Arlo Guthrie "Alice's Restaurant Massacre"

The Vietnam War Draft

The 18-minute-long largely spoken-word song is inspired by Arlo Guthrie's 1965 littering conviction which led to his rejection from the army after being drafted. As Arlo puts it, he's not "moral enough to join the Army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." Alice's Restaurant Massacre" (pronounced "masa-cree") became a beacon of '60s counter-culture, and hailed as one of the definitive anti-war songs of the time.