I've chosen these two versions because they not only sound great, being FM versions, but also because each one will be a new listening experience for you no matter how many times you've listened to the album. And I mean a new experience.

The first comes from Gerde's Folk City in NYC (in fact, this might be a soundboard recording rather than an FM recording, I don't know) sometime in 1966. That puts it a year before the album was released, and it is very obvious that the song was still in the development stage. In fact, the elements that we would consider the main parts of the story are missing entirely. What the song consists of, mainly, is a far greater elaboration on another element that you will know from the album, and I think you'll be very surprised to hear what element it was that dominated the early version of the song. At a mere 13:33, it's about 5 minutes shorter than the studio version also. You can get it right here.

The second is from The Bob Fass radio show in May of 1967, just three months after Arlo played a more faithful rendering of the song on the same show. This is entirely different from the first or the official version. First, this version has piano accompaniment, which changes the entire texture of the song. With just a guitar, it is a very folksy song, but the jangly piano in the background brings an aura of New Orleans honky-tonk that changes the face of the familiar tune completely. Not only that, but the story is entirely different.This is, in fact, sort of a sequel to the original story. It's called Alice's Restaurant Multi-Colored Rainbow Roach Affair, and is a bizarre story involving the restaurant, brightly colored insects, and cold war espionage. It's only three seconds longer than the 1966 version. It has to be heard to be believed. Hear it here.

Of course, we know what Arlo was smoking when he came up with it, right?

The other two versions I downloaded were much more faithful to the album, although one has plenty of improv in it and comes in a almost 25 minutes. Maybe I'll post that one next year. For now, what do those of you who know the song think of these two alternate takes? You have the floor.