My name is Sarah. I'm an eighth grader doing a history project about the power of persuasion. My mom turned me on to the song, Alice's Restaurant, and I've learned how it influenced the anti-war movement. I would like to ask you all some questions. When you heard Alice's Restaurant for the first time, how did it affect you? Did it change the way you thought about the war or the world around you in any way? Do you think it affected people around you? When you hear it now, does it cause you to think about anything in particular? Please feel free to answer any or all of my questions. People my age are very interested in what came before us.

Sarah: When I hear it now, I think of how similar the times are today to those of 35 years ago, what with the war and all. I also think of how different the young people are today from then. I hope your fellow eight-graders form an anti-war "movement" that catches on big-time.

Hi, Sarah. Welcome to ArloNet. I hope after your project is completed and you've earned your "A" that you'll continue to hang out with us.

When I first heard Alice, I was 16. It was way back in the dark ages, 1970. I thought it was great, that while talking about something so insidious as war and the draft, he could spin it into a funny story. I learned that when I apply humor to a lousy situation, I can get through it a whole lot easier.

But, it was when I turned the album over (the 2nd song on the CD) that I heard what made me fall head over heels "in love" with our folkslinger... Chilling of the Evening. But that's not what I came here to talk about, I came to talk about what Alice means to me.

After learning to apply humor to bad situations and to cope as best as I could with what was going on around me, kids getting drafted but not being "old enough" to vote, etc... I realized how important it was to "get involved."

Arlo has changed Alice over the years, adding parts about Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.. but it's the "classic" Alice that I prefer, although I do listen to the updated version frequently, just so I can laugh at more "history."

When I listen to it now, I think about my own kids being old enough to be drafted and it scares me. I've told them that they need to "get involved" on their college campuses, instilled in them the importance of having their voices heard (they both voted for the first time in a presidential election), to make a difference.

I also (before Sept 11, 2001) believed that today's kids (my teenagers) have it so easy. Our generation gave you everything, handed it to you on a silver platter... BUT! You can't just take it all for granted. You need to keep that spirit alive!!! You need to pass it on to the next generation. Never forget that history does indeed keep repeating itself because generation after generation fails to heed the message. Please don't let this happen to your generation.

Keep us posted on your project. History can actually be fun!

I first heard it when I was a little kid in grade school (I'm in my 40's now) & thought it was funny. I thought it was terrible how they arrested Arlo & his friends. I thought it was scary that big kids had gotten arrested. Seeing the movie in a Blockbuster video store in 1988 & renting it made me fall for Arlo & the rest is history, here I am! <img src="http://www.arlo.net/ubb/smilies/smile.gif" width=15 height=15> Welcome to the site! Good luck with your school project. I always hated school. It was borrrring...

I was 9 years old when "Alice's Restaurant" came out. I became an Arlo fan in 1970 at age 12, when I saw him sing "The Motorcycle Song" on The Johnny Cash Show. Naturally, I wanted to hear more of his music & probably heard "Alice's" for the 1st time around this time. I remember I thought it was cool that the song took up a whole side of a record. By then, I was aware that Woodstock happened & was familiar with a lot of other protest songs, so I doubt that "Alice's" shaped my opinion of the Viet Nam War or war in general. I viewed "Alice's" as just one of many songs that were out there, & truthfully a song like "Blowin' in the Wind" was more well known. "Alice's" is a good example of a technique often used by Woody Guthrie---telling a story in a way that shows the listener the absurdity of the situation without directly commenting on the same.

I'd like to think that I made up my own mind about war, coz it would be stupid, really, for one's opinions to be influenced by a singer or a song. More than influence anybody, I believe that the antiwar songs empowered me & others to debate the war with our parents & teachers, to be vocal with our opposition, & empowered the older kids who were directly confronted with the possibility of fighting in a war to conduct formal protests of the war & to burn their draft cards & commit other acts of civil disobedience. (Previous wars had opposition, too, but it was never vocal opposition, & was never reported by the media.)

In later years, I came to be even more impressed with Arlo & "Alice's" after seeing so many artists discontinue protest songs when there was no longer any money in it. Arlo, however, has continued to sing for causes & do good things. If I had to pick who I believe were the heroes of the antiwar movement, I'd pick the ones who gave up something big for it---the ones who come to mind are Muhammad Ali (forced to surrender title as heavyweight champ of the world), the Smothers Brothers (hit CBS-TV show canceled by Pres. Nixon), or John Lennon (subject of deportation case).

For today's celebrities, the money is in being conservative. Dennis Miller has gone from being a comedian with liberal sensibilities to a conservative talk show host. Here in Pittsburgh, a guy named Jim Quinn was a liberal, antiwar DJ in the 70's & now has his own conservative talk show as well. In fact, Rush Limbaugh was a DJ at the same station as Quinn in the 70's. His name was Jeff Christie back then. There are many other examples. They all claim some "awakening moment" in their lives that showed them "the light" & caused the switch to conservatism. Yeah, right-----that "awakening moment" was the realization of all of the cash they could rake in by changing colors.

I still listen to both versions of "Alice's" every Thanksgiving. Hope this is helpful. Good luck, Sarah, with this project & your scholastic career!

The war was over before I heard Alice. I remember very little about the war. I do remember the news being on, and the reporter saying that a cease fire had been declared, for Christmas. At the time (I was probably I thought that was a beautiful thing to do for Christmas. When I remembered it when I was older, I realized how sad it was, that I thought that was beautiful.

