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Subject: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,levittownpunkass Date: 27 Sep 02 - 02:17 AM Does anyone know the history about the song "Little Boxes" written and recorded by Malvina Reynolds? I was born and raised in Levittown, Pennsylvania and it was always widely assumed that it was specifically written about Levittown...(we even had to learn it in grade school music class!)
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Joe Offer Date: 27 Sep 02 - 02:27 AM Hi - I think it's generally believed to refer to the town of Pacifica, in the rolling hills on the coast just south of San Francisco. Malvina Reynolds lived nearby in Berkeley. But the song is universally applicable. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Mark Cohen Date: 27 Sep 02 - 02:40 AM I think Joe's right...though I think I once heard it was Daly City, which is not far away. But I lived for a year (1958 or thereabouts) in Levittown, Pa.--28 Harp Rd., to be precise, in Highland Park (where all the street names started with "H"!) It is a small world, after all! Aloha, Mark |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Sep 02 - 02:42 AM There was a thread with this topic discussed at length just a few weeks ago. I don't have time to look it up, but in a search it should show up quickly. I know I posted to that discussion; click on my name and go look at the threads I've written to and you should find it. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Joe Offer Date: 27 Sep 02 - 02:59 AM Dang, I can't find it, SRS. -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,Sonja Date: 27 Sep 02 - 04:35 AM Folks, I'm pretty sure it was Daly City that inspired this gem of Malvina's. As it happens, the first time I saw Daly City, driving up from the south, I looked up at the hillside and gasped, "Omigod! There are the little boxes on the hillside made of ticky-tacky!" There were little rows of boxes, pastel green, yellow, blue, pink, etc. I didn't find out until later that this was, indeed, the inspiration for that song. SWO |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Mark Cohen Date: 27 Sep 02 - 05:05 AM Wow, Maggie, a thread about Levittown??? (Just kidding.) And, lest anyone get the idea I'm as old as Joe (insert stupid winking smiley face here), I was only 4 when we lived in Levittown. We moved there from Northeast Philly, and moved back to the Northeast after my dad spent a year riding the Pennsylvania Railroad from Langhorne to 30th St. Aloha, Mark |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: mack/misophist Date: 27 Sep 02 - 05:08 AM At last I know something useful! I once heard Malvina Reynolds herself say that the song referred to the neat rows of houses you can still see on the hillsides and tops as you head south (?) out of San Francisco towards the airport. The colors give it away. From the highway, that was the only way you could tell one from another. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,Melani Date: 27 Sep 02 - 01:50 PM "Little Boxes" is absolutely about Daly City, but I suppose it can apply to any town with ugly square houses that are badly built. Pacifica is where the rich people live, and they have prettier houses. Malvina Reynolds lived in Berkely, where they have really nice Craftsman cottages. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Susanne (skw) Date: 27 Sep 02 - 05:03 PM And again, from the horse's (?) mouth: [1992:] [Reynolds] made up Little Boxes [in 1961] when she was driving to Palo Alto to sing for the P.T.A. Driving past Daly 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) |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,Jaze Date: 27 Sep 02 - 10:11 PM Hi Mark! My wife is from Levittown NJ! Yes. There was a Levittown NJ but it was so close to Levittown Pa and mail got mixed up, they changed it to it's original county name-Willingboro,NJ. That song always reminded me of Willingboro--houses,cars and sidewalk! I swore back then that I would never live in a subdivision, but kids can change your thinking and here I am( but I don't like it one bit) James |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST Date: 28 Sep 02 - 12:28 AM There is a site with San Francisco songs, including "Little Boxes." Daly City According to this site, "Legend has it that she looked up at a pastel-colored Daly City hill-side and said to her husband...etc." Only legend? Probably so. Pete Seeger met Reynolds in 1947; the album "we Shall Overcome" with Pete Seeger singing the song was released in 1963. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST Date: 28 Sep 02 - 12:37 AM The song was copyrighted in 1962, Malvina Reynolds, words and music, Schroder Music Co. Other comic songs by Reynolds are at Malvina Reynolds |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Bill D Date: 28 Sep 02 - 10:43 AM somewhere I have a slide I took from the right side of an airplane as we took off from San Francisco (about 1970)....I took one look and said.."it's the song!" little pastel boxes on the hillside...wow...you'd think someone would get together a committee and re-paint them...except that it is probably how residents find their own place! |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST Date: 28 Sep 02 - 11:49 AM Whay's wrong with pastel? |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Bill D Date: 28 Sep 02 - 01:05 PM nothing's wrong with pastel--on my great-aunt Jeliah's pillows....you'd have to see the picture...it's ...ummmm...surrealistic |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: RangerSteve Date: 29 Sep 02 - 07:15 AM Is Daly City where they filmed Edward Scissorhands? Guest - check out that movie and you'll see what's wrong with pastel houses. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,Sonja Date: 30 Sep 02 - 12:13 AM It's not so much the pastels as the "little boxes" that "all look just the same." That's why Daly City is so ugly! SWO |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,Nancy Schimmel Date: 29 May 07 - 02:22 PM Malvina wasn't going to sing for the PTA when she drove through Daly City--that's Pete Seeger's version of the story. She was going to sing for the Friends' Committee on Legislation. And "Take the wheel, Bud" is the way she told the story. I'm her daughter...I'm writing a biography of her and blogging about it at http://web.mac.com/nancyschimmel |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: Little Robyn Date: 29 May 07 - 04:05 PM Lovely to hear from you Nancy. Welcome to Mudcat. I've sung your Mum's songs since the early 60s but only knew about her from things Pete Seeger said. Very interesting to see your site and your Mum's as well. All the best with your book. Robyn in New Zealand |
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Subject: ILevittown? From: lefthanded guitar Date: 29 May 07 - 05:16 PM She could have been talking about Levittown on Long Island. We seem to have gone from bad to worse, now everything being built (at least on the east coast) is BIG BOXES- cumbersone and ugly status symbols that could hold four rental units but instead house a family w. usually one child, a basement rental b/c the owners can't pay the costs of maintenance. And a big SUV parked out front. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 30 May 07 - 01:46 PM Little Boxes still stand on the very same hillside, in Daly City, where they first caught Ms. Reynolds' attention. I was there in January this year, driving into San Francisco from the airport, when I spotted them again. They have been virtually unchanged over the years. They are of a rather stark, boxy, stairstep design that follows the rise of the hill to the east. All are painted in varying pastel colors, some brighter than others, without much in the way of relief in the way of trees and shrubs. It is almost as if they have been "embalmed" as an homage to the song. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Little Boxes about Levittown? From: ClaireBear Date: 30 May 07 - 02:23 PM Here's that other thread. If it still works, I posted a link there to a photo of that hillside in Daly City. Claire |
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