Little Boxes
in recent days I have been ruminating about a song that my grandmother used to sing to me as a child, it was Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds and it has stuck with me all these years, or at least the portion of the song that I remember has.
I remember it fondly and it fills me with warmth and good will, but last night while I was bathing my daughters, my eldest asked me about the song, and I was taken aback by the timing of this question and also by her knowledge of the song.
It turns out that her Grandmother, my mother, has been singing her the song, and my daughter wanted me to play her the song on my phone. So gladly I looked it up on youtube and began to play it for her. This is where the story goes awry, because I don't know if you know, the song is anti establishment and rather than a harmless childrens song is a commentary on society and the brainwashing that we are under.
Everyone living in little boxes is a metaphor for a societal norm that poeple conform to, everyone going to univesity and being churned out like slaves of the system is a shocking revelation to me, not because of the nature of the song, but because I can't understand why anyone would sing this song to a child, unless they wanted to plant a seed course of.
Unfortunately and without remembering the full lyrics of this song or the meaning behind them, I have grown up to be one of the people made out of ticky tack. I feel that I have failed somewhat and I did not heed that warning given to me as a child, I hope the same will nto be true of my daughter.
