Malvina Reynolds – Little Boxes – barbed observation couched in pretty music from an old lady.

Malvina Reynolds was a feisty old lady who wrote brilliant astute and perceptive songs. I love her.

Little Boxes was covered by Pete Seeger and on the face of it is a nice little sing-a-long which could feature on the radio without a mention. Look at it a bit deeper and you see it is a revolutionary indictment of Western Civilisation.

We all get put in boxes, live our little lives doing as we are instructed and then get put in boxes. We live in boxes, work in boxes and die in boxes.

Well I’m all for kicking the sides of my little box in. I want out!!!

Little Boxes

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There’s a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there’s doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same,
There’s a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.