Arlo Guthrie rambles into Napa’s City Winery Arlo Guthrie rambles into Napa’s City Winery

When the release of the 18-minute musical monologue “Alice’s Restaurant” in 1967 made Arlo Guthrie an instant star, not everyone was impressed.

“He’s just riding on his father’s reputation,” cynics said.

Now, nearly a half-century later, it’s probably safe to say that Arlo, the son of pioneering folksinger and songwriter Woody Guthrie, has become famous in his own right, scoring a hit with Steve Goodman’s song “City of New Orleans” in 1972, and performing and recording for decades with the late folk music legend Pete Seeger.

In honor of the hit that started it all, Arlo Guthrie will bring his 18-month North American ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ 50th anniversary tour to the City Winery in Napa this Saturday, April 18

Controversial at the time for its anti-war message, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre,” as the piece is officially titled, recounts the younger Guthrie’s arrest for littering after a 1965 “Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat,” when there was trash to take out and the garbage dump was closed for the holiday.

Ultimately, the rambling, whimsical story-song ends with Guthrie being rejected for military service on moral grounds, because of his conviction as a litterbug.

A film version of “Alice’s Restaurant,” directed and co-written by Arthur Penn and starring Guthrie as himself, came out in 1969.

Performing a year ago at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, Guthrie sang and played the short chorus from “Alice’s Restaurant,” the only part of the piece that is sung rather than spoken: “You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.”

Then he confessed that he had forgotten the long monologue that comes between choruses, and would have to learn it all over again for the anniversary tour, which was launched in January in Florida. The piece hadn’t been on his play list for decades.

“I remember playing it in the ’60s into the early ’70s,” Guthrie said in a later interview with Rolling Stone. “And I actually remember the day I realized I was never gonna sing it before a virgin audience again, that everybody I was about to play it for had already heard it and were coming back to hear it for the second time.”

In an era ruled by 3-minute songs geared for maximum radio play, “Alice’s Restaurant” seemed an unlikely hit. “You have to remember that back in ’65, all the way into the early ’70s, nobody in their right mind would have written an 18-minute monologue,” Guthrie told Rolling Stone. “So I never expected it to even be on a record, let alone get air play, let alone have it made into a movie.”

Now bearing a shaggy white mane of curly hair, Guthrie bears little resemblance to the affable, dough-faced youth who appeared in the movie. But he still bears the same bemused facial expression, and still speaks in a wry, slightly detached voice with a self-effacing humor.

At the Marin concert, Guthrie even performed the “Motorcycle Song,” a painfully simple album filler that now mildly embarrasses him. It goes: “I don’t want a pickle. I just wanna ride my motorcycle.”

During a 1977 concert, Guthrie called the “Motorcycle Song” a “dumb song,” and added, “You know, it’s amazin’ that somebody can get away with singin’ a song this dumb for that long.”

“Alice’s Restaurant,” on the other hand, is not generally remembered as a dumb song, even though some may still find it offensively irreverent.

Indeed, it’s barely a song it all, but it reflects a time in the 1960s when the Vietnam War widened the gap between young adults and their parents, and a new generation found its voice.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. Read his Arts blog at arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.