Arlo Guthrie on “Alice’s Restaurant”:

Nobody in their right mind would have expected an 18-minute monologue to have shelf life, especially in an era when radio refused to play anything that was over 2 1/2 minutes.

It’s been forty years since the true story told in the song took place. Generations have grown up without hearing it. Rats.

On the plus side, what fun to play it for someone who has never heard it before!

If you want to end war and stuff, you gotta sing loud.