PETE SEEGER ⑩ Little Boxes (Live in Sweden 1968)

[@mojo7493]

I'm 70. I did the ticky tacky career that ate my soul. I did the ticky tacky family that now never visits, and I did the ticky tacky house that I sold for my freedom. I still live in a box, a 6x10 box with wheels that goes when and where I please and my family is my Lord and all the precious ppl I meet along the way.

[@kentpiano2600]

I have never done the box thing and mine is 10x35ft! Nature is my entertainment and often my food!

[@colingordon8265]

One of the profoundest songs ever written.

[@peterinfrankfurt]

I remember this from when I was a small child. Never understood what tickytacky was, but I got the point about uniformity. Looking back over more than 50 years, I like to think I didn't turn out just the same. And if that is true, it's at least in part thanks to this song.

[@maitebailleux8660]

Tellement beau !!

[@suewilldig1087]

Indeed, that's my feeling as well. This song encouraged my natural inclination to try to do things differently and go my own way

[@Karenpayne47]

I believe “ticky-tacky” is a reference to how cookie-cutter houses were often built from sub-par materials

[@vegan3650]

Exactly. We had a hillside in San Bruno, California (outside of San Francisco) and the ticky tacky houses could be seen as you drove the freeway into SF. A whole generation of us sang that song to the radio as we drove by.

[@ireneklauber4008]

Cheap junky material.

[@blue8734]

my dad always played this song when i was growing up and he would always say you dont always have to be in a little box , make your own box or have none at all whatever you like ! and this song means so much to me once i rediscovered it .

[@lynnsintention5722]

THis song chilled me to the core as an 8 year old child and I determined at that moment that I was not going to be turned into tickytaki!! LOL

[@ja6368]

It’s 2023 and I’m 75 and am looking at houses. This song came into my mind💕

[@patrickwatrin5093]

It's written about you so it should

[@marquitaoliver1311]

me, too !!!!

[@Peter-nz9et]

A childhood memory from way way way back. Only now more profound. Great to connect again.

[@joelmontgomery8295]

I lived in one of those pastel houses growing up in the SF bay area in the 60's.

[@lindaberg1695]

It's still true today! What a treasure Pete Seeger was!

[@BlueKungFu]

It is still true today but Pete did not write this song, Malvina Reynolds did.

[@eggisfun4217]

mostly in the left (he was leftist) (not discrediting leftism because i am a leftist)

[@youngforever2421]

The original song is by Malvina Reynolds !

[@hangingwithmatty9465]

"...we also face the machine..." That hits hard today 😪

[@osvaldoschilling9129]

I have just listened to this song for the first time and I think Peter has described todays society quite perfectly from almost 60 years ago. The applause in the end says everything.

[@KarenM575]

Pete didn't write it--Malvina Reynolds did.

[@mobydick5801]

Well that’s the point of the song isn’t it? Generation after generation of tickytacky that all look just the same

[@Edmant]

This song popped into my head today (for no particular reason) and I realised it's probably over 55 years since I heard it. Good show, eh !

[@ChinamanAva182]

The reason is what the song is really talking about. Its about the "machine" and how its programmed to make us all the same. Followers, not leaders. Its mind control from the machine from when were kids to adults then we do the same to our children. Until we finally go against the machine.

[@ChinamanAva182]

The reason is what the song is really talking about. Its about the "machine" and how its programmed to make us all the same. Followers, not leaders. Its mind control from the machine from when were kids to adults then we do the same to our children. Until we finally go against the machine.

[@vegan3650]

i grew up with this song playing on the radio in the bay area. some of the comments here mentioned being confused. so i looked it up on wiki. the writer of little boxes lived in the bay area. and she was writing about the same houses we would see on the way to san francisco."Reynolds was a folk singer-songwriter and political activist in the 1960s and 1970s. Nancy Reynolds, her daughter, explained that her mother wrote the song after seeing the housing developments around Daly City, California, built in the post-war era by Henry Doelger, particularly the neighborhoods of Southern Hills on San Bruno Mountain:[2]"

[@vaishalithukral649]

How true !! We are all in the little boxes .. ...time to reverse the table

[@markzucker3949]

Daly city... Man it was fun to hear this in the 90's... Around 1999 this became a sad reality

[@roydagger]

And you're definitely not part of this "sad reality." I guess living in a slum in Bangladesh is more preferable. Less sad too.

[@markzucker3949]

@@roydagger what is wrong with you?

[@jeanphillips1030]

This song is still true today.

[@donaldasayers]

I grew up with this song and I love love it.

[@ferret756]

takes me back to my childhood happy days

[@maryannvitelli5818]

Love this song. Absolutely my top 10

[@ambashells]

Great ..really enjoyed your version..as for the non likes .."to hell with em "

[@garycallihan4206]

I do remember this from Pete...in 1970...finishing high school in northern California, USA.

[@mikemcgonegal1616]

I never bought a house in a 'development' because of this song.

