Song Of The Week - Apr. 02, 2007 - Alice's Champagne Palace

[paddyinthepub]

Raise a glass folks, we are about to toast what was ONCE the finest bar in Homer, Alaska. It was sad to hear Ellis say that the bar no longer exists, although it will likely be around forever thanks to Ellis Paul's patronage and heartfelt homage found here in the lines of this week's Song of the Week:

Alice's Champagne Palace
from the album Ellis Paul Essentials



You take a rickety plane up from Seattle into Anchorage
You step on the concrete gazing at the midnight sun
Jump in my pickup and we'll drive
Bring your troubles down Highway 9
I got a pull-out couch and a job lined up at the cannery
You hitch a ride to Homer, Alaska - brother, the drinks will be on me

[chorus]
Raise a glass, tip the chalice, welcome to Alice's Champagne Palace
The finest bar in the strip in Homer, Alaska
If you're from New York, LA, Dallas
You'll find a home at the Champagne Palace
Alice will pour you a cold one, go ahead and ask her
If you're running away to Alaska

Now the mountains rise from ocean to sky in Homer, Alaska
And they'll steal your breath and your troubles in the blink of an eye
You'll hear a band with a steel guitar
There's a window seat right at the bar
The whales are breeching and Alice is preaching "Like a Rolling Stone"
She'll push a Mason jar across the bar and say "Mister, welcome home"

[repeat chorus]

[bridge]
You've never been to a prettier place than Homer, Alaska
You'll never find a kinder face than the one behind the bar
Homer's a town full of misfit toys
Renegade women, runaway boys
Everybody's got a story here in Homer-town
I guess sometimes you gotta go to the end of the earth just to turn yourself around

Raise a glass, tip the chalice, welcome to Alice's Champagne Palace
The finest bar in the strip in Homer, Alaska
If you're from New York, LA, Dallas
You'll find a home at the Champagne Palace
Alice will pour you a cold one, go ahead and ask her
If you're running away.....brother you just might stay.....
If you're running away to Alaska.....Alaska....right on the strip in Homer....Alaska

[Richard + Jela]

This song always lifts the spirits (no pun intended!)

My favourite lines are:

Homer's a town full of misfit toys
Renegade women, runaway boys

there's something in Ellis' voice when he sings these lines that makes me think 'yeah, renegade women - go for it girls'

Regardless of the reasons for visiting Homer, Alaska it seems to me that everybody has a great time at the Champagne Palace, the song gives such a strong impression of the people there and the camaraderie between them. No judging, no one putting on an act - just everyoe being accepted for what they are and living in harmony....oh that we could all say the same about the wider world.


Jela

[wendy]

just everyone being accepted for what they are and living in harmony....oh that we could all say the same about the wider world.

Amen, Jela!
I get the same basic message from this song: Alaska may be the destination for "misfits", but they learn to leave their prejudices at the door. What a lovely idea.

[KarenZ]

Paddy, thanks for kicking off this week's SOTW.

"Alice" is such a feel-good song. One can't help tap one's feet and sing-along. So many great lines of lyric - I must confess I also love the line about misfit toys, renegade women and runaway boys. Oddly enough, every time I think of renegade women, I think of Eliza Gilkyson....or more specifically a song that she does called "ballad of Yvonne Johnson"...an incredibly powerful true story of a native American woman....although Yvonne was more of a victim than a renegade. Whatever. That's how my brain works.

I especially like how Ellis often inserts the name of the town he's performing in into "Alice". It works best if the town's name happens to be 2 syllables. Bethlehem is a tough one to insert.

KarenZ

[paddyinthepub]

There is something that happens to a person when they hear the name of their town, city, state, or country --- in song. Especially a really good song. It started for me WAY BACK WHEN --- when as a kid I would hear Glenn Campbell singing his hit song "GALVESTON."

Other songs have resonated as well, some worth mentioning, some not. The first time I played 3000 Miles from the CD Stories and heard Ellis singing:

"Down in Houston, on comes a woman, with 2 kids and a bottle of booze" -- the connection was made. Ellis knew Houston? That's where I'm from and Ellis just made it cool to be "from there."

I bring this up simply to note that I love it when artists can connect with their potential fan base by working in the name of a place into song. I got hooked on an artist not long ago. Why did I LOVE this song so much??? Well, my wife is from Cleveland, Ohio, and the song not only mentions Cleveland, but makes it sound relatively cool.

So Ellis has wisely written several tunes that make people feel at home the minute they hear them. There's Boston and Austin in his Texas christmas song. There's Paris in a day. There's an angel in Manhattan. There's even a welcome home tribute to his own home state of Maine.

It's a win/win for Ellis and his fans, and I just wanted to mention it here, in the discussion of Alice's Champagne Palace --- where Ellis has fostered a sense of "deep community" with no less than 10 cities and states mentioned in one really cool song.

Here's the breakdown, and of course most states are implied:

1/2... Seattle Washington
3/4... Homer Alaska
5/6... New York New York
7/8... Los Angeles Califorinia
9/10.. Dallas Texas

Just in case you're feeling a little left out --- Ellis has the entire planet covered when he sings:

"sometimes you gotta go to the end of the earth, to turn yourself around."

[JennyLevE]

When I first heard Ellis sing this song I knew that I wanted to go to Homer and hear him play it there. With the way that he describes the people, it seems as though they would be a really exciting audience and that the song would just rock if played there! I was so sad to hear that the bar was closed. It was actually on my list of cool things to hope to get the opportunity to do. Such is life…

My favorite line by far is "I guess sometimes you gotta go to the end of the earth just to turn yourself around."

I think that it reminds me a little of Chris McCandless in some ways…
--Jen

[bonuela]

Ok, since nobody else mentioned it I will...


WHERE DOES L.A. GO IN THE LIVE VERSION??????

Sorry, I just wonder that every time I hear it live.

[paddyinthepub]

Hey Bonnie......you're absolutely right, where did LA go when Ellis plays it live???

I had forgotten, but now vividly recall wondering the very same thing the last few times I've seen Ellis in concert.

My short answer and guess would be that at that point in the song, Ellis is just about to the limit of breath for that line.....and LA had to go.

Least that's the way I rationalized it.

[paddyinthepub]

It occurs to me that Alice's Champagne Palace by Ellis Paul and the song Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie have something of the same vibe and of course only a very few degrees of separation.