# I'm 26. Explain to me why I don't "get" Alice's Restaurant **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895 "2009-05-10T00:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/41 "2009-05-10T05:17:02Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Wow. I’m 52. I’ve never heard the song. > > I need to get out more Trust me. If you had gotten out more it would not only have meant more but you would also not be who you are today. “You had to be there” is not always a good thing and not having been there can be good. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/42 "2009-05-10T05:29:34Z")
Alice’s restaurant in either form makes me want to claw my own eyes out. Damn dirty hippies. If you want to enjoy something that truly captures the feelings and frustrations of youth and is timeless, I suggest you watch Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Repo Man. Now where is my linen jacket, my turquoise t-shirt, and my coccaine? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/43 "2009-05-10T05:31:16Z")
Yer younger than I, right? ETA: I have friends who thought that “Fast Times” was a realistic reflection of their high school. For me, Bob and Doug McKenzie were more like my HS peeps. ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/44 "2009-05-10T05:54:23Z")
Hmm… might have to listen to the song now, as I’ve never heard it. However, that 27 eight-by-ten color glossy pictures thing… that explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/45 "2009-05-10T06:00:32Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Yer younger than I, right? > > ETA: I have friends who thought that “Fast Times” was a realistic reflection of their high school. For me, Bob and Doug McKenzie were more like my HS peeps. I am about 10 years younger than you, so when I was 18, you were already old in my eyes (you were disco era- yuck- Saturday Night Fever!) The Alice’s Restaurant era guys were already “the man” with houses, 2 cars, kids, and conspicuous consumption. My friends and I had Strange Brew memorized. We weren’t like them except we liked to drink- ah classic 80’s movie. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/46 "2009-05-10T06:16:41Z")
I wouldn’t take the fact that you don’t like the film as being any big thing. Different people have different tastes. It’s not solely a matter of age either. People of the same age have different tastes. When someone recommends a movie (or a book or a song or whatever) to you, thank them for the recommendation. Watch it (or read it or listen to it or whatever). If it appeals to you also, you now have something you can recommend to other people. If it doesn’t, just forget it. I’m really tired of threads where people think that it’s a big deal that someone likes or dislikes a particular artistic experience. It isn’t. You will _never_ completely agree with the artistic taste of someone else, regardless of how much they are similar to you in age, social background, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/47 "2009-05-10T06:19:52Z")
> [@j666](#): > > _ **Which one ?!** _ > No one plays, or sings, that song because it’s so long. People who actually know all the words won’t do it. Please, tell me which station it is. I first got to know the song as a little kid as one of the local Boston stations (I think it was WAAF, though I could be wrong) played it in its entirety on Thanksgiving Day. I’m thinking that they may have played it multiple times, as the others mention noon while I clearly remember listening to it in the car every year as the family drove home from having Thanksgiving dinner at a relative’s. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/48 "2009-05-10T07:36:38Z")
I’m 27 and the song has been a staple in my life for, well, as long as I can remember. I saw Arlo in concert in 2005 and talked to him for a few minutes after the show. Really nice guy and one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. Haven’t seen the movie in a good 15+ years but don’t recall caring all that much for it. **Meeko** I can explain Hamlet to you in 60 seconds but it doesn’t mean Billy wasted his time writing it. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/49 "2009-05-10T07:56:13Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The song is a musical recounting of how Guthrie parleyed a minor arrest record into a exemption from the draft. . . Also about the hypocrisy of considering someone too immoral to burn villages and kill people “after bein’ a litterbug,” and (reading between the lines) about how the military despised him because he was the hippie son of a blacklisted leftist (recall the line, “We don’t like your kind.”) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/50 "2009-05-10T08:00:23Z")
As a Boomer\*, I was in the target audience for the song & the movie. Loved the song & consider it a comic masterpiece. Saw the movie once & didn’t much care for it. (But I’ll catch it next time it shows up on TV.) - I almost typed “card carrying Boomer”–but I’ve avoided joining the AARP so far. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/51 "2009-05-10T08:36:03Z")
