"Little Boxes" was written in 1962 by Malvina Reynolds. Numerous other artists have covered this song, including Walk Off the Earth and Linkin Park. Malvina Reynolds was a folk and blues singer and political activist in the 1950s and '60s. She is most known for her songwriting - she wrote several popular songs including "Little Boxes" (sung by Pete Seeger), "Turn Around" (sung by Harry Belafonte), and "Morningtown Ride".
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| An artistic recreation of the "little boxes" |
"Little Boxes" was about the development of suburbia and the era of conformity. Reynolds described suburban tract housing as "little boxes" made of "ticky tacky", or cheap material. And although they have different colors, in the end, they "all look just the same". A glance at pictures of 1950s suburbs makes clear the inspiration for Reynolds song - all the houses look just the same.
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| Suburbia in the 1950s |
In the 1950s, methods developed to make housing much cheaper. Pre-fabricated housing design was used so it was easy and cheap to build entire neighborhoods on a tract of land. These cookie-cutter houses are what Reynolds refers to in her song. The conformity in housing reflected the conformity that settled across America in the 1950s. Nobody wanted to rock the boat after dealing with conflict for so long.
Huey Long was a politician in the 30's whose invigorating style of public speaking drew in audiences of various political affiliations. ...
1 comment:
This is a super cool post - very different from the traditional posts and it gives a great look into the real societal characteristics of the 1950s.
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