Arlo Guthrie Marks 60 Years of the Events That Inspired “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”

This Thanksgiving marks 60 years since the events that inspired Arlo Guthrie’s signature song, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.” The quirky tune, which recounts Guthrie’s Thanksgiving 1965 arrest for littering in the state of Massachusetts , was workshopped live and released in 1967 as the title track of the folk singer’s full-length debut album.

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” quickly grew into both a protest anthem and a Thanksgiving staple, and Guthrie celebrated each year by performing at New York’s Carnegie Hall around Turkey Day, though he only played the full suite of music on special occasions in his later years.

Guthrie retired from performing after suffering a stroke shortly before the pandemic, but he continues to celebrate his classic composition this time of year. As a countdown to the story’s milestone anniversary, he has been highlighting variations on the tune in the days leading up to Thanksgiving: On Sunday, Guthrie unearthed a live version of the number, captured at the church where the story original took place in 1995 and released as “Alice’s Restaurant -The Massacree Revisited.” The next day Guthrie dropped “The Alice’s Restaurant Multi-Colored Roach Affair” from the Rehashed 4:20 sampler and the following morning he dug up a 40^th anniversary reworking of the ditty originally released as an iTunes exclusive.

The Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Mass., which is located on the site of the church where the events that inspired the song took place, will host their annual Thanksgiving meal and event today.