Flash player required.
The Decemberists
Just watching this show makes me nervous. Whenever I smoke the stuff I end
up being that guy at the party that should have really just left the scene. You know; the fool so stoned that [he] becomes cemented to the cat pee smelling cracked pleather chair in the corner who’s creeping everyone out because he won’t talk to anyone and he won’t move for nothing.
So in doing this song, we thought it would be appropriate to have the chord progression shift to a minor key, suggesting a bit of tension and more directly, a darker tone. The song really isn’t that cheery when you dig a little deeper and get past that sweet voice and melody, in reality quite depressing…ah life.
- Chris Funk
45 Comments
this is the best version I have yet to hear.
Shawn - September 4th, 2007 at 6:43 pmMy mother used to sing this song to me all the time when I was a kid.
In retrospect, that’s a little weird.
I heart the Decemberists.
Tits McGee - September 4th, 2007 at 8:27 pmHoly Hissing Fauna! Where can I get this?
amy - September 5th, 2007 at 1:19 pmIt’s interesting to hear my favorite bands covering a Malvina Reynolds song I grew up listening to. Now only if they’d cover that song about little Rosie whomever who only had one shoe.
Lauren - September 5th, 2007 at 9:09 pmPlease please please make this available for download!
Alyssa - September 6th, 2007 at 1:09 amExquisite!!! Now, back to my box!!!!
Ronan - September 6th, 2007 at 4:41 ami haven’t watched the show yet, but i absolutely love this song, so i may just have to check the show out.
Zach - September 6th, 2007 at 5:52 pmThat made me want to drink bourbon and roll in a pile of fallen leaves. Glorious!
fish - September 7th, 2007 at 3:26 pmIt always disappoints me a bit when a band that I adore admits to use of drugs.. oh well.
yourhero - September 7th, 2007 at 3:39 pmIt always makes me smile when a band that I adore admits to the use of harmless and enlightening substances.
Much better than a Marlboro ad… :o)
brad - September 7th, 2007 at 3:56 pmAgreed, fish. Except I’ll take rum instead of bourbon.
Wonderful, wonderful song.
Sara - September 7th, 2007 at 3:59 pmAdmitting or not admitting to marijuana use will inevitably rub some folks the right way and some the wrong way. In this instance it’s worth noting that it’s Chris (the guitarist) offering the comments, not Colin. Plus, Chris says he prefers to not partake. Don’t let it diminish your love for this awesome group and their awesome interpretation of the theme!
John Nick - September 7th, 2007 at 5:51 pmWhat is the name of the song?
Bob Dunn - September 7th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Bob Dunn - September 7th, 2007 at 9:04 pmWe all used to sing this when we went to summer camp (before we all went to the university) and yours is NOT the same! Bravo!
Helen - September 7th, 2007 at 9:37 pmWhat do you care if someone else decides to do something just because they’re in a band you like? Care about the music….the rest is their life, their business. Get some perspective people.
Ama - September 7th, 2007 at 11:02 pmwhat is ticky tacky? and how do i make a box out of it, love the song, love the band
Jack Gallegos - September 8th, 2007 at 12:21 ami truly do love the minor key change.
i remember learning in my music theory cl#$*@ several years ago that a simple switch to a minor chord can completely change the entire feel of a song.
and this is such a perfect lesson in that.
i sing this song all the time and i get lots of smiles because it sounds so cheery; i love that your tiny switch creates visions of deception and danger for a second before going back to the bright, cheery bit.
concerning the show, it makes me think of the surface perfection of rich families, with the pain hidden beneath.
bravo.
tina - September 8th, 2007 at 12:43 amLove the show and love this song! I hope it becomes available for download. If you don’t have any of The Decemberist’s music…buy NOW! they are phenomenal! Hands down my favorite band. Oh, since someone asked, Ticky-Tacky means cheaply made, substandard materials, referring to the suburban housing that pops up seemingly overnight. Like mushrooms in the lawn following a heavy rains.
RavenSky - September 8th, 2007 at 1:41 amThe Decemberists are one of my top 3 favorite bands. I love this song… it’s simple and haunting in a way. Which is why i love folk songs. Amazing… i need it now!
Matt - September 8th, 2007 at 2:08 amI wonder what kind of influence (if any) the Decemberists’ heartstrung ties to San Fran had going into this mix about the houses on its hills…
Ashleyanne Krigbaum - September 8th, 2007 at 2:43 am$*@%s McGee - oddly, my mum used to sing this to me as well.
Abs - September 8th, 2007 at 5:27 amAmazing! What I love, in addition to the minor key, is the variety of instruments that the Decemberists used on this one little song. It’s another variable that contributes to their appeal…
PS Could the mother’s life from “A Cautionary Song” be turned into a Showtime special. I’m picturing the maritime f/x of Master and Commander, with the sepia shading of Carnival…
Greg - September 8th, 2007 at 12:09 pmI need a downloadable version of this, right now. I’ll pay whatever it takes.
Mat - September 8th, 2007 at 12:53 pmLove the Decemberists! An interesting take on a folk cl@%#!ic–no one else could have done it with such panache.
Dennis - September 8th, 2007 at 12:59 pmEverything The Decemberists do is flawless.
