© 2025 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KCTI-AM/FM is off-air due to damage from a lightning strike. We are working to restore service as quickly as possible.

Arlo Guthrie Celebrates 50 Years Of 'Alice's Restaurant'

Published November 26, 2015 at 11:20 AM CST
Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Massacree,” now in its fifth decade, is being commemorated in a nationwide concert tour and Thanksgiving Day PBS television special. (Rainey Hall)
Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Massacree,” now in its fifth decade, is being commemorated in a nationwide concert tour and Thanksgiving Day PBS television special. (Rainey Hall)

For decades, folk music fans have tuned in to their radios for an annual Thanksgiving ritual: listening to Arlo Guthrie‘s “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” The 18-minute song is an epic piece of storytelling and now, 50 years on, it’s being commemorated in a nationwide concert tour and Thanksgiving PBS television special.

Arlo Guthrie joins Here & Now‘s Meghna Chakrabarti to explain why “Alice’s Restaurant” remains so popular among its fans, and why so many people regard it as an anti-Vietnam War song when he sees it primarily as a song against stupidity.

[Youtube]

Guest

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
Here & Now