I can’t think of any other song that describes an era with more accuracy than Alice’s Restaurant. It deals with the Viet Nam war, the draft, and the generational gap between youths and the establishment. Plus, it does so with more than a touch of humour. Alice’s Restaurant is a true American classic and should be honoured as such. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/52 "2009-05-10T08:40:22Z")
> [@Ro0sh](#): > > And for some reason my 15 year old sister and her teenage freinds LOVE Woodie Guthrie and Arlo as well… She’s been to 2 of his concerts (Arlo’s) already. If your sister is BOTH 15 years old AND an Arlo fan . . . Then I HIGHLY recommend she (and you) check out [Folk Uke](http://www.folkuke.com), a humorous folk duo featuring Arlo’s daughter Cathy and Willie Nelson’s daughter Amy. Also, I want to set up a “play date” for your sister and my roommate’s 14yr old daughter. They would totally get along. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/53 "2009-05-10T15:42:27Z")
> [@j666](#): > > _ **Which one ?!** _ > No one plays, or sings, that song because it’s so long. People who actually know all the words won’t do it. Please, tell me which station it is. Pierre Robert on WMMR in Philadelphia plays it multiple times each Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/54 "2009-05-10T17:06:20Z")
I don’t think it’s your age, I think it’s because you hadn’t heard the song first. For the record, though, I haven’t seen the movie. I first heard the song when I was in my early 20s, and immediately loved it. My husband and I are big Arlo Guthrie fans and went to many of his shows when we lived in the Boston area. The song is one of the reasons my daughter is named Alice. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/55 "2009-05-10T17:24:09Z")
Two pages and nobody has posted the obvious yet, the song itself. Here is an 18 minutes version on YouTube : [Alice’s Restaurant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo&feature=PlayList&p=E40B3EFBA6DF4C7D&index=9) Also here are two others of Arlo’s ramblin’ blues : [The Motorcycle Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g266Uwp6ZnI&feature=PlayList&p=E40B3EFBA6DF4C7D&index=11) and [A pause for Mr Claus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FChEGL1BUY&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/56 "2009-05-10T17:41:24Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > If your sister is BOTH 15 years old AND an Arlo fan . . . > Then I HIGHLY recommend she (and you) check out [Folk Uke](http://www.folkuke.com), a humorous folk duo featuring Arlo’s daughter Cathy and Willie Nelson’s daughter Amy. Thanks I’ll let her know, though I think she may already know as the last concert was billed as an Arlo Gutherie And Family concert, so apparently the other acts were family members? :shrug: But yeah. I played her that song, and from there, she just ran with it… ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/57 "2009-05-10T18:10:26Z")
> [@detop](#): > > Two pages and nobody has posted the obvious yet, the song itself. Here is an 18 minutes version on YouTube : [Alice’s Restaurant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo&feature=PlayList&p=E40B3EFBA6DF4C7D&index=9) :dubious: :mad: July, 2005? I saw that son of a bitch in April, 2005 and he made a big deal about his firm and unshakable decision to not play that song that year. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/58 "2009-05-10T23:46:19Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > remember once a business associate talking about having sat through a terribly boring presentation, and concluding his story with “…and then showed us 27 eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures.” I immediately jumped in with “With circles and arrows, and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was, to be used as evidence against you?” Everyone laughed like hell. I sometimes drop that line when doing quality audits if a customer uses digital photos to document nonconformances, and seven times in ten they bust a gut laughing. I’ll have to try that … (thanks for the stations, too) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/59 "2009-05-11T00:29:05Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Trust me. If you had gotten out more it would not only have meant more but you would also not be who you are today. “You had to be there” is not always a good thing and not having been there can be good. It’s been said that, if you remember the '60s, you weren’t part of them. I wasn’t “part of the '60s”, myself, as I was only 12 when 1970 rolled around. But I was the youngest of six, so I saw my older siblings being part of them, and thus experienced them secondhand, as it were. And, by the way, it’s, “eight by ten color gloooooosy photographs”, with a rising inflection on “glossy”. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895/60 "2009-05-11T04:13:51Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > :dubious: :mad: July, 2005? I saw that son of a bitch in April, 2005 and he made a big deal about his firm and unshakable decision to not play that song that year. I’ve got a recording of him playing it ca. 1997, and he makes a joke about not intending to sing that song that night… Or that decade. I’m sure it’s just his shtick. 🙂 \*\*\* Ponder [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-26-explain-to-me-why-i-dont-get-alices-restaurant/495895.md?page=4)