[@royferguson3909]

Pure magic

[@natsaij.g1942]

This was actually originally written by Malvina Reynolds in the 50’s.

[@alfreddorn5602]

I remember listening to it as a kid. And yes she did write it and sang it in 1961.

[@BlueKungFu]

She wrote it in 1962. In 1963 it became a hit for Pete who was good friends with Malvina.

[@kennethpack1963]

@@BlueKungFu She was driving down the Bayshore Freeway, and looked up at up the hill at Brizbane. nuff said...

[@goofy79248]

@@alfreddorn5602 Then You heard him in my Birthyear!

[@donnaylor5369]

I remember hearing Malvina Reynolds sing this at my high school about 1969 or 1970. I had no idea it was about 10 years old then. Great hearing Pete sing it, but It's always special to hear the song writer sing their song. PS.Growing up in the suburbs of San Jose, this hit home.

[@mavisemberson8737]

Read William H Whyte The Organisation Man. The little boxes on the hillside can be seen in SanFrancisco . I saw them 1968 and a couple of years ago.

[@richardwendling4030]

What kind of Skinner Box did this wonderful creature break out of? Unboxing of a legend!

[@elcapital.]

Victor Jara no calla!

[@marianhenry8002]

How it takes me back, in,

[@TheInkPitOx]

I've seen the homes that inspired this song. I live in the Bay Area.

[@alicelindsley9427]

OMG how true unfortunately. Have some up and coming Great Grands that will fit this song like a glove, unfortunately!

[@georgsoderback1631]

Yes, he was a genius in his way!

[@christopherdewhurst8812]

Theres no shortage of sheep in this world sadly people are told what to believe and most buy into it [Die Gedanken sind Frei]

[@roydagger]

The irony is that all you folks claiming you "did things differently," and "I'm an individual" mostly likely fit the authors description perfectly. I'd also like to see Peter Seeger's house, kids, cars, social clubs ... etc

[@kentpiano2600]

I never did a 9-5, live in a caravan box, play piano, write songs (dirty ones) and eat sea kale, I dropped out of college and everything else

[@strictlykev311]

Pete was an amazing artists but for those who don't know to be clear this was written by Malvina reynolds

[@joelmontgomery8295]

Olso my father had this album.

[@KRuskea]

Víctor Jara se mandó tremendo Cover de esta Joya

[@royferguson3909]

He is years ahead of his time

[@BlueKungFu]

He didn't write this song, Malvina Reynolds did. It's still a great song.

[@taraterm3]

@@BlueKungFu no, its an idiotic song. America WISHES there were ticky tacky houses being built today....those super cheap mass produced tract homes were built after WW2 and meant to address the major housing crisis that occurred when all the GIs came back, got married, started baby boomering and needed a place to live. Money from the feds in the form of the GI bill helped soldiers get back on their civilian feet, go to college, land jobs. And it conferred upon them the privilege of home ownership, something most middle, to lower middle class people never dreamed of before. Yes the houses were cheaply made {although not bad by todays standards} and very small....they were called starter homes, and priced at about 5 to 8 thousand dollars. They are EXACTLY what we need today...mass produced affordable housing. The dumb ass hippies had no idea what they were talking about.

[@stevenmeyer9674]

@@taraterm3 Those houses are still there today. the hillsides of Daly City are filled with these so-called cheap homes (they weren't as cheaply built as hinted here) you are correct that many people who couldn't afford a home in S.F. or the deeper peninsula could acquire a little bit of the American dream. I realize that those "little boxes" was just a metaphor for people conforming to what society thought should be, But I think Malvina was barking up the wrong tree when she used those houses for the subject of her song.

[@Chorkaloopa]

@@taraterm3 It's crazy to think about the inflation and the imbalance of income/costs of living has become since 1945. Adjusted for inflation, those starter homes would be $65K to $105K in today's dollar. That doesn't even cover the cost of land, let alone materials and construction. And to add insult to injury, the interest rates that banks put on people is quite unnecessary and cruel. It simply is not a good economic system.

[@IanWeeks56]

"There's a Muslim one and a Christian one and a Yank one and a Russian one and the're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same".

[@mikecarone7320]

Thats how mother nature works a men and a women make a baby

[@antonioalbul00]

Russians are christians you dumbass

[@IanWeeks56]

@@antonioalbul00 Wow, really? Thanks for that. You sound like a really nice Christian.

[@antonioalbul00]

@@IanWeeks56 i see a lot of anti-russian sentiment from Americans, and from my prospective that's really ill-mannered and rude since russians didn't chose to be under a horrible totalitarian system, that's like blaming a child for his abusive parents

[@IanWeeks56]

@@antonioalbul00 I am an Australian. I believe most of us are doing the best while we are here to make the world better. I hope you are. If you ever come to my country, please feel free to visit and have a beer!

[@michaelperez3887]

Today those houses are called (HOA) housing.

[@sivabliss]

I always thought this song was made for Weeds intro. Didn't know it was so old. Must be the beginning of the whole middle class suburbs concept of housing community. So relevant even today.

