Little Boxes Ain’t the Same: A Ticky Tacky Update

Back in the supposedly golden American 1950s, social critics used to fret a lot about “conformity,” especially the suburban variety. White “ethnics” such as Italians, Poles, and where permitted, Jews, were moving out where “there’s a place for us,” as the song from West Side Story (1957) had it, and forgetting their roots, their union cards, and their New Deal Democratic voting allegiance. Black people were of course not allowed to soil all that suburban green. In 1962, all this fretting was condensed into a once-famous satirical song, “Little Boxes” by Malvina Reynolds, which became a hit when Pete Seeger sang it:

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.

Times change, as do cultural concerns, and so I humbly offer this update.

Well my grandpa and my grandma
Had a house made out of ticky tacky
‘Twas a little house on the hillside
With neighbors just like them
There was doctors and lawyers
And business executives
With minds made out of ticky tacky
So they all thought just the same

But my daddy, he got laid off
Though he went to the university
Where they put him in the same box
Like his daddy before him
Then they foreclosed on our little house
That house made out of ticky tacky
‘Twas a little house on the hillside
With neighbors just like us
There was lawyers and IT guys
And software developers
With minds made out of ticky tacky
So they all thought just the same

They still sent me to school, though
And then to the university
Where they put me in the same box
Like my daddy before me
I’ve got thousands in student loans
So to marry and raise a family
In a box made of ticky tacky—
Well, I just can’t do the same

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes cost a million
That a debtor can never claim
There are pink ones and green ones
And blue ones and yellow ones
And China makes all the ticky tacky
And I’ll die broke and ashamed

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