Little Boxes
Encyclopedia
Malvina Reynolds
Malvina Reynolds was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her song-writing, particularly the songs "Little Boxes" and "Morningtown Ride".-Early life:...
in 1962, which became a hit for her friend Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
in 1963.
The song is a political satire
Political satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
about the development of suburbia
SubUrbia
subUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
and associated conformist
Conformist
In English history, Conformists were those whose religious practices conformed with the requirements of the Act of Uniformity and so were in concert with the Established Church, the Church of England, as opposed to those of Nonconformists whose practices were not acceptable to the Church of England....
middle-class attitudes. It refers to suburban tract housing
Tract housing
Tract housing is a style of housing development in which multiple similar homes are built on a tract of land which is subdivided into individual small lots...
as "little boxes" of different colors "all made out of ticky-tacky", and which "all look just the same." "Ticky-tacky" is a reference to the shoddy material used in the construction of housing of that time.
Background
Reynolds was a folk singer-songwriter and political activist in the 1960s. Nancy Reynolds, her daughter, explained that her mother came up with the song when she saw the housing developments around Daly City, CaliforniaDaly City, California
Daly City is the largest city in San Mateo County, California, United States, with a 2010 population of 101,123. Located immediately south of San Francisco, it is named in honor of businessman and landowner John Daly.-History:...
built in the post-war
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
era by Henry Doelger
Henry Doelger
Henry Doelger was a San Francisco developer known for the creation of large low-cost housing tracts in San Francisco and Daly City.-Biography:...
, particularly the neighborhood of Westlake
Westlake, Daly City, California
The Westlake District of Daly City, California, is one of the first post-World War II suburbs in the United States. Located just south of San Francisco, Westlake has frequently been compared to Levittown, New York, the first major large-scale postwar middle-class housing development in the...
.
My mother and father were driving South from San Francisco through Daly City when my mom got the idea for the song. She asked my dad to take the wheel, and she wrote it on the way to the gathering in La Honda where she was going to sing for the Friends Committee on LegislationFriends Committee on National LegislationThe Friends Committee on National Legislation a 501 lobbying organization in the public interest founded in 1943 by members of the Religious Society of Friends...
. When TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine (I think, maybe NewsweekNewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
) wanted a photo of her pointing to the very place, she couldn’t find those houses because so many more had been built around them that the hillsides were totally covered.
Pete Seeger's rendition of the song is known internationally, and reached number 70 in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
; Seeger was a friend of Reynolds, also a political activist, and like many others in the 1960s he used folk songs as a medium for protest.
Reception
The profundity of the satire is attested by a university professor of the time who said that, "I've been lecturing my classes about middle-class conformity for a whole semester. Here's a song that says it all in 1½ minutes."The term "ticky-tacky" became a catchphrase during the 1960s, attesting to the song's popularity. Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
described "Little Boxes" as "the most sanctimonious song ever written".
Covers
The song has been recorded by a number of musicians, including Death Cab For CutieDeath Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
, Rise Against
Rise Against
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...
, Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor
Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.-Early life:...
, The Shins
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
and The Womenfolk
The Womenfolk
The Womenfolk were an American folk band from Pasadena, California.The Womenfolk were active from 1962 to 1966 and were signed to RCA Records during the folk revival boom of the 1960s. They released several albums, the most successful of which was their self-titled 1964 effort, which reached #118...
. Other musicians have arranged and translated the song to meet their styles. The lyrics have been reprinted with photographs of "Little Box" houses in environmental publications.
The version of the song by The Womenfolk
The Womenfolk
The Womenfolk were an American folk band from Pasadena, California.The Womenfolk were active from 1962 to 1966 and were signed to RCA Records during the folk revival boom of the 1960s. They released several albums, the most successful of which was their self-titled 1964 effort, which reached #118...
is the shortest single ever to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 at 1:03 minutes long. The Spanish songwriter Adolfo Celdrán wrote the first Spanish version of the song, called "Cajitas", which was published in 1969 and had several successive reissues. Another Spanish version of the song, "Las Casitas del Barrio Alto," was written by the Chilean songwriter Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
in 1971, depicting in a mocking way the over-Europeanized and bourgeois lifestyle of the residents of the "Barrio Alto" (high-class neighborhood) in Santiago de Chile. A French version with the title "Petites boîtes" was performed by Graeme Allwright
Graeme Allwright
Graeme Allwright is a singer-songwriter. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, he moved to France in 1948. He began to perform and write folk songs a few years later and was eventually signed by Sonogram. In the 1960s, he translated into French a number of songs written by Leonard Cohen, Tom...
and was later covered by Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.-Profile:...
on their 2003 album La vache qui pleure
La vache qui pleure
La vache qui pleure is a 2003 album by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. It is the sisters' second full album of French language songs, following 1980's Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse....
. Other artists who have covered the song include Chester Bennington
Chester Bennington
Chester Charles Bennington is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Linkin Park....
of Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
, The Shins
The Shins
The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...
, Regina Spektor
Regina Spektor
Regina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.-Early life:...
, Rise Against
Rise Against
Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...
, Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
, Phosphorescent
Phosphorescent (band)
Phosphorescent is the working moniker of American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Matthew Houck. Originally from Alabama, Houck began recording and performing under this nom de plume in 2001 in Athens, Georgia...
, Man Man
Man Man
Man Man is an experimental band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Man Man is known for their exuberant live performances. When performing, the members of the band sometimes coordinate their outfits, often seen in white outfits and, more commonly, war paint....
