These Covers Are All The Same
Little Boxes covered in Weeds
This week we get more of a history lesson than usual. In the economic boom following World War II, suburbs began to spring up around the country. It seemed like entire communities appeared overnight due to the cookie-cutter construction of the homes. Jump forward to the early sixties and a woman named Malvina Reynolds. While driving south from San Francisco, Reynolds passed the community of Daly City and got the idea for her song “Little Boxes.” The lyrics poke fun at the conformist values of the suburbs and the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality, things that are still relevant even today.
It’s fitting then that the song should be used as the theme for a television show. Showtime’s original series Weeds opens each week with the tune. The show is about a widowed housewife in a California suburb who sells marijuana to help keep her family in the style of living to which it had grown accustomed before the untimely death of her husband. Her business focuses primarily on selling pot to suburbanites. For the first season of Weeds, the theme was the original version sung by Malvina Reynolds. In later seasons, a different band or artist covers the song in each episode. Each version of the song is as unique as the different recording artist who sings it. The short list includes recordings by The Decemberists, Regina Spektor, Tim DeLaughter of the Polyphonic Spree, Billy Bob Thornton and The Shins.
As previously stated, each recording has its own flavor. Some versions are sung in a different language and others change the lyrics. None of the changes are very drastic and each version still maintains the feel of the original recording. There really isn’t a single recording that’s better than the others and there’s not one that is hands down the worst. You may lean towards different versions because a given episode may have featured one of your favorite bands, but really it’s an awesome song no matter who sings it. We’ve given you just one example to listen to, but it is highly recommended that you go to YouTube and check out some of the other versions as well.
Posted by Cory Roop on Sep 08, 2008 @ 7:00 am