Hi Sarah....
...this is a kinda fun question to answer....

..gonna have to tell you that i'm pretty old...nearly 57....so when Alice's (the song and the movie) came out, i was in college, living in Washington, D.C.....pretty much right in the middle of the 60's generation.....and a radical in my political views already..... so i can't really say that Alice's changed my mind about the war....
...but you know it was a tough battle....there were lots of people that thought we were being unamerican (including my parents) and that we were against the troops ( i had a few friends fighting in Viet Nam).....but that just wasn't true....
.....it was like waking up....as a younger kid, your age, the government told us that getting under our desks and covering our heads would protect us from the nuclear bomb....that wasn't true...and even as young kids we knew that sorta.....finding out that your government lies to you sometimes is upsetting....maybe not so much anymore, but back then, it was a surprise.....so we started to question stuff pretty young....
...what Alice's did for me was to remind me that there were lots and lots and lots of folks who thought like i did and believed we needed to stand up for what we thought was right.....no matter what...
...more than i could ever see standing next to me, even at the bigger demonstrations...and that helped my courage and determination......

..and it made me laugh...and that always makes you stronger....

...the first time I saw Arlo sing live was at the biggest demonstration against the war ever, Nov.15th, 1969......35 years ago Monday...wow.....there were so many folks there, millions.....what a day!....

..i don't really know how much stuff matters sometimes....but it's such a great feeling to stand strong for what you believe.....

...good luck on your project, Sarah.....

Sarah,

What a great school project! And what a wise Mom you have! There will be lots of songs you hear and movies you see that will affect how you think and feel about things. It's good to be aware that that can happen and listen to them critically.

I was a senior in high school when I first heard "Alice's Restaurant." It was 1967 or 1968 and we had a very young history teacher who wore his hair a little too long for the principal's taste--every time it touched his collar, they would make him cut it. But they didn't know that he played both "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" by Pete Seger and "Alice's Restaurant" in our American History class. We all just idolized him, because he talked to us about real life. He knew, better than we did, what was coming in our lives.

After graduation, most of the boys in our class who weren't already enrolled in college went straight to Army boot camp. And by the next winter, one--Mark--had already died in Vietnam; many more followed soon after.

By then I was married to the guy I had been dating in high school. He went into the army, and went to Vietnam. Thanks to that teacher and to Pete and Arlo, I got active in opposing the war. I joined a lot of groups to try to persuade other people that it was wrong. "Alice's Restaurant" was what kept me going, sometimes.

If you study the Vietnam War, you will probably be told that Americans who were against the war treated the soldiers badly because they thought the war was wrong. Some people did, but a lot of people didn't. Most of us had somebody we loved who was over there. Like a lot of other people, I tried to make life better for the soldiers while opposing the war; I joined an organization called "Movement for a Democratic Military." When the guys came back, we were there to listen to their stories, help them adjust to being back in 'the States,' and start their lives over.

"Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" started me thinking that the Vietnam war was wrong for us to do. "Alice's Restaurant" showed me that I could do something about it, and I wouldn't be alone.

Forty or so years later, I feel much the same as I felt that year. Arlo's new song, "Back By Popular Demand," is supporting me again, when I feel like my country needs me to stand up for what I believe, but telling me that if I am right, I will not be alone.

Good luck on your project, Sarah! I hope this helps.

Shelley

Hi Sarah, Everything my fellow Blunderites said below is kind of how "Alices" and Dylan affected me but there is a twist. Though I was born and raised in Portland Oregon, we moved to Australia in '64 when I was 9 years old.(My Mom was a World War 2 War Bride from Brisbane My Dad had been on Gen. MacArthur's staff and is a very proud Veteran.)
Anyway I first heard Alice's in '70 (and soon after saw the movie) when I was 16 and also a Dylan fan. That was around the time when College students here had started Protest marches and my boyfriend at the time (4 years older than me) worked at The University of Queensland so I got to hang out there alot (saw Ralph Nader speak and cool stuff like that). Anyway my first march was with about 2000 college students, and a few of my fellow high school students, and Queesland was still a narrow minded place practically a police state, run by a very right wing, religious concervative Premier. It was a bit scarey with cops lined up all along the short length of road we wre allowed to use. (as in contrast to when I and 50,000 other Brisbaneites marched in Feb last year with only a handful of Police keeping an eye out, it helped that the Mayor at the time was anti Bush and Iraq etc. A lady from Germany could not believe how few police were there.) Anyway the '70 march was a great experience and even tho my Dad didn't and still doesn't see eye to eye with me on politics and the military I was always brought up to respect the rights of all people and he happily saw me off in my jeans cheesecloth shirt and badges. (I still have them. One says Vietnam Moratorium,Withdraw All Troops Now.) Now I feel we have gone full circle and I just listened to "Alice's" again the other day and thought "Boy, this is like dejavu". I have never heard the newer version because I believe you can never remake a classic (sorry Arlo, I don't watch classic movie remakes either).I'm a big Woody fan too and love the way he and Arlo do things by telling stories and using humour instead of being sort of in your face. I think some people could take Dylans in your face style at the time but humour works alot better for some people because they don't feel threatened.
One of the ways I have decided to get people here to think more (especially younger people) is to introduce them to "Alices" and the movie, so that by the time the next big election comes up here in 3 years they might be thinking more about war and their rights. This Government in Australia is following right behind the U.S. and it's scarey. I can't wait to vote in both countries next time and hopefully stop the circle turning too far back into the dark ages. Good luck with your paper. Louise.