Jenna Morrissey - September 8th, 2007 at 8:52 pmI love it.
This is an awesome sounding cover by The Decemberists.
It be awesome if this was the shows actual theme…
…is it?
Milton - September 8th, 2007 at 9:27 pm[…] Business I miss if I do that, and I certainly would have missed the Decemberists’ fantastic take on the Weeds theme - incidentally that’s four versions of that I have now and I’ve …Cadbury World, see my best friends, throw a party and see Avenue Q - in London this time. I might […]
[last year’s girl] » Blog Archive » picture book: the sunday portrait (3); - September 9th, 2007 at 3:38 pmi love that they use quality bands to cover the opening of every episode. it’s probably the only opening credits i watch on DVD every time, just to hear the new versions.
janvier - September 9th, 2007 at 5:24 pmAlas, When my two of my favorite things are joined together it is a joyous occ@%#$ion. Great show, Great band, Great song. uh oh that’s three isn’t it. I am getting old. I will see you guys at the fillmore!
Matthew - September 10th, 2007 at 2:18 am[…] The Decemberists do Little Boxes […]
thirty-six…and home again « Backwoods Evolution - September 10th, 2007 at 1:03 pmI may know a guy, who knows a guy, who may have put this song on his myspace profile. Decemberists, come back to portland!
Kevin - September 11th, 2007 at 2:19 am‘Mazing
love the decemberists
they can make anything sound so devastatingly bittersweet
matthew - September 11th, 2007 at 2:35 amGreat job — It’s so disturbing and perfect for the show, just like Chris said.
Ginny - September 15th, 2007 at 9:53 amI saw The Decemberists for the first time in Austin last Sunday. I was enchanted. Thank you. I’m also entered in the Homegrown Humor contest (at least for another few minutes until the finalists are chosen) with IVY’S LAMENT & ENCORE IVY, both humorous phone videos with NO original music. Good thing for Colin that the contest ended last Friday, because I saw him in the Austin airport Monday morning and might have gotten arrested for begging him to SING FOR IVY! Chris, I dig the minor key shift and agree completely that “Little Boxes” is a depressing little number. My favorite contest entry, Reefer Badness, also used a minor key shift. Continued success to The Decemberists!!!
Debbie Ward - September 19th, 2007 at 5:58 pmi’m that guy tooo
johnny - September 21st, 2007 at 1:17 amDoes anyone know who covered “Little Boxes” on the Sept. 24th episode? It sounded like South Park Mexican but he is in jail and not producing (as far as I know)
robbie - September 25th, 2007 at 2:07 pmtwo words… shiiiits weeeeaaakkkk!
AJ - September 25th, 2007 at 6:22 pmI didn’t read this whole thread, but this Malvina Reynolds song was made famous by my friend Pete Seeger, whom many think wrote the song. It’s about a suburb of San Francisco called Daly City, which was a precursor to those clone-house neighborhoods like the one in “Poltergeist.” Daly City was notorious for turning out clone yuppies. Interestingly, it is also the city where kidnapped Patty Hearst was held captive in a closet for 62 days.
Shloma Rosenberg - October 26th, 2007 at 11:31 pmONLINE - DRUGSTORE!
PRICES of ALL MEDICINES!
FIND THAT NECESSARY…
VIAGRA, CIALIS, PHENTERMINE, SOMA… and other pills!
Welcome please: pills-prices.blogspot.com
NEW INFORMATION ABOUT PAYDAY LOANS!
Welcome please: payday-d-loans.blogspot.com
GOOD LUCK!
Banunse - November 1st, 2007 at 2:24 pma job well done, once again, dear decemberists!
p.s. i have also heard versions of this song done by regina spektor and a beautiful duet with johnathon rice and jenny lewis (anyone else think they’re the worlds cutest couple?) check it out.
killedmydinnerwithKARATE - November 13th, 2007 at 7:47 pmVery good forum! Good info!
Banunse - November 30th, 2007 at 9:39 amhttp://srubibablo.com
The Author, you simply - super hero!
http://forum.echeadwear.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3
incojenia - January 26th, 2008 at 6:14 amOh, what a relief! I heard the tune, and just thought that my ears had gone bad, ‘cuause it was screwed up so badly. But now you say it was on purpose, and the point was to empasize the mood of the song. But that’s only useful if you !$*@ume that people are just too stupid to understand the words their selves and so you have to sing it in a minor key to help us out, right?
Well, as I recall, when the original tune was a hit, nobody was sitting around, smokin’ a toke and wondering if the tune was happy and so the words were really MEANT to be happy, too, weren’t they?
That fact that the tune was sweet and the rhythm was a bit rikky tikky just adds to the feeling of dissociation that listeners feel. A symbolic, rhythmic, lyrical, horror of fitting in to suburbia.
Just like “The Sun is Sinking Low” by Simon & Garfunkel. Maybe you could do a discordant version of THAT, someday, too. You know, in a minor key? Crashing Chords! to emphasize the SOUND of NUCLEAR destruction, ‘cuase we are all too feeble minded to get it.
bkaufman - February 13th, 2009 at 9:18 pmHello webmaster
Alexwebmaster - March 3rd, 2009 at 9:12 amI would like to share with you a link to your site
write me here preonrelt@mail.ru
Leave a Comment