"Alice's Restaurant"

My older son and I were idly discussing this and that a short time ago when somehow it came out that he had never heard or even heard of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant." Somehow this revelation caught me flat-footed -- left me utterly incredulous ... and clearly in an old-fart mode. I was almost in awe of the notion that someone could not be familiar with the light-hearted and serious anti-war screed ... where in fact, of course, I might rather have been in awe of the fact that the tune was tattooed on my DNA. It was like not being familiar -- even a little bit -- with Beethoven.

JEEEEE-SUS! My mind drooled with incredulity ... and then, of course, I had to listen to it again and recognize that although it was clearly dated, it was equally clearly a classic in my book.

Vietnam gaining steam, a literate artistic community, an ability to laugh ...

Well, so it goes. And here's the original: