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.
Telephone
Arlo Guthrie Lyrics
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Get out of bed and I'm feeling alright
Make me some coffee and I sit down alone
The rest of the day I'm on the telephone
Hang up, hold on
You got a dime so you come on so strong
Save your money and let me be
I got a phone in my bedroom and one in the barn
A phone in my car and one in the yard
A phone on my saddle for when I'm out on the range
A phone in my pocket for when I'm down at the grange
Hang up, hold on
You got a dime so you come on so strong
Save your money and let me be
Hang up the phone and quit bothering me
Now with devaluation all over the land
The whole wide world has got more money in their hand
They'll be calling me up from Peking and Nome
I'm going to rip out my telephone
The lyrics of Arlo Guthrie's song "Telephone" literally depict the daily routine of a person who wakes up early and heads straight to the coffee maker acknowledging a positive attitude towards life followed by spending the day answering phone calls. The singer mentions having telephones in various locations from the bedroom, the barn, car, yard, to saddle while on the range and even carrying one in their pocket when down at the grange. The song's chorus is an appeal to individuals making phone calls, most of whom do it excessively, to hang off the line and allow the singer some peace of mind.
Attempting to analyze these lyrics, it is evident that the singer is indicting the constant disturbances caused by telephones. Although this song was recorded over four decades ago, the root of the issue still persists to date. It is common to hear people lament about having too many missed calls or constantly having to attend to calls or messages from different people in their lives, which often leads to stress and exhaustion. The lyrics of this song, therefore, still hold relevance even to modern times.
Line by Line Meaning
Every morning just as soon as it's light
As soon as the sunlight start to appear I wake up feeling good
Get out of bed and I'm feeling alright
As soon as I'm up from bed, I'm doing fine
Make me some coffee and I sit down alone
I prepare a cup of coffee and sit by myself
The rest of the day I'm on the telephone
For the entire day, I'm occupied taking calls
Hang up, hold on
Stop the call, please wait
You got a dime so you come on so strong
You call me because you have a dime, and you insist on talking to me
Save your money and let me be
Keep your money and don't bother me
Hang up the phone and quit bothering me
End the call and don't call me again
I got a phone in my bedroom and one in the barn
I own a phone in my bedroom and another in the barn
A phone in my car and one in the yard
I also have a phone in my car and also one in my yard
A phone on my saddle for when I'm out on the range
I even have a phone on my saddle so I can make calls while out riding
A phone in my pocket for when I'm down at the grange
I also carry a phone in my pocket whenever I'm at the grange
Now with devaluation all over the land
With the devaluation of money happening everywhere
The whole wide world has got more money in their hand
Everyone in the world has more money to spend
They'll be calling me up from Peking and Nome
People from everywhere, including Peking and Nome, will be calling me
I'm going to rip out my telephone
I will remove my telephone to prevent any more calls
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: ARLO GUTHRIE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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