'Alice's Restaurant': Arlo Guthrie's Thanksgiving Radio Staple

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"Alice's Restaurant Massacree," from Arlo Guthrie's 1967 album, still resonates. Radio stations nationwide will play it on Thanksgiving Day.

Editor's note: Patch has run a version of this story for past couple of years, and we've updated it once again for 2018. It includes information about where folks in the Northern Virginia/DC area can find "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" on the radio.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For a lot of folks out there, and you know who you are, Thanksgiving Day staples include turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Massacree," and not necessarily in that order. The anti-war anthem that Rolling Stone magazine calls the "Thanksgiving National Anthem" has become a radio turkey day staple for mostly FM rock stations for years.

One likely reason is that the title track to Arlo Guthrie's 1967 debut album that marks its 50th anniversary this year lasts more than 18 minutes and ostensibly — however loosely — is centered around a Thanksgiving holiday gone horribly awry. Another is its subversive humor when talking about the draft that was all too real when it was released 50 years ago at the height of the Vietnam war. Oh, yeah, it also became a movie.

From the Bronx to Colorado to Philly to Carolina and on and on, this holiday they'll be playing the slightly embellished real-life 1965 tale that actually happened to Guthrie. In the Washington, D.C., area, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" will be played at 7 a.m. Thanksgiving Day on DC101 (h/t DJ Mike Jones). And per the website Radio Surviver, click here for a constantly updated list about stations across the country planning to play the song Thursday.

He first performed the show live at New York's famed Carnegie Hall (although he'd done so a few times in more informal settings), and he'll do it again in the same venue Nov. 25, as he does every year around the time of Thanksgiving. Here's a part of what Guthrie recently told relix.com:

"As the times changed, our audience changed, also. Some years were more sparkling with a patriotic defiance than others, and some were like spending time with family and friends. Throughout it all there was, and continues to be, a spirit of humanity that just won't fade away.

"The hopes and dreams of generations trying to make the world a little better for everyone keeps going. I'm just happy to have been a part of it. It's about time to hand those traditions to younger dreamers and hopers. I think they'll handle it just fine."

As for the song being labeled the "National Anthem of Thanksgiving," Rolling Stone also offers its take on other rockin' songs suited for the holiday. The Boston Globe has list of need-to-know fun facts about the song.

So, if you're thinking about helping out a friend at the local church Thanksgiving and tote its trash to nearby garbage dump, you might want to think again.

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