Arlo Guthrie (born 10th July 1947, Brooklyn, New York ) is an American folk… Read Full Bio ↴Arlo Guthrie (born 10th July 1947, Brooklyn, New York ) is an American folk singer who is the son of folk singer and composer Woody Guthrie and his wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, a one-time professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of The Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease. He graduated from the Stockbridge School of Massachusetts in 1965, and briefly attended Rocky Mountain College.

His most famous work is Alice's Restaurant, a talking blues song that lasts eighteen minutes and twenty seconds (in its original recorded version; Guthrie has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert). The song, a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft, is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie was called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering. In reality, Guthrie, though a carrier of the genetically inherited disease Huntington's chorea, was classified as fit (1A); however, his draft-lottery number did not come up.

On a Monday
Arlo Guthrie Lyrics

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On a Monday
I was arrested
And on a Tuesday,
I got locked up in jail
And on a Wednesday
My trial was attested
And on a Thursday
Nobody would go my bail

Yes I'm gone
Aaaalmost most gone
Yes I'm gone
I'm almost gone
Yes I'm gone,
I'm almost gone
And I ain't going to be seein' them pretty women no more

Take these stripes
These stripes from off my shoulder
Take these chains
These chains from off-a my leg
Well these stripes,
You know that they don't bother me
But these chains
These chains are killin' me dead

Yes I'm gone
Aaaalmost most gone
Yes I'm gone
I'm almost gone
Yes I'm gone,
I'm almost gone
And I ain't going to be seein' them pretty women no more

Now on a Friday
My baby went out walking
And on a Saturday
You know she locked up the door
And on a Sunday
She must have done some talkin'
Cause on a Monday
She had sold all o my clothes.

Yes I'm gone
Almost most gone
Yes I'm gone
I'm almost gone
Yes I'm gone,

I'm aaalmost gone
And I ain't going to be seein' them pretty women no more

Overall Meaning

Arlo Guthrie's "On a Monday" is a song about a man's journey through the criminal justice system. The first verse tells us that he was arrested on a Monday and locked up in jail on a Tuesday. By Wednesday, his trial had started, and by Thursday, he had been denied bail. Throughout the song, the singer's sense of despair and hopelessness is palpable as he recounts the series of unfortunate events that have led him to this point.

The second half of the song is focused on the singer's desire to be free, both physically and emotionally. He asks someone to take the stripes from his shoulder and the chains from his legs. While the stripes don't bother him, the chains are "killing him dead." The chains represent the weight and burden of his predicament, and he can't wait to be rid of them.

The final verse tells us that the singer's significant other has betrayed him, possibly by turning him into the police. She sells all of his belongings, leaving him with nothing. The song ends on a melancholic note, with the singer resigned to his fate and cut off from the world he once knew.

Line by Line Meaning

On a Monday
The singer's story begins on a Monday.

I was arrested
The singer was arrested on that day.

And on a Tuesday, I got locked up in jail
The day after the arrest, the singer was taken to jail.

And on a Wednesday My trial was attested
On Wednesday, the artist's trial took place and was certified as accurate.

And on a Thursday Nobody would go my bail
The next day, no one volunteered to pay the bail needed for the artist's release.

Yes I'm gone Aaaalmost most gone Yes I'm gone I'm almost gone Yes I'm gone, I'm almost gone And I ain't going to be seein' them pretty women no more
Despite the singer's strong desire to leave jail and see women again, he feels close to being defeated by the circumstances.

Take these stripes These stripes from off my shoulder
The singer asks to be rid of the military-style stripes on his jail uniform, which serve as a badge of shame and remind him of his past.

Take these chains These chains from off-a my leg
The artist requests the removal of the physical restraints that prevent him from moving freely and comfortably.

Well these stripes, You know that they don't bother me But these chains These chains are killin' me dead
The artist admits that the stripes are not his main concern, but the chains are unbearable and feel like a death sentence.

Now on a Friday My baby went out walking And on a Saturday You know she locked up the door And on a Sunday She must have done some talkin' Cause on a Monday She had sold all o my clothes.
While the artist was in jail for at least a few days, his partner left their home, secured it, possibly gossiped about their situation, and sold the artist's belongings without his permission, leading to feelings of betrayal and loss.

Yes I'm gone Almost most gone Yes I'm gone I'm almost gone Yes I'm gone, I'm aaalmost gone And I ain't going to be seein' them pretty women no more
By this point, the singer is even more certain that he won't get out of jail soon and his chances of reuniting with women are shrinking down to none.

Contributed by Natalie I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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