blog SOC

I know you all find my stream of consciousness endlessly entertaining, but I do have things to do. However I did find a MHP (mental health professional) on-line who, in a video conference, wrote me a scrip for a pill to make me a better (and by better I mean more skillful) person. So far, on this front, no luck, but it does seem to have made me, so far, a more chatty person. And so here:

Was at a restaurant the other day, picking a sandwich off the menu, and noticed that pickles were available, free of charge, on request. I liked this. The automatic placing of a pickle on a sandwich plate is cliched and usually needless, and so I appreciated this new take.

And I thought: "I don't want a pickle." And then I thought: "I just want to ride on my motor-sickle."

Arlo Guthrie. Then I remembered the old Arlo album I used to have, titled Hobo's Lullaby, the titular song written by Goebel Reeves in 1934, but associated with Woody Guthrie, probably the first to record it, and with covers by Pete Seeger, John Baez, etc. and now, by Woody's kid, Arlo. And I felt like singing:

You know the po-lice cause you trouble.
They cause trouble everywhere.
But when you die and go to heaven,
There won't be no po-lice there.

Anyway. Then I thought about City of New Orleans. Not Arlo's composition, I learned, but Steve Goodman's. And the story is fun:

Wikipedia:

While at the Quiet Knight bar in Chicago, Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie and asked to be allowed to play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed, on the condition that if Goodman bought him a beer, Guthrie would listen to him play for as long as it took to drink the beer. Goodman played "City of New Orleans," which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it. The song was a hit for Guthrie on his 1972 album Hobo's Lullaby.

Anyway, anyone compiling any great American songbook should include City of New Orleans. It is I think, one of Arlo's masterpieces.

And the sons of Pullman porters.
And the sons of engineers.
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.

Wow. Anyway.

Then I thought of another Arlo masterpiece: Alice's Restaurant.

Wikipedia again:

Alice's Restaurant Masssacree, commonly known as Alice's Restaurant, is a satirical talking blues song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album Alice's Restaurant. The song is a deadpan protest against the Vietnam War draft, in the form of a comically exaggerated but largely true story from Guthrie's own life.

This was a thing that everyone I knew had listened to at least once, and I wondered if this was still true. And if not, as my contribution to educating the youth, (it does take a Village), here. It's a little over 18 minutes, but for anyone unaware, with a little time, and in the mood, it is, in my opinion, worth it.

The movie, made from the song, by the way, is fun, and Arlo is honestly charming. But it probably isn't a classic, although it is a cultural landmark of that time, and certainly worth a view.

Anyway. I'll shut up now.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

I love that song...

 

[Spike]

I love that song...

What a blast! What's not to love about Arlo Guthrie. Thanks for the link

And, by the way, the bio-pic of Woody, Bound for Glory, with David Carradine, is a nice piece of work. This is American history, which carries through Woody and Arlo, that some people don't like (never liked, really--Communists!) . And, I think, I speculate, maybe a sensibility arising in this latest generation of young people, that some people want to disparage as "woke." But anyway. I'll really shut up, now.*

Edit: (*and footnote to self: Quit making promises you cant keep) I added the second paragraph above after the first bit, the appreciation of Arlo, had gotten a few likes. And so I guess I should say that those likers are not necessarily liking the beginnings of a workers-of-the-world-unite rant. Anyway.