“Little Boxes” is Malvina’s most-parodied song. Somebody did a version about geodesic domes (“there’s a round one, and a round one, and a round one...) someone else did one about condos (“there’s a beige one, and a beige one, and a beige one...), I did one about solar ovens. “It Isn’t Nice” has been changed to suit various liberal-left causes (on the other hand, a verse was quoted—approvingly—without change by Claire Wolfe, survivalist-libertarian author and columnist). Malvina occasionally used a folk tune to write new words to, usually when she wrote for the Limeliters. The Gateway Singers asked her to write new lyrics to Woody Guthrie’s “Sally Don’t You Grieve” because his lyrics were specific to World War II, and they wanted something more general. Now people write that she co-wrote songs with Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Pete, yes; Woody, no, she changed his song but did not work with him on it. With Pete, she would send typed lyrics and he would send back a tape with him singing them to his proposed tune. He always started the tape, “Hello, Mal, this is Pete.” We would laugh, because his speaking voice was so distinct it couldn’t possibly be anybody else. Malvina also wrote parodies when the occasion called for a song that would be easy for others to pick up. This was the case when she was touring with Rosalie Sorrels in 1977. In Wisconsin, Judge Archie Simonson had just excused the rapists of a high school girl on the basis that she was dressed provocatively (in jeans and a turtleneck). Malvina wrote “The Judge Said” to the tune of “When Johnnie Comes Marching Home” so that it could be used in the campaign to recall Simonson. When Malvina hit Chicago on the tour, Steve Goodman gathered some top musicians (Jethro Tull was one of them) and produced the recording—I was there and was part of the pick-up group that sang on the chorus. Malvina issued it as a single, and it is now on the Folkways/Smithsonian compilation CD. You can hear it on the Smithsonian site. The recall was successful. The last album Malvina recorded was Magical Songs, a children’s album she did with Margie Adam, Janet Smith, Woody Simmons, Ray Bierl and other San Francisco Bay Area musicians (most of her other albums were recorded in LA). The reggae backing the musicians came up with for Malvina’s song “Wheels” sounded too stop-and-go to her, like a bicycle with square wheels, so they recorded a new, smoother one which went on Magical Songs. The album came out after she died in 1978, but she had the test pressing and listened to it many times...and thought about that reggae backup, not right for “Wheels” but too good to waste. So she wrote “Power Plant Reggae” (copyright 1977) to go with it. The lyrics were inspired by Barry Commoner’s speech at a demonstration against the construction of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. She sent the song, with Commoner’s approving letter about it, to a whole list of anti-nuke groups.  Wheels ©1967 by Malvina Reynolds, renewed 1995  Power Plant Reggae ©1977 by Malvina Reynolds, renewed 2005
 After lying low for a while, the nuclear power industry is at it again, touting their product as a solution to global warming. So the song becomes useful once more. There’s a lot of lead sheets left in the file—if you want one, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Sisters’ Choice at 704 Gilman Street, Berkeley CA 94710. “Power Plant Reggae” came out on Malvina’s posthumous LP, Mama Lion, available at Sisters Choice for those still in possession of a turntable. Magical Songs is available there too, on audio cassette tape. Another Malvina song unfortunately still not outmoded is “Plutonium,” recorded in 1976 or 1977 with Gary Lapow and Dan Goldensohn but never issued. I’m going through some old tapes and having them digitized, so here it is:  The Plutonium Song ©1975 by Malvina Reynolds If “Plutonium” seems vaguely familiar, maybe you saw Malvina rehearsing it with Gary and Dan in Susan Wengraf’s half-hour film about her, Love It Like a Fool, available on VHS and DVD from Red Hen Films, 1404 LeRoy Ave., Berkeley, CA 94708. © 2007 by Nancy Schimmel http://www.sisterschoice.com/activitysss.html#sunhttp://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr073.htmhttp://www.clairewolfe.com/blog.htmlhttp://www.starbeams.com/http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/MALVINA/mr146.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/nashville/3448/sally.htmlhttp://www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=2675http://www.sisterschoice.com/sporadic.html#moremalvina
 
 
 
 
For a not-recycled song about recycling that I wrote with Candy Forest,  see “Cycles.”
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
RECYCLED SONGS, PERSISTENT ISSUES