, The Submarines
The Submarines
-Band history:Working as solo artists in Boston, the two members of the band, John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard, were introduced through a mutual friend, Joe Klompus. Dragonetti and Hazard became partners and soon toured Europe together as members of the band. The relationship lasted for four...
, Death Cab For Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band consists of Ben Gibbard , Chris Walla , Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr ....
, The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld
The Real Tuesday Weld are a British band, fronted by lead singer and founder Stephen Coates. They are known for producing jazzy cabaret-style music with subtle electronica influences, a style dubbed "antique beat" by Coates. They have six albums, several singles and eps and many tracks on...
, Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Jason Boesel....
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, and The Decemberists
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...
who expanded the song with several new verses.
In popular culture
- The song was performed on the BBC satirical television program That Was The Week That WasThat Was The Week That WasThat Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...
on April 13, 1964, sung by Nancy Ames and accompanied by a film montage by Guy Fraumeni and Lou Myers depicting tract housingTract housingTract housing is a style of housing development in which multiple similar homes are built on a tract of land which is subdivided into individual small lots...
and other related images. - In the 1975 novel EcotopiaEcotopiaEcotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is the seminal utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture, and the green movement in the 1970s and thereafter.-The...
by Ernest CallenbachErnest CallenbachErnest Callenbach is an American writer. Life & Work =Born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, he attended the University of Chicago, where he was drawn into the then 'new wave' of serious attention to film as an art form...
, describing a secessionist ecological utopia in the western United States, the protagonist (visiting the country as a US journalist) is informed that “cheaply built houses in newer districts” are scornfully referred to as “ticky-tacky boxes” by the population. - "Little Boxes" is the signature tune of BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
comedy series Robin and Wendy's Wet WeekendsRobin and Wendy's Wet WeekendsRobin and Wendy's Wet Weekends is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series written by and starring Kay Stonham and Simon Greenall. It revolves around the mundane lives of Robin and Wendy Mayfield who live on an anonymous estate in Stevenage. Robin tends to be self-centred, demanding and controlling in his...
, sung by Kay StonhamKay StonhamKay Stonham is a British actress and writer. She was a member of the regular cast of Jasper Carrott's BBC TV comedy sketch show Carrott's Lib in 1982. She graduated from Rose Bruford College in 1977. She co-created and co-wrote series one and two of the BBC Radio 4 series Robin and Wendy's Wet...
in the character of "Wendy Mayfield" to a background of inept coaching by Simon GreenallSimon GreenallSimon Greenall is a British actor, writer and voice artist from Longtown in Cumbria. He has appeared in a wide variety of roles in television, film, radio and the theatre, and is probably best known for his role as Michael in the TV series I'm Alan Partridge and as the voice of headmaster Iqbal in...
as her husband "Robin". - A 2006 book about Westlake, Little Boxes: The Architecture of a Classic Midcentury Suburb, is named for the song.
- The song is used as the opening theme song for the Showtime television series WeedsWeeds (TV series)Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...
. The first season used Reynolds's own recording as the theme song. The second and third seasons used versions by nearly thirty different musicians. After the third season, the song was not used in the credits regularly; however, it appears or is referenced from time to time. For a complete list of artists who have recorded this song for the show, see opening music of Weeds. - The song is also used by the Italian journalist Gianluca Nicoletti as the opening song for his radio show Melog, on air daily on the Italian national network Radio 24 since the 9th of January 2006.
- This song is sung by both Keith CarradineKeith CarradineKeith Ian Carradine is an American actor who has had success on stage, film and television. In addition, he is a Golden Globe and Oscar winning songwriter. As a member of the Carradine family, he is part of an acting "dynasty" that began with his father, John Carradine.-Early life:Keith...
(as "Elton Tripp") and Kate MaraKate MaraKate Mara is an American television and film actress. Beginning acting in her hometown of Bedford, New York, she moved from the stage to her first film, Random Hearts...
(as "Zoe Tripp") in the 2005 film The CaliforniansThe CaliforniansThe Californians is a 2005 independent drama film from Hart Sharp Films starring Noah Wyle.-Cast:*Noah Wyle as Gavin Ransom*Illeana Douglas as Olive Ransom*Kate Mara as Zoe Tripp*Cloris Leachman as Eileen Boatwright*Joanne Whalley as Luna... - "Little Boxes" is the theme song for "Xurupita´s Farm II", a recurring sketch about a reality TV show on the BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian comedy program Pânico na TVPânico na TVPânico na TV is a Brazilian comedy program shown on RedeTV! on Sundays. It is the television version of the original radio program called Pânico. After its debut on TV , the program has become famous throughout Brazil....
.
See also
- Urban sprawlUrban sprawlUrban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
- SuburbSuburbThe word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
- Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania (song)"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" is a popular song written by Bob Merrill in 1952.The best known version was recorded by Guy Mitchell on January 15, 1952...
, Bob MerrillBob MerrillBob Merrill was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter.Merrill was born Henry Merrill Levan in Atlantic City, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following a stint with the Army during World War II, he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a...
's 1952 song, that uses the same tune.
External links
with a list of recordings Full list of music used on the show- Adolfo Celdrán Spanish language homepage
- Rob Keil's website for Little Boxes: The Architecture of a Classic Midcentury Suburb
- Smoking Boxes the bossa nova band Zeep covers "Little Boxes" for freely downloadable album The Box, with versions in both English and Portuguese.
- Bity Booker "Little Boxes" (Malvina Reynolds's cover) LIVE http://www.facebook.com/bitybookermusic