“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”, commonly known as “Alice’s Restaurant”, is a musical monologue by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released on his 1967 debut album Alice’s Restaurant. The song is one of Guthrie’s most prominent works, based on a true incident from his life that began on Thanksgiving Day 1965, and which inspired a 1969 movie of the same name. Apart from the chorus which begins and ends it, the “song” is in fact a spoken monologue, with ragtime guitar backing. ” When i first saw this video, i have a very deep impression on its image and the background music. This song lats for almost 18 minutes, which is the longest song i have ever listened before. When i am listening to this beautiful song, i enjoy the melody and the voice of the singer, but i still very curious about the story of this song.
Later, i search for the related information of this song on official website. The story is almost described like that: restaurant-owner Alice Brock, who in 1964 used $2,000 supplied by her mother to purchase a deconsecrated church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where Alice and her husband Ray would live. It was here rather than at the restaurant—which came later—where the song’s Thanksgiving dinners were actually held. In this story, there is a true incident about Guthrie, that Guthrie tells the story of the littering incident, which proves significant enough a criminal offense that it could bar him from military service.The sentence “Shrink, you can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant,” is at the end part of the song, which contains deep emotion of Guthrie.
I am really curious about every background story of the song, what make them significant is that real experience will provide singer real emotion in order not to let the song so boring and blank. The story will make the song more vivid and lively to audience.
According to the books, this song is notable as a satirical, first-person account of 1960s counterculture, in addition to being a hit song in its own right. In my opinion, i have a little personal understandings of the song’s core idea and i really like the melody of that. The long time for this song will not let people feel bored at all because when you listen to it carefully, you can feel the emotion and the real story of the singer.
work sited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Restaurant
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1616