In one of yesterday's posts, I mentioned that one of my "Daily Mixes" on Spotify was called "Classic Acoustic", which contains a variety of music from the late 60's/early 70's that, presumably would appeal to old farts like myself. As I mentioned, after hearing song # 3 (1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson) I left the Daily Mix and went off to learn more about Thompson and his music.
This morning, I went back to the mix to listen to #4 - Alice's Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie.
Alice's Restaurant Massacree was released in 1967. Things have certainly changed since then. Listening to the song as recorded then, I heard a number of ideas expressed which may have been considered "hip" or "progressive" at the time, but which would be frowned upon by the woke folk of today.
Afterward, I listened to Guthrie's 50th anniversary rendition to see what, if anything had been updated to pacify the woke.
Of course, there wasn't much one could change about the first part of the song where Guthrie tells of his throwing away "a half a ton" of garbage in a rural area. He couldn't leave out that section because part two would not be understandable without the first part. His description of the garbage incident was still mocking and sarcastic. This time around, however there was no knowing and agreeing laughter from the audience. The woke crowd seriously frowns upon disregard for the environment. Hell, now throwing the garbage away in the city dump is something the Left is against......his throwing away trash the way he did is even worse in today's world. I'm a little surprised that Guthrie hasn't been cancelled for the garbage incident.
When he gets to the second part of the song, which deals with the draft board, his trying to explain to people today what the draft board was seemed a little awkward. I wouldn't expect him to receive much push back from the Left on his anti-war/anti-authority views in the second portion, but I was curious to see what he would do with the reference to "faggots" that comes near the end of the song.
He sidestepped that hurdle. The word was not used in the newer version of the song; instead a mention of how some bigoted folks in Texas might object to a couple singing the Alice's Restaurant jingle, while they applied for a marriage license was substituted.
For many years, an FM radio station in Atlanta would broadcast the song on Thanksgiving Day. I don't know if that's still being done. I'm waiting to see if Guthrie will be eaten by the Left any time soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment