Song: Little Boxes
Marina Reynolds/ Walk of the Earth
1. Listen to the first part of the song and fill in the blanks with the words in the
Box:
hillside
yellow
same
houses
look
university
pink
doctors
green
lawyers
blue
business executives
Little boxes on the…………………….,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the…………………….,
There's a…..…………one and a………………….one
And a…………….…….one and a……………………one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all………….………just the same.
And the people in the…………………..
All went to the……………………………..
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's……………….and………………………….
And……………………………………………………………
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
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2. Put the verses in the right order
_____ And they all have pretty children
_____ And then to the university
_____ Where they are put in boxes
_____ And drink their martinis dry
_____ And the children go to school
_____ And they come out all the same
_____ And they all play on the golf course
_____ And the children go to summer camp
3. Translate the lyrics.
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……………………………………………………………………………………
Lyrics
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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.
[ Lyrics from:
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/malvina_reynolds/little_boxes.html ]
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.
Songfacts:
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Malvina Reynolds, who died in 1978, was a social activist and writer of protest
songs. She wrote this song as a political statement about the uniformity, the sameness,
which she believed was being fostered by what are
now known as "Cookie-Cutter" or "Tract" houses;
houses along suburban streets with identical floor
plans.
While the US housing industry's typical
year consists of 1 to 1.25 million homes built, for a
5-year period during World War II the number of
houses built was nearly zero. The advent of the "Mass Housing" industry was brought about
by William J. Levitt. Originally tried on a smaller scale in the 1920s, it was after the War that
Levitt began building in earnest. Seeking to ease the housing shortage brought about by the
War, he took Henry Ford's assembly-line style of building cars and applied it to building
houses. Each house was 750 square feet, consisted of 2 bedrooms, no garage, no basement,
an unfinished second floor, and sat on one-seventh-acre lots that measured 60 feet in width.
William J. Levitt named all his suburban housing developments "Levittown."
Levitt and Sons found ways to cut costs on the building materials, using sheet rock instead of
plaster, and asbestos tiles, which would eventually crumble. They used Colorbestos sheets
instead of shingles because they were cheap and easy to come by. It was these practices
that may have inspired the use of the phrase "ticky-tacky" in this song.
By 1948 William Levitt was boasting that, at peak capacity, his firm could complete one
house every 15 minutes. Indeed, by the time of his death in 1994, there were “Levittowns”
all across the United States and in some foreign countries, including France and Nigeria.
Believing he was on a noble crusade to help bring about the American Dream, Levitt once
said, "No man who owns his own house and lot can be a communist. He has too much to
do." Another quote from Levitt: "Any fool can build homes - what counts is how many you
can sell for how little."
While the “Levittowns” were the first of the ticky-tacky houses, Malvina was actually
driving through Daly City, California, when she got the idea for "Little Boxes." She was on her
way to sing at a meeting of the Friends Committee on Legislation. The Webster definition of
"Ticky-tacky": sleazy or shoddy material used especially in the construction of look-alike tract
houses.
The Folk singer Pete Seeger also did a version of this song. It's included on
his Greatest Hits album. In 1964 a cover version of this by The Womenfolk peaked at #83 on
the American chart. Lasting a mere one minute, two seconds, it became the shortest US top
100 chart entry. This version was used as the theme tune for the Showtime TV series Weeds.
There is a version in Spanish written by the Chilean songwriter Victor Jara. It is called "Las
Casitas del Barrio Alto" (Little houses uptown). It appears in the 1971 LP "El Derecho de Vivir
en Paz".
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