February 3, 1967 - Malvina Reynolds and Little Boxes

Two whole days in fact! On February 3, 1967, Malvina Renolds released her album "Malvina Reynolds...Sings The Truth", which contains the song "Little Boxes". I first heard "Little Boxes" as the theme song to the 2005 T.V. show "Weeds", as I'm sure a lot of younger people did. But who is Malvina Reynolds? Reynolds was born in San Francisco in 1900 and was a folk singer/songwriter as well as a political activist. Reynolds actually wrote the song "Little Boxes" in 1962. It was covered by her friend Pete Seeger in 1963 and it was his version that became famous first. Reynolds finally released her version in 1967. It was inspired by the new suburban housing in California, where all the houses look the same. This song features Reynolds on vocals and acoustic guitar and her voice is instantly recognizable. It describes the perfect suburbia, with houses of different colours, people with different high-income jobs, and pretty children and a perfect life, yet they "come out all the same". It's a great satire of the "perfect life" and also my only song by Malvina Reynolds. Up next is the debut of a new band, and my first full non-Beatles album. See you in "a few months"...

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