Henry's Songbook

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink 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 there's lawyers
And A. E. C. 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're all 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 green one and a pink 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

[1967:] If Little Boxes and The red flag are folk songs, we need a new term to describe The outlandish knight, Searching for lambs and The coal-owner and the pitman's wife. (Lloyd, England 385)

[1984:] [This] makes its satirical point so subtly that it is often missed completely and the song is regarded as a pretty children's piece frequently appearing in kiddies' request programmes on the radio. (Notes Spinners, 'Last Night We Had A Do')

[1989:] This somewhat snooty song about identical-looking suburban houses 'made of ticky-tacky', and their identically brainwashed owners, was a favourite with folk audiences and with singers like Pete Seeger [in the mid-Sixties]. (Denselow, Music 67)

[1992:] [Reynolds] made up Little Boxes [in 1961] when she was driving to Palo Alto to sing for the P.T.A. Driving past Dale City south of San Francisco, she looked up at the hill-side, and said to her husband, "Bud, take the wheel. I feel a song coming on." When she got to Palo Alto, she had the song ready to sing. (Seeger, Flowers 107)

[1974:] Malvina Reynolds charakterisiert die amerikanische Gesellschaft, [in der] alle nach einer Form erzogen werden. Zwar unterscheiden sich die Leute äußerlich [...] aber ihre Normen und Werte gleichen sich. (Liederbuch 87)