Woman who inspired the famous Thanksgiving song ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ dies at 83

The woman who inspired one of the most famous Thanksgiving songs of all time has died at the age of 83.

The Associated Press reports that Alice Brock died in Provincetown, Massachusetts on Thursday, a week before this year’s turkey holiday. A cause of death was not disclosed, but Arlo Guthrie, whose song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” was inspired by Brock, said her health was deteriorating.

“This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her,” Guthrie wrote in a tribute on Facebook on Friday. “Alice and I spoke on the phone a few weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. We joked and laughed a few times, even though we knew we would never get the chance to talk together again.”

Guthrie, the son of legendary folk musician Woody Guthrie, reportedly met Brock in 1962 when he was attending Stockbridge School in Massachusetts and she was the librarian. They became friends and he would stay with her and her husband in a converted Stockbridge church that became the Brocks’ main home.

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacre” (also called “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre”) tells the story of how Arlo Guthrie was arrested when he and a friend helped the Brocks take out the trash on Thanksgiving Day 1965 and threw the trash down a hill because the city dump was closed. They were charged with illegal dumping, jailed and fined $50. The incident reportedly made Guthrie ineligible for the draft, and the entire story was woven into a protest song about the Vietnam War.

“You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant / You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant / Walk in the back / Just half a mile from the railroad tracks / You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant, Guthrie sang.

The 18-minute song appeared on Guthrie’s debut album ‘Alice’s Restaurant’, which sold more than a million copies. There are few traditional Thanksgiving songs, but “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” became a hallmark of the holiday and many radio stations played it in its entirety on Thanksgiving Day for decades.

The song also inspired the 1969 film ‘Alice’s Restaurant’, in which Guthrie played himself, with a cast including Pat Quinn, James Broderick and Pete Seeger.

Alice Brock, born Alice May Pelkey ​​in New York City, ran The Back Room restaurant in Stockbridge at the time, although the song never mentions the restaurant. She also worked at two other restaurants during her career and subsequently wrote a book, “My Life as a Restaurant,” and collaborated with Guthrie on a children’s book, “Mooses Come Walking.”

“We worked together on several projects. Over the next few decades we remained friends as our lives occupied us. She was a no-nonsense girl, with a great sense of humor,” Guthrie wrote.