Sunday Re-hash

I used to have a site at Xanga, short lived and less than memorable as I can't remember the name. Of course this could be the first sign of Alzheimer's but I'd like to think I can't remember it because it just didn't matter that much. Anyway, I posted memories of my childhood there, mainly for Nyssa. No one else read them. One of the entries was about songs from the 50's and early 60's that I remember as a kid; no...young kid; no...very young kid. There that's right.

I mentioned one of the songs again this week (tagging Hoss who doesn't know me from Adam or Eve and thus passed). I thought it was perfect for him because he is the master of comedic sarcasm and looking back now, this song was pretty sarcastic, especially for the time. The 50's and early 60's still had the fluffy songs, ballads, harmony (that could come back a little) and lyrics that were very tame; I mean "I Want To Hold Your Hand"? Today's lyrics (if you can understand them at all) go way, way, way past holding anyone's hand to blueprints for violence against women, murder, defiance of authority etc. (OK, off the soapbox) OK, I'll just cut to the rehashed post and include the lyrics at the end. Perhaps I am the only person in the US who remembers this song; this could very well be. I was the only person who actually bought and registered a Honda brand built in cell phone for my '94 Accord in the entire southeast; as a result they no longer manufacture them, pity. So here is my old Xanga entry. Hope you enjoy.

Xanga ~ Friday, March 11, 2005 @ 11:46 PM

Songs I remember from the 50's & early 60's:
1. Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
2. Catch a Falling Star
3. The Glow Worm
4. The Chipmunk Song
5. Rockin Robin
6. Ballad of Davy Crockett
7. Standin on the Corner
8. Que Sera Sera
9. Banana Boat Song
10. Purple People Eater
11. Short Shorts
12. Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)
13. The Battle of New Orleans
14. Sugartime
15. Little Boxes

I FOUND IT!!!!!! I FOUND IT!!!!!!
This has bothered me for years! I heard this song (#15) when I was a kid in Roanoke. A man sang it. All I remembered of the lyrics were, "“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." I was beginning to think I was nuts, imagining the song...it couldn'’t be found on any oldies playlist...but I promise it was on the AM radio when I was a kid. WELL!!!!!!! Tonight I found it online. It is a real song sung by Pete Seeger in 1962.

Little Boxes

by Malvina Reynolds, sung by Pete Seeger 1962

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 lawyers
And business 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 are 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.

Words and music by Malvina Reynolds.
Copyright 1962, Schroder Music Company