This Date In Rock Music History: September 14

1955:  Little Richard recorded "Tutti Frutti" at J&M Studios in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1959:  Sandy Nelson made a huge leap, jumping from 84 to 28, with "Teen Beat".
1959:  "The Three Bells" from the Browns was #1 for the fourth week in a row.  The instrumental "Sleep Walk" by Santo & Johnny came in #2 followed by Lloyd Price and "I'm Gonna' Get Married".  Phil Phillips had the original "Sea Of Love" (he also co-wrote the song) and the Everly Brothers were fifth with "('Til) I Kissed You".  The rest of the Top 10:  "Red River Rock", another instrumental, was #6 from Johnny & the Hurricanes, "Broken-Hearted Melody" from Sarah Vaughan, Fats Domino with "I Want To Walk You Home", Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" moved from 24-9 while Jan & Dean entered the list with "Baby Talk".
1963:  Although most of us wouldn't know them until their hit "Back Stabbers" nine years later, the O'Jays first charted on this date with the single "Lonely Drifter".


1963:  "She Loves You" by the Beatles became the #1 song in the U.K.  It would remain as the biggest-selling single in the history of the U.K. until 1977.
1963:  "Heat Wave" by Martha & the Vandellas took over at #1 on the R&B chart.
1963:  The Ronettes moved from 55 to 20 with "Be My Baby".
1966:  For 10 schillings (about $1.40) you could see Otis Redding in concert at the Orchid Ballroom in Purley, London, England.  (Note:  some websites falsely say the show was in Purley, Surrey, England.  In 1963, Purley became part of Greater London, three years before Redding came to town.)
1967:  The Jimi Hendrix Experience were on the British television show Top of the Pops.
1968:  The Archies cartoon series debuted on CBS-TV.
1968:  Pete Townshend of the Who told Rolling Stone magazine he was working on a rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy.
1968:  Roy Orbison's house in Hendersonville, Tennessee burned to the ground.  Orbison was touring the U.K. at the time but his two oldest sons both died in the fire.  (Note:  some websites falsely say Orbison's house was in Nashville, Tennessee.  He lived on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, a suburb of Nashville.)

1968:  The Doors held on to #1 on the Album chart with Waiting for the Sun.  Time Peace/The Rascals' Greatest Hits, Wheels of Fire from Cream and Feliciano! by Jose Feliciano were stuck in their respective positions.  The rest of the Top 10:  Realization by Johnny Rivers, the self-titled Steppenwolf, the former #1 album Disraeli Gears by Cream, now in its 41st week, Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix Experience was #8, Aretha Now from Aretha Franklin was #9 and "The Graduate" Soundtrack moved back into the Top 10.






   
                                      The great group Deep Purple entered the Top 10...

1968:  The Rascals remained at the top spot with "People Got To Be Free", the fifth week at #1 for the song.  Jeannie C. Riley was determined with "Harper Valley P.T.A.", Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire" peaked at #3 and Steppenwolf was down with "Born to Be Wild".  The rest of the Top 10:  "1,2,3, Red Light" by the sugary 1910 Fruitgum Company, Aretha Franklin and "The House That Jack Built", Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell edged up with "You're All I Need To Get By", Deep Purple was up strong (13-8) with "Hush", the Doors' former #1 "Hello, I Love You" and the Beatles made history with the highest debut ever at that time (#10) for "Hey Jude".
1969:  Genesis performed in concert for the first time in Surrey, England at the home of Peter Gabriel's Sunday school teacher.
1970:  Stevie Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a former secretary at Motown Records.
1974:  Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, the Band, and Jesse Colin Young gave 80,000 people plenty of reasons to fill London's Wembley Stadium to capacity.





1974:  Olivia Newton John rose to #1 on the Easy Listening chart with "I Honestly Love You".











1974:  Stevie Wonder's great album Fulfillingness' First Finale reached #1 after just six weeks.  The debut from Bad Company was #2 followed by the previous #1--461 Ocean Boulevard from Eric Clapton.  Endless Summer from the Beach Boys jumped from 9-4.  The rest of the Top 10:  Rags to Rufus from Rufus, Olivia Newton-John was up from 21 to 6 with If You Love Me, Let Me Know, Bachman-Turner Overdrive II was #7, Marvin Gaye Live! came in eighth, Chicago VII was up and Caribou by Elton John closed out the list.
1976:  Bob Dylan starred in the television special Hard Rain on NBC.
1976:  Jeff Beck was awarded a Gold record for his album Wired.

