrie and Robbins.<ref name=saulbraun/> He also said the real reason there was no toilet seat in the jail cell was to prevent such items from being stolen, not as a suicide deterrent as Guthrie had joked.<ref name=saulbraun/> Guthrie also admitted in 2020 that the police photographs were in black-and-white, not in color.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/11/23/arlo-guthrie-retirement|title = Folk Singer Arlo Guthrie Reflects on a Life Spent Making Music| date=23 November 2020 }}</ref> The Microbus that Guthrie and Robbins used to dispose of the garbage was eventually scrapped;<ref name=51things/> the Guthrie Center later acquired a replica that Guthrie occasionally drives.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arlo.net/forums/blog/?permalink=15592|title=ArloNet News and Announcements}}</ref>

[[Category:LGBTLGBTQ-related songs]]