Little Boxes

While I was trying my hardest to study finance at school today, this song that I had for a while but which I hadn't really listened to came up on my mp3 player. And I stopped writing, looked up and smiled. The music in itself is quite crappy if I may say so, but the lyrics are just pure brilliant! And the worse part is that this song has been around since the 60's (yeah this is just a remake...the original one had even crappier music)!! I can't believe I missed it! Oh well, better late than never



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
They're all made out of ticky-tacky,
And they all look just the same.

And the people in houses
Who went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes,
And they all came out all the same.
There's doctors and lawyers
And business executives,
They're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
They all get put in boxes
They all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And they marry, raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
Yeah 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.

I just love how cynical, but at the same time painfully lucid this song is. Because it's true! We all live or aspire to live in suburban "little boxes". And if you walk around neighborhoods, all the houses look almost identical. And that's because they have to! If you make the smallest change to your house, people from the urbanization department at City Hall come to knock on your door because they have strict policies about how neighborhoods should look. Which means that the "little boxes" HAVE to look all the same! And weirdly enough, people feel comforted by that. My law teacher was telling us today, as we were discussing human rights and discrimination, that a couple of years ago (make that 40-50 years ago) a lot of people got sued because home owners made agreements to never sell their houses to non-white, non-catholic potential buyers, all in the interest of keeping a "cultural homogeneity" in the neighborhood. Gah, bienvenue à Hérouxville anyone?

As for the university part, well it goes with what I was saying in a post I wrote about 6 months ago. Going to university is just another form of social integration. You go in as an individual and you come out as a doctor or an engineer or a financial analyst. But in the end, no matter what you do or where you go, there will always be labels. And whether you like it or not, you will be put in boxes and shelved and categorized, because that's how society works. It can't keep track of individuals because we are just too many. But it can keep track of nerds and bums and scientists and politicians and social activists and artists and teachers and doctors and lawyers and business executives who are all made out of ticky-tacky and who all look just the same.