1978:  The Grateful Dead played the first of three nights at the Gizah Sound and Light Theater at the foot of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.









1979:  Kenny Rogers earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1979:  The movie Quadrophenia, based on the Who's 1973 rock opera, opened in theaters.
1981:  Pink Floyd began work on the movie The Wall.
1983:  Metallica debuted their new song "Disposable Heroes" at the Metal Hammer Festival in St. Goarshausen, Germany.
1984:  Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd co-hosted the first MTV Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  You might wonder what MTV has to do with music?  Back then, it stood for "Music Television" instead of "Mundane Television".  The Cars won Video the Year for "You Might Think".  (Note:  many sources incorrectly list the date as September 18, but according to the book 'Madonna' by Andrew Morton and other reputable sources, the correct date was September 14.) 
1985:  Kool & the Gang reached #1 on the R&B chart with "Cherish".



1985:  "Cherish" by Kool & the Gang spent a fourth week at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
1984:  Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd co-hosted the first MTV Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.  You might wonder what MTV has to do with music?  Back then, it stood for "Music Television" instead of "Mundane Television".  The Cars won Video the Year for "You Might Think".  (Note:  many sources incorrectly list the date as September 18, but according to the book Madonna by Andrew Morton and other reputable sources, the correct date was September 14.) 

1989:  Sting debuted in the theater when he performed in The Threepenny Opera at the National Theater in Washington, D.C.  (Note:  some websites say Sting's debut was Thursday, September 13, but it was the 14th, according to the newspapers 'The Washington Post' and 'The Los Angeles Times'.)

1989:  Band leader Perez Prado ("Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" from 1955) died of a stroke in Mexico City, Mexico at the age of 72.

1991:  Metallica remained at #1 on the Album chart with their self-titled album (commonly called The Black Album).  Natalie Cole was still at #2 with Unforgettable with Love while another great album from Bonnie Raitt--Luck of the Draw came in third.  C.M.B. from Color Me Badd was #4 and Boyz II Men were harmonizing their way up with Cooleyhighharmony.  The rest of the Top 10:  For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge by Van Halen, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band debuted at #7 with The Fire Inside, Time, Love & Tenderness from Michael Bolton was #8, C+C Music Factory's Gonna' Make You Sweat and Paula Abdul was on her way down with Spellbound.

1991:  Paula Abdul had released nine songs and "The Promise Of A New Day" gave her the sixth #1 of her career on this date.  Color Me Badd was up strong with "I Adore Mi Amor".  Bryan Adams finally fell from the top after seven weeks there with "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You".  Boyz II Men dropped with "Motownphilly" and C+C Music Factory were at 5 with "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...".  
1991:  Adults made "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams #1 for a seventh week on the AC chart.

1993:  Meat Loaf released the single "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That").  (Note:  one website naively says the single was released September 18.  "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That") debuted on the Singles chart on September 19.  Never mind the fact that it is physically impossible for a record company to release a single, mail the single to radio stations, be listened to and added to station playlist, reported to the trade papers, and printed and published by the trade papers in two days.  The deadline for reporting new additions to radio station playlists is Wednesday of any given week.  Wednesday in 1993 was on September 16.)  

1994:  The Temptations received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard.
1995:  Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie performed at Meadows Music Theater in Hartford, Connecticut.








1995:  Earth, Wind & Fire received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard.
1995:  The handwritten lyrics to the song "Getting Better" by the Beatles fetched today's equivalent of $214,231 (£161,000) at a Sotheby's auction in London.








                                                   Celine scored another hit...

1996:  Los Del Rio spent a seventh week at #1 with "Macarena" and it was nowhere near done.  The only new Top 10 song was "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" from Celine Dion, which moved from 12 to 7.
1997:  Pete Townshend unveiled an English Heritage Blue Plaque at 23 Brook Street in London, the location where Jimi Hendrix lived in 1968 and 1969.  Hendrix was the first rock star to be awarded with the Plaque.
1998:  Metallica began work on the album Garage Inc.
1999:  The Strokes debuted at the Spiral in Manhattan, New York.
2000:  Sheryl Crow, Paul Simon, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Bette Midler performed at a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, New York.
2002:  Gwen Stefani of No Doubt married Gavin Rossdale of Bush at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
2003:  Britney Spears made a surprise appearance at Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2003:  Gerry Marsden from Gerry & the Pacemakers had triple heart bypass surgery in Liverpool, England.
2006:  Marianne Faithfull announced through her publicist that she was being treated for breast cancer.
2007:  The movie Across the Universe, inspired by the Beatles' song, opened in theaters.
2008:  Metallica had the #1 album in the U.K. with Death Magnetic.
2010:  Patti Labelle officially joined the cast of the musical Fela! after two "sneak peek" performances on September 8-9.


