When I was listening to the podcast I almost audibly gasped when Dr. Bezio brought up Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. This was not the first time I had heard this song, as my Grandfather often plays it on our back deck down the shore after a glass of wine or two during the summer. I have never really listened to the song, just laughed along for the entire SEVENTEEN minutes. But after paying much closer attention to the lyrics I reached out to my grandfather who has many friends that were drafted and came close to being drafted himself. It was music like this he said, that allowed people to have a sense of humor about everything going on while simultaneously making a statement. We still see this music today, as Dr. Bezio discusses. There is plenty of content out there that entertains while making a statement.
Critical Thinking
That’s very interesting to hear that your grandfather still plays the song. I thought it seemed relatively obscure, as I had never heard of it, but its cool to see how its still played. Makes me wonder if songs like “This is America” will become like that for our generation.
After listening to the podcast and watching the videos, I started thinking of songs that I believed had strong messages. The one that always pops into my head is “Soy Yo” by Bomba Estéreo where they empower individuality as it is represented through the girl in the video.
My siblings and I also grew up to my dad always playing Alice’s Restaurant, which I think he got from his parents. I actually didn’t anything about its origins before this, I just thought it was a funny long song.