How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

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About

Genius Annotation

What Tom Lehrer called “the most sanctimonious song ever written,” “Little Boxes” is a song written in 1962 by the folk singer Malvina Reynolds about the conformist, quick-fix attitudes of middle-class Americans at the time. A university professor, speaking in Time magazine in 1964, famously quipped,

I’ve been lecturing my classes about middle-class conformity for a whole semester. Here’s a song that says it all in 1½ minutes.

From 2005 through to 2008, the song was the theme song for the Showtime original series Weeds, detailing the exploits of suburban drug dealer Nancy Botwin and her clueless, affluent neighbours. The song was covered by numerous different artists on the show, including Regina Spektor, Death Cab For Cutie, Linkin Park, Walk off the Earth, and Pete Seeger.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

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