Born This Day:
1914:  Mae Boren Axton, who wrote Elvis Presley's classic "Heartbreak Hotel", was born in Bardwell, Texas; drowned in her hot tub in Hendersonville, Tennessee after an apparent heart attack on April 9, 1997.
1946:  Pete Agnew, bassist of Nazareth, was born in Dunfermline, Scotland.
1947:  Jon "Bowzer" Bauman of Sha Na Na was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1949:  Steve Gaines, guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, was born in Seneca, Missouri; died October 20, 1977 in Gillsburg, Mississippi in a plane crash that also killed Ronnie Van Zant and Steve's wife Cassie Gaines.  (Note:  one website claims Steve was born in Miami, Oklahoma.  Our best information is that Gaines was born in Seneca and raised in Miami, Oklahoma.)

1950:  Paul Kossoff, guitarist of the group Free, was born in Hampstead, London, England; died March 19, 1976 of drug-related heart problems while on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City.  (Note:  some websites report Kossoff was born in London.  Although today Hampstead is part of the borough of Camden in the county of London, that change was not made until 1965, 15 years after Kossoff was born.  In 1950, Hampstead was a borough of London.)
1954:  Barry Cowsill, drummer and later bassist of the Cowsills, was born in Newport, Rhode Island; died circa September 2, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Katrina (Note:  some websites report he died circa August 29.  Cowsill had been reported missing before his body was recovered December 28 from the Chartres Street Wharf.  According to Barry's sister Susan, he left four messages for her on her phone on September 2, so we know August 29 is inaccurate.) 
1955:  Steve Berlin, saxophonist and keyboardist of Los Lobos, who has worked with Sheryl Crow, R.E.M., Rickie Lee Jones, the Crash Test Dummies, John Lee Hooker, Faith No More, the Smithereens and others as either a session musician or producer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
1959:  Morten Harket, lead singer of A-Ha, was born in Kongsberg, Norway.
1970:  Craig Montoya, bass guitarist of Everclear, was born in Spokane, Washington
1973:  Nas was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1981:  Ashley Roberts of the Pussycat Dolls was born in Phoenix, Arizona.
1983:  Amy Winehouse was born in Enfield, London; died of alcohol poisoning in London on July 23, 2011.  (Note:  several websites report Amy was born in Southgate, London.  According to the book 'Amy Amy Amy - The Amy Winehouse Story' by Nick Johnstone, Winehouse was born in a hospital in Enfield.)

Three-Quarters of a Million Inside The Rock Era Viewers Can't Be Wrong!

You've done it!  Your loyalty is much appreciated, and will never be forgotten.  Thanks to you, Inside The Rock Era has passed 750,000 page views, and in three-and-a-half years!

You know that we never rest on laurels, (heaven forbid...), and we have a lot planned for the rest of this year as we build up to the glorious 60th birthday of the Rock Era.  On October 1, we'll celebrate The Top 100 Artists of the Seventies*.  We will feature one artist per day, so that will take us into the new year.  We will also feature our annual salute to the Rock Era artists who passed during 2014, as well as our determinaton of The Top 10 Songs of 2014*.

For 2015, it will be magical.  For lovers, we'll salute The Top Love Songs of the Rock Era* during Valentine's Week.  The fun will just be beginning.  We will kick off our signature music special, The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era* about the time that "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley & the Comets was re-released in 1955 (It was first released in 1954, but didn't catch on--which made its chart-climbing in 1955 all the more special.) 

When "Rock Around The Clock" reached #1 on July 9, it was a sea change in music.  Artists such as Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole had dominated the music charts with their style of music.  Now it was time for a new generation, and the music they liked, and the significance of "Rock Around The Clock" cannot be understated.  As is our custom, to cut the load time to a minimum, we will feature 10 songs per day in The Top 500 Songs*.  We will time the special so that the final segment will be presented on July 9, to coincide with "Rock Around The Clock" reaching #1, the official 60th birthday of the Rock Era.

