“This song is called "Alice's Restaurant". It's about Alice. And the Restaurant. But Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song. That's why I called this song "Alice's Restaurant."”

—  Arlo Guthrie

First line to each performance.
Alice's Restaurant Massacree

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "This song is called "Alice's Restaurant". It's about Alice. And the Restaurant. But Alice's Restaurant is not the name …" by Arlo Guthrie?
Arlo Guthrie photo
Arlo Guthrie 22
American folk singer 1947

Related quotes

Arlo Guthrie photo

“You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in, it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant”

Arlo Guthrie (1947) American folk singer

The Chorus of the song. The only part that is actually sung in the song. At the end of the performance, after the first line is sung, Arlo will quickly add in the phrase "Excepting Alice."
Alice's Restaurant Massacree

Arlo Guthrie photo

“…And it was about four or five hours later that Alice — Remember Alice? It's a song about Alice.”

Arlo Guthrie (1947) American folk singer

Alice's Restaurant Massacree

Arlo Guthrie photo

“If you're in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in say "Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant." And walk out. You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them. And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement. And that's what it is, the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the guitar!”

Arlo Guthrie (1947) American folk singer

Arlo has repeatedly updated this part through the years to help it match modern life more. He has updated to say that if only one person does it, they say the person in question is a certain amount of years too late. He also referenced the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy during the 40th anniversary recording. He has also started adding the phrase, "And most of them would be too young to know what a movement was." once he says, "Friends they may think it's a movement."
Alice's Restaurant Massacree

Arlo Guthrie photo

“Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog. And living in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Having all that room, seeing as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't have to take out their garbage for a long time.”

Arlo Guthrie (1947) American folk singer

Alice's Restaurant Massacree

Robert M. Pirsig photo

“Metaphysics is names about reality. Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty-thousand-page menu and no food.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Lila: An Inquiry into Morals

Lila (1991)

Federico Fellini photo

“It's easier to be faithful to a restaurant than it is to a woman.”

Federico Fellini (1920–1993) Italian filmmaker

"Fidelity"
I'm a Born Liar (2003)

“Let's open up a restaurant in Santa Fe / Oh, sunny Santa Fe would be nice / We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe / And leave this to the roaches and mice”

Jonathan Larson (1960–1996) American composer and playwright

Rent (1996)

John Lennon photo

“I can get paranoid just sitting in a restaurant; I don't have to take anything.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Source: The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 180
Context: I've never met anybody who's had a flashback in my life and I took millions of trips in the Sixties, and I've never met anybody who had any problem. I've had bad trips, but I've had bad trips in real life. I've had a bad trip on a joint. I can get paranoid just sitting in a restaurant; I don't have to take anything.

“The key to a successful restaurant is dressing girls in degrading clothes.”

Michael O'Donoghue (1940–1994) American actor and writer

Mr. Mike's America: A Comic's Trek with SNL's First Head Writer (1983)

Daniel Handler photo

“I didn't realize this was a sad occasion. — Waiter at The Anxious Clown Restaurant”

Daniel Handler (1970) American novelist, children's writer, creator of Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (2002)

Related topics