A Boxing Day special - less about putting your gifts into boxes, but the boxes people put themselves into, with a satirical song performed by Seeger, but originally written by the folk singer Malvina Reynolds in 1962. Reynolds's target is the development of Californian middle-class suburbs and all the repetitive values that they contain. In this 1963 recording by Seeger, the chuckling audience may or may not be aware that the song could easily be about them. The song has been covered extensively by other artists, including Elvis Costello, Devandra Banhart, Randy Newman, The Mountain Goats, and Regina Spektor.
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
[Verse 2]
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
[Verse 3]
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
[Verse 4]
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
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