We just updated The Top 100 Albums of the Rock Era* last year, and that is relatively current since the albums of today are comparatively weak.  But we will present another major music special, The Top 100 Artists of the Rock Era* in 2015 as well.  We are teasing you a bit with The Top 100 Artists of the Seventies* this fall.  But to land a spot in The Top 100 Artists for 60 years takes some doing, and that will be another special not to be missed!

We are also updating and clarifying the popular Calendar* feature as well.  When we began this website in March of 2011, we used information from respected websites to compile the information in the Calendar*.  Unfortunately, and you have helped greatly in this, we found out that those websites are incorrect.  So we recently began doing deep research to correct their mistakes and we included the dates, artists, clubs, birthdays, birth places, etc. that reflect the best available data included in the Calendar*.  Please be patient with this process--it will take several months to update the entire Calendar*!

We will also update the popular Top Unknown/Underrated* and Top Tracks* features to include current videos.  As you know, videos appear and disappear often on YouTube.  When we feature the music specials, it is best to view those videos while they are current.  But we will update all of the specials and features with current videos so that the 60th Birthday Party of the Rock Era will be gigantic blast for all music fans!

Thank-you 750,000 times for your dedicated viewership of Inside The Rock Era.  Onward and upward! 

This Date in Rock Music History: September 13

1958:  Cliff Richard made his British television debut singing "Move It" on the program Oh Boy.

1959:  Elvis Presley met Priscilla Beaulieu while he was in the United States Army in West Germany. 

1962:  Elvis Presley collected his 12th U.K. #1 with "She's Not You".

1964:  How's this for an amazing concert?  The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Dusty Springfield, the Miracles, the Searchers, Martha & the Vandellas, the Shangri-La's, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Jay & the Americans, the Contours, the Dovells, the Newbeats, and Millie Small shared a bill for the conclusion of Murray The K's (iconic DJ on WINS) 10-day Big Holiday Show (September 4-13) at the Fox Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.

1965:  It was a famous day in Rock Era history as Simon & Garfunkel released the single "The Sound Of Silence". (Note: some websites show varying dates of the release, but Steve Sullivan, in his book 'The Encyclopedia of Popular Music' shows the date of release as September 13.)











 
1965:  As if that wasn't enough, the Beatles released the single "Yesterday" in the U.S.  It had been released in the U.K. on August 6.

1965:  The Steve Lawrence Show premiered on CBS-TV with guest Lucille Ball.

1969:  John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band debuted live at the Rock 'n' Roll Revival Concert at Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The Doors, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent & Bo Diddley also performed.

1969:  Kool and the Gang first appeared on the chart as their first single "Kool And The Gang" debuted.

1971:  Paul & Linda McCartney celebrated the birth of daughter Stella in London.

1974:  Stevie Wonder went on his first tour since his very scary car accident that nearly took his life in August of 1973, performing at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.  (Note:  several websites say the Nassau Coliseum is located in Long Island, New York.  Long Island is not a city, and if you tried to address a letter there, you'd get it back.  Nassau is located in Uniondale.)

1979:  ABBA ventured to the other side of the Atlantic for the first time (and only time) in their career, opening up at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

1980:  George Benson hit #1 on the R&B chart with "Give Me The Night".

               
          "Hold On, Hold Out", one of the top tracks on Browne's #1 album...

1980:  Hold Out, the great album by Jackson Browne, moved to #1, replacing Emotional Rescue from the Rolling Stones.  The Soundtrack to "Urban Cowboy" was third, followed by The Game by Queen and Diana from Diana Ross.  The rest of the Top 10:  Christopher Cross, the "Fame" Soundtrack, Give Me the Night by George Benson at #8, Glass Houses from Billy Joel, and the "Xanadu" Soundtrack.

       
                                                   Eddie Rabbitt cruised into the Top 10 on this date...

1980:  Diana Ross remained at #1 with "Upside Down" while Australia's Air Supply moved to challenge with "All Out Of Love".  The Rolling Stones were still at 3 with "Emotional Rescue" while newcomer Irene Cara moved up with "Fame".  The rest of the Top 10:  Christopher Cross and his former #1 "Sailing", George Benson and "Give Me The Night", Paul Simon had "Late In The Evening", Johnny Lee with "Lookin' For Love" from the great Soundtrack to "Urban Cowboy", Queen moved from 23 to 9 with "Another One Bites The Dust" and Eddie Rabbitt posted another Top 10 hit with "Drivin' My Life Away".

