did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?

Arlo Guthrie, whose Alice's Restaurant is dished up like cranberry sauce each Thanksgiving, finally made the Macy's parade this year. The protracted protest anthem tells the story of Mr. Guthrie's 1965 littering arrest, as detailed in this uncredited and unsourced account:



The lyrics tell the tale of how this trivial criminal event emerges as a major issue at the draft induction center, with Mr. Guthrie ultimately asking, "you want to know if I'm moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug?" So, while there was plenty of humor and good fun in the song, it packed a real punch.

The story is well-told and still engages audiences, but the status politics of garbage dumping have changed a lot in forty-five years. When it comes to dumping busloads of garbage down hillsides, contemporary hippie kids might sympathize more with Officer Obie's strict environmental protection than with their smiling sixties-era counterparts.

As I recall from my own freshman year, the film version was considerably sadder, slower, and uglier than the song. But I still like the following clip and could imagine using it for a class exercise on changing environmental norms: