Hello, kiddies.

 

Before I take off for the Thanksgiving festivities, I wanted to add just one more dish to the table. This one comes from the crates of my beloved Leslie, so allow me to let her take the floor (I mean “soapbox”)…

My sweet Vincent has posted this song for me, as it is not Thanksgiving for me without this song.  Arlo Guthrie, son of the great Woody (author of God Bless America), composed this song as a peace song.  It tells his story of a Thanksgiving long ago, when I was young.  There was a war going on then, much like today, and it deals with a young man’s thoughts of peace and war, life and death.  It is also a parody, never more so apropo than now.  A young man goes to a Thanksgiving feast with his friends, cooked by Alice.  In an effort of the communual spirit and as a gesture of thanks, he and a friend agree to get rid of the trash generated by this dinner.  The local dump is closed.  So they find a place, in a gully, that already has trash at the bottom, and decide to join their trash to this pile.  I know that in today’s time this is not ecologically correct, but this was then, and they did what they thought was right.  The local cops find this trash pile and he and his friend are arrested for littering and disturbing the peace.  Alice and their friends bail them out.  During this time, the young man is fearing that his draft number will come up, as he is no longer in school and eligible for a deferment (sound familiar, like our leaders?).  The young man and his friend go to trial, where the arresting officer has pictures of the trash pile, but the judge is (for real) blind. They plead guilty, are convicted and charged a fine of $50.00 and ordered to pick up the trash (which they do).  Next day, his draft letter comes, so he goes to the intake center and thru all the BS. When he gets to the psychiatrist to determine if he sane enough to go to war, he screams “I want to kill, I want to eat dead burnt bodies…” as a dodge to seem too deranged to be inducted.  It fails.  The Army welcomes him.  He is questioned about a criminal record.  He recounts the Thanksgiving story, and is sent to the “Group W” bench.  This bench is for “people who may be deemed not moral enough to join the army”.  An officer comes with forms, and they are filled out.  The last question is “Have you redeemed yourself enough to join the Army”.  The young man freaks and wants to know how they can ask how as a litterer, he has redeemed himself enough to kill.

Please download and enjoy Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, an mp3 file, 17 MB 

I know that Vincent did not create this blog to be political, but I am.  With what is currently going on in Iraq, the Middle East, Iran, and any other place GW wants to stick his nose, (and our soldiers) and with the Army lowering its standards to fulfill its quota, this song is still relevant today.  Maybe even more so.  I grew up with the “last war”, and I see no difference with the one today.  If a man who littered then is not moral enough to become a soldier, then how can someone who commited a real crime be eligible today?  I thank the men and women currently in Iraq and Afghanistan for their service, yet I hold the people above you responsible for the actions you are required to take.  Come home soon, whole and healthy.  And on this Thanksgiving Eve, I give thanks to all who both serve and protest. I hope that all of you who read my words and hear this song can enjoy them in the spirit that they are meant.  I wish all Peace, and a true Thanksgiving. 

Buy Alice’s Retaurant on CD or DVD at Amazon.com

I would also ask that those who are fortunate among us while giving thanks this season to help those who cannot help themselves. 

Thank you Leslie for joining in… I’ll be back soon with more nuggets from her crates.