# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/81 "2011-11-29T15:50:13Z")
Truth be told, I’d never heard of anyone listening to this song as a Thanksgiving tradition until I saw this thread and I can’t really think of any reason it would be one. Sure part of the song’s narrative takes place on Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t really seem to emphasize the theme of Thanksgiving at all. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/82 "2011-11-29T16:33:57Z")
I’ve never heard the song on Thanksgiving or any other day. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/83 "2011-11-29T16:59:35Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > The whole song is about 18½ minutes, a point he made a big deal of in the 1996 re-recording). And in numerous live performances for years before that. IIRC how he used to tell the story, he claimed to be at one of the inaugural parties for Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, when Chip Carter sidled up to him and asked something like “how many things are 18½ minutes long?” with the answers being _Alice’s Restaurant_, and the infamous gap on one of the Nixon Watergate tapes. So the joke was that Nixon had to erase the evidence that he and H.R. Haldeman were in the Oval Office, listening to _Alice’s Restaurant_ together. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/84 "2011-11-29T19:44:55Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > My tradition is to listen to “The First Thanksgiving” from “Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America (Vol. I)” which includes the song “Take An Indian To Lunch”. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ESaZSB3h2k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ESaZSB3h2k) I love that album. My dad introduced both it and Alice’s Restaurant (and Firesign Theater) to me when I was a teenager. “Show him we don’t draw the line… this week!” ---
**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 29, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/85 "2011-11-29T20:04:55Z")
I completely forgot about Firesign Theater! Must google now. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Captain\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_M)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/86 "2011-11-30T20:09:58Z")
I listened to both this and Stan Freberg’s “Take an Indian to Lunch” this November through Youtube. I even facebooked them to all my friends. A lot of people made note that both of these songs are kind of mean spirited, with the Freberg one even thought of to be a little racist. Some people don’t understand irony anymore. Anyway, I have always been a fan of Alice’s Restaraunt, especially the anniversary edition released in 1991, where Arlo Gurthrie says that the knowledge of Richard Nixon owning a copy of the record makes him especially suspicious of the 18 1/2 minute gap in the Watergate tapes… ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/87 "2011-12-02T02:16:25Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And in numerous live performances for years before that. > > IIRC how he used to tell the story, he claimed to be at one of the inaugural parties for Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, when Chip Carter sidled up to him and asked something like “how many things are 18½ minutes long?” with the answers being _Alice’s Restaurant_, and the infamous gap on one of the Nixon Watergate tapes. So the joke was that Nixon had to erase the evidence that he and H.R. Haldeman were in the Oval Office, listening to _Alice’s Restaurant_ together. When I saw him in the 80’s, the story was that they’d found a copy in the WH, and Arlo’d asked if it was open, and when Chip said yes, Arlo tells the audience ‘so don’t tell me you can’t change the world with a song.’ Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/88 "2011-12-02T02:18:32Z")
Some days I feel like such a foreigner. I never even heard of this song or this tradition. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/89 "2011-12-02T21:45:23Z")
I love the song. Wife hates it for all the reasons I think it’s fantastic–droning voice, repetetive back music, the composition seems intentionally aggravating. It IS smartass music. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/90 "2011-12-02T22:03:12Z")
Not only is it a tradition with me, but I get good and drunk the night before so I look and feel my best. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/91 "2011-12-05T16:22:42Z")
You’re our boy! And I intend to bump this thread every future Thanksgiving, much like the Xmas Rudolph Thread. ---
**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 22, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/92 "2012-11-22T01:21:10Z")
Oh, let me. I’m not proud… Or tired. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/93 "2012-11-22T03:02:53Z")
Yep, we’re just waitin’ for it to come around again, on the gee-tar… ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/94 "2012-11-22T14:54:32Z")
But that’s not what I came here to tell you about… ---
**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 22, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/95 "2012-11-22T16:17:49Z")
45 minutes from now… ---
**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 22, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/96 "2012-11-22T17:50:06Z")
2 hours, ten minutes from now. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/97 "2012-11-22T18:21:34Z")
My dad used to play it on the guitar, and thanks for the reminder: he no longer can play due to decades of dealing with bursitis, but I can still call him up and play it for him from Youtube 😃 ---
**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 22, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/98 "2012-11-22T18:39:17Z")
Anyone remember that 18 1/2 minute gap in the White House recordings from the Watergate investigation? Well, the original recording of this song is just over 18 1/2 minutes long, so once Arlo jokingly suggested in a concert that the song was what was on that 18 1/2 minute gap in the tape. (Nixon apparently owned a copy of the record.) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/99 "2012-11-22T20:32:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Well, the original recording of this song is just over 18 1/2 minutes long My local classic rock station played this song at noon, and they claimed it’s 18 minutes, 11 seconds. But you’re right; I timed the song off my watch and it is barely over 18 1/2 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983/100 "2012-11-22T21:05:29Z")
I usually go with the original album recording, but today listened to the [2005 live version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo&feature=share). I liked the subtle updates and I know it’s 7 years old now, but I think Arlo aged pretty well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-alices-restaurant-a-tradition-for-your-thanksgiving/603983.md?page=6)