Alice's Restaurant ll

Alice's restaurant is a song written in 1967 by Arlo Guthrie. Alice owned a restaurant down the street from her home which was also a small distance from the railroad tracks. Her and her husband bought a church for two thousand dollars in 1964, and made it their home. Alice was a painter and a disigner and her husband Ray, was an architect and a woodworker. This song was all started on a thanksgiving day when Arlo and his friend went to visit Alice and her husband at their home. As a favor Arlo and his friend decided that the would take Alice's trash to the dump. So they loaded up the trash and headed for the dump, but when they arrived to the dump they saw a sign which said "closed for thanksgiving day". So on the way home they dumped the trash off of the side of the road where there was already some trash. They returned to Alice's home where they ate a Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner they went to bed and didn't think about what they had done that day, which wasnt that big of a deal. The next morning when they woke up they received a phone call from officer Obie. The officer said that he had found some trash in the bottom of a ravine and in the trash there was an envelope with Arlo's name and address. At first Arlo denied the situation, but after a few minutes he finally admitted to the crime. Officer Obie then told the boys to meet him at the police station so they could settle what had happend. When the boys arrived they received the last thing they had expected. The officer immediately arrested them and put them into the patrol car. Now in town there were two police officers and only one patrol car in town. Officer Obie took the boys to where they had littered and when they arrived the boys saw several police cars and officers observing the situation. The boys then realized the police were very serious. There were officers there who were taking photos and making the situation a big ordeal. The boy's were then taken back to the police station and were put into a cell. A few hours later Alice arrived with a bit of a temper and bailed them out of jail. The next morning they were to go before a judge for the crime they had commited. So the next day they went to the courtroom and saw that officer Obie had several pictures of the trash for poof. Ironically when the judge can in, he was blind. In the end they were fined fifty dollars and were told to pick up the trash.
While all this was happening there was a war on the other side of the world in Vietnam. Many men were drafted and had to fight in the war. Others tried to avoid the war by fleeing to another country or they would burn their draft cards and hope they were not caught. However when Arlo went to sign up for the draft he found that he could not go to war because he had a criminal record. He did not understand why he could not go to war for littering when those who go to war are killing and destroying homes. This is what inspired Arlo to write the song. The song was eighteen minutes and twenty seconds long and was a great hit. The song rose into the top twenty on the billboard charts. Arlo's song is now played on many radio stations on thanksgiving day. I think Mr N chose this topic to make us realize that we should speak our opinion such as Arlo Guthrie did. Arlo was a person who loved his country and wanted to help in the war, but he was prevented from doing so because he had littered. His frustration is what made this song available to us today.

http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/alices.shtml

http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/alice.html