[@ratnadeepsengupta7140]

We have 19 odd "out of the box" who disliked this..

[@nicolecuvillier9698]

In French : Graeham (?) Alwright

[@twan_breezand8454]

Good job m8

[@kettleblack908]

Quite rage 😢😅

[@footlong7980]

This is the version I heard on Microsoft Encarta, it made me think Pete's the original artiste of this song. Still, I prefer his.

[@c.peterson1251]

Yes, we had Encarta on our first computer; was the first time I ever heard this song. My children played it over and over...they loved it; a great song!!

[@michelefelpa3640]

Lots of ticky-tacky everywhere

[@nil0bject]

so depressing

[@jeffreysommer3292]

Ah, but does anyone remember that as a CPUSA member he opposed American entry into WW II until Russia was invaded, then instantly became fanatically pro-war? This was exactly the sort of ideological back-flip that Orwell made fun of in 1984.

[@sislau]

Yes, there's a bit of an assembly line in terms of society's ability to pump out a bunch of us that 'look just the same,' but I like thinking about this in terms of we are all one human race, and we're all JUST THE SAME ... Love all around! Cute song :)

[@Babu-kr3cr]

WRONG!!!! It is SARCASM!!!!

[@alaa2227777]

what is the name of the instrument he is using?

[@svenshaman]

I think it's a steel banjo.

[@autodogdact3313]

Yes, and on it around the edge it says, "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender. "

[@vaelenz]

Little boxes, ticky tacky, careful of this Upton Sinclair was attacked for helping heal poverty , Fitch and champ 10/2020

[@hermanneberle4300]

and they all come out the same....leider immer noch !

[@amojak]

Society is being forced to be just this. all the same, conformity, no diversity, no individualism..

[@taraterm3]

I guess we have no need for doctors or lawyers? and by the way, go to the tract housing places now 3 generations later they are all different, because succeeding families have had the education, money and initiative to put their own twist on things.

[@davidcrago510]

@@taraterm3...Pete Seeger is not saying we don't need doctors or lawyers...he's talking about a mind set. Doctors that over prescribe pain killers so they get big kick backs from pharma companies, so they can stay in the country club class. Lawyers who will defend the worse of society because they are rich and pay well...its the greed is good crowd, that has infiltrated much of society. And having different looking houses isn't the issue its the people inside the houses...the green ones,blue ones,so forth. Wall St. has fat ones...skinny ones...tall ones...short ones, but many like the inside trading and the golden parachutes even when crashing the system...its not how they look its the mind set. This is the deeper meaning Seeger sings about...that you are missing. And if you hate what people like Seeger...Phil Ochs...Tom Paxton...Arlo Guthrie, sing about then why listen to it...go listen to The Carpenters.

[@johnbird7357]

On another Pete Seeger video of this song on KZbin it was suggested there was a verse missing. Astramouse Everywhere wrote a final verse and posted it - about our final box, our coffin. Then she got requests to record it, so she did. Here's the whole song. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3jVqHpmja19aMk

[@pf3888]

:)

[@shanner4130]

Life cycles

[@lauralacaskey4788]

I like the original by Malvina Reynolds better.

[@AshTheStash]

This isn’t incredible. Malvina Reynolds wrote this and sang this and never got any recognition because she was a women in the 60s who wasn’t a blonde bimbo. He did a terrible rendition and it’s a hit. Thank weeds for this song even living on. Regardless that’s what I interpret from this is because her version was far better.

[@johnvictor1]

Pete Seeger would frequently give credit to her for writing it. He was always gracious and gave fellow singers credit. He even had a tv show where he would let lesser known artists perform.

[@Babu-kr3cr]

I like his version better. He did a lot of covers. He puts a certain spin on it that is very clear and cutting.

[@mikecarone7320]

To make an Israeli or a Palestinian a men makes love to women

[@fredrictengstrom5646]

In sweden new sk liberaliZZm rulez.Boxez r gettin scarse an very expenzive.Why?Rotchild et bankstahgangstah.W did u learn in scool2day?Nada.ShalÖm

[@timbrady6473]

Disdain for humanity.

[@maxvanleeuwen1273]

Yes, and that disdain is completely justified. The west will collapse under its own greed and decadence and conformity.

[@SidneyHurcombe]

Malvina Reynolds done it better.

[@bobswan6196]

Just a matter of taste, sunshine. I've sung it in my bath and made a pretty good job of it too. Just didn't record it...

[@jamesberton7947]

I live in one of these little boxes. They're not little boxes anymore. All have been customized. This song was a criticism of the levittowns that were being built post World War II. What this idiot didn't realize was that these little boxes were built by the Levitt Bros for the returning war veterans who never owned their own homes before the war. They could finally get out of dirty stinking hot cities and move out to the suburbs, working good jobs, and expanding the middle class. Was it perfect? No, but ask the families who became first-time home owners if they're happy it happened.

[@shanner4130]

Life cycles