1985:  Glenn Frey and Don Henley won MTV Video Music Awards for "Smuggler's Blues" and "The Boys Of Summer", respectively.  Henley won four trophies on the night.

1993:  Max Weinberg, drummer of the E Street Band, became the leader of the house band for Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC-TV.

1993:  Ace of Base released the single "All That She Wants".  (Note:  some websites naively say the single was released September 18.  "All That She Wants" debuted on the Singles chart on September 18.  It is physically impossible for a song to be released by a record company, mailed to radio stations, listened to and added to radio station playlists, reported to trade papers, and printed and published by the trade papers, all in one day.)

1996:  Tupac Shakur died six days after being shot in Las Vegas, Nevada from internal bleeding at the age of 25.  You live a life like that, you die like that.

1998:  Julian Lennon began a tour of Japan.
1998:  Mel B of the Spice Girls married Jimmy Gulzar in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England.

1998:  Lauryn Hill had the top album with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

2003:  The White Stripes performed at the Greek Amphitheatre in Berkeley, California.

2003:  Mary J. Blige had the #1 album with Love & Life.

2005:  Justin Jeffre of 98 Degrees received 708 votes in the primary election for mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio.

2005:  Jimi Hendrix's home in Seattle, Washington where he grew up was saved from demolition.  The building was made into a community center opposite the cemetery where Hendrix was buried in 1970.

2008:  The Ray Davies musical Come Dancing, which Ray himself starred in, opened at the Stratford East Theatre in London.

Born This Day:
1922:  Charles Brown ("Please Come Home For Christmas") was born in Texas City, Texas; died of congestive heart failure on Oakland, California on January 21, 1999.

1939:  Dave Quincy, saxophonist and songwriter of Manfred Mann's Earth Band ("Blinded By The Light" from 1977)

1941:  David Clayton-Thomas, one of the all-time great lead singers from Blood, Sweat & Tears, was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England.

1944:  Peter Cetera of Sun Valley, Idaho, the lead singer of Chicago for many years before a successful solo career, was born in Chicago, Illinois.

1952:  Randy Jones of the Village People was born in Raleigh, North Carolina.

1952:  Don Was of Was (Not Was) was born in Detroit, Michigan.

1954:  Steven John Kilbey, lead singer, songwriter and bassist with the Church, was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.

1961:  Dave Mustaine, founder, songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist of Megadeth, was born in La Mesa, California.

1965:  Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, who has played drums and worked with the Who, the Spencer Davis Group, Oasis and Johnny Marr, was born in Hammersmith, London, England.

1967:  Steve Perkins, drummer and songwriter of Jane's Addiction, was born in Los Angeles, California.

1967:  Timothy Owens, singer with Judas Priest, was born in Akron, Ohio.

1975:  Joe Rooney, singer and lead guitarist with Rascal Flatts, was born in Baxter Springs, Kansas.

1977:  Fiona Apple was born in Manhattan, New York.

Featured Unknown/Underrated Song: Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant Massacre"

Arlo Guthrie came up with this song in 1967--although times have changed, it's still as great as ever.  Officially, the extremely limited single version peaked at #97, but we all know it as a classic:

 

"Alice's Restaurant Massacre"

Arlo Guthrie

 

Lyrics and Music by Arlo Guthrie

 

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

 

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of
room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room,
seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't
have to take out their garbage for a long time.

 

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be
a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump.

 

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the
dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump
closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off
into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

 

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the
side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the
cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile
is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we
decided to throw our's down.

 

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving
dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the
next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid,
we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of
garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And
I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage."

 

After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

 

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be see driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

 

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

 

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"

 Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

 

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the
twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows
and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog.

 And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry,
'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not
what I came to tell you about.

 

Came to talk about the draft.

 

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to
look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted
to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York,
and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all
kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave
me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the phsychiatrist, room 604."

 

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

 

Didn't feel too good about it.

 

Proceeded on down the hall gettin more injections, inspections,
detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me
at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four
hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty
ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was
inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no
part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

 

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre,
with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all
the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever
go to court?"

 

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

 

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"

 And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

 

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it
down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
following words:

 

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

 

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
off to Washington."

 

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.

 And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

 

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and
sing it when it does. Here it comes.

 

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

 

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it
for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part
harmony and feeling.

 

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

 

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant