# Is Alice's Restaurant a tradition for your Thanksgiving? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 24, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983 "2011-11-24T17:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/1 "2011-11-24T17:06:50Z")
Despite not growing up with it (I never heard the song until I was in college) I now try to find it every year. This year I watched the YouTube version, illustrated in MSPaint. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/2 "2011-11-24T17:08:01Z")
It’s a Thanksgiving tradition that can’t be beat, and I never miss it. I can’t be the only one that listens to it every year, so here’s a simple poll. If you haven’t heard it before, you’re missing out. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/3 "2011-11-24T17:12:48Z")
[Alice’s Restaurant](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjKF7aQthcQ) 23 minutes, +/-. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/4 "2011-11-24T17:13:13Z")
Aside from the fact that I’m sitting next to you while you’re listening to it, it’s FIVE-part harmony. Just thought you’d want to know. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/5 "2011-11-24T17:13:26Z")
Let’s see how long it takes the mods to merge our threads. I beat you by two minutes! ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/6 "2011-11-24T17:17:39Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Let’s see how long it takes the mods to merge our threads. I beat you by two minutes! Yeah, the poll killed me. Let’s just say that great minds think alike. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/7 "2011-11-24T17:19:54Z")
I thought about it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/8 "2011-11-24T17:20:39Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Yeah, the poll killed me. Let’s just say that great minds think alike. So two people did it? You know what we’re thinking. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/9 "2011-11-24T17:23:56Z")
Playing now, in the kitchen, where the older daughter and her boyfriend have taken over the mashed potatoes and gravy detail. (New this year, to replace the traditional mocking of the gravy I make. New boyfriend, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/10 "2011-11-24T17:26:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So two people did it? > > You know what we’re thinking. Yeah, but if 50 – FIFTY – people do it… ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/11 "2011-11-24T17:27:04Z")
I said no, thinking I have probably heard it at some point on the radio not knowing what it was. I just went to listen to it on Youtube and I’ve never heard this song in my life, so change my vote to never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/12 "2011-11-24T17:34:21Z")
I tried to listen to it when I heard about it last year (or the year before), but it wasn’t my cup of tea. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/13 "2011-11-24T17:42:43Z")
Getting ready to listen to it now, thanks for reminding me!! ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/14 "2011-11-24T17:53:27Z")
I had never listened to it all the way through before, but I watched the illustrated Youtube video mentioned in the OP of the other thread, and it was absolutely hilarious. My parents said you had to have been around during the Vietnam War draft to really understand it, but it made enough sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/15 "2011-11-24T18:06:10Z")
I like the song, but never liked the movie version. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/16 "2011-11-24T18:14:45Z")
Never heard of the tradition, but it sounds like a good one. I think I’ll make a suggestion at the neighborhood shindig I’m going to to later today. I’m sure the folks there will buy in. For what it’s worth, we actually live pretty close to this [Alice’s Restaurant](http://www.alicesrestaurant.com/index-1.html). It’s funky enough to be the real thing, even though it isn’t, and it always made a nice pit stop when we were out on our bikes doing some serious hill climbing. (Bicycle, not motorbike as in the pictures.) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/17 "2011-11-24T19:43:43Z")
I voted that I have never heard it, but I don’t know what the stuff about killing has to do with it… I have no emotional feelings about it one way or the other. I’ve heard of it, but don’t even know who did it. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/18 "2011-11-24T20:02:43Z")
I certainly remember it from the good ole days, but I’ve never heard of a Thanksgiving tradition. Why didn’t I get the memo? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/19 "2011-11-24T20:06:45Z")
Listening to it right now. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/20 "2011-11-24T20:15:03Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I certainly remember it from the good ole days, but I’ve never heard of a Thanksgiving tradition. Why didn’t I get the memo? The story takes place on Thanksgiving. As a result, there are a ton of radio stations that play it on Thanksgiving and have for years. [QUOTE=OpalCat] I voted that I have never heard it, but I don’t know what the stuff about killing has to do with it… [/QUOTE] That’s what makes the song funny. It’s an old protest song by Arlo Guthrie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983.md?page=2)