Malvina Reynolds sings The Little Red Hen

The Cement Octopus

Another of Malvina Reynolds' songs about our destruction of the environment. Like many of her songs, it was sung by Pete Seeger.


You can watch me sing it and here are the lyrics.

The Faucets are Dripping

In July 1964, The New York Times reported that one out of every six apartments in New York City had leaky taps (faucets). Malvina Reynolds sees greedy landlords as the cause and dry reservoirs as the consequence of this situation.

Pete Seeger sang this song on his album God Bless the Grass.


You can watch my video and here are the lyrics.

God Bless the Grass

Though this song has usually been thought of as an environmentalistic work, Malvina actually wrote it after reading a book about the death of John F. Kennedy.


Here is my performance and here are the lyrics.

I Don't Mind Failing in this World

Here is Heather Lev singing another one of Malvina Reynold's songs.

It Isn't Nice

Heather Lev sings this classic protest song.

Little Boxes

This is Malvina Reymolds' best known song. It was written in 1963 and made famous by Pete Seeger.

Here is my performance and here are the lyrics.

More recently, this song has been used as the theme for a television show called Weeds. It seems to be sung by a variety of different singers. Here is the one which has Malvina Reynolds herself singing a part of the song.

Little Land

Malvina Reynolds wrote this song in 1958, about the dangers of following leprechauns in Ireland. Like most of her songs it apparently has a deeper meaning, referring to the superficiality and false glamour of Hollywood.

I can't remember where I first heard this song, but I remember singing it on a radio show when I was nineteen (ie. about forty years ago). The version I learnt is shorter than the original. In case anyone is interested, the verses I do not sing are as follows:

When you're in the Little Land
You watch the wee folk play,
You see them through a game or two,
You come out old and gray.

Lights shine in the Little Land
From diamonds on the wall,
But when you're back on the brown hill side
It's cold pebbles after all.

Here is my performance and here are the lyrics as I sing them.

Morningtown Ride

One of Malvina Reynolds' best known songs, this was a big hit for The Seekers in 1965.

The earliest recording was by The Limeliters in 1962. Malvina Reynolds does not seem to have recorded the song herself until 1970, when she included it on her album, Artichokes, Griddlecakes and Other Good Things.

This song is one of a number of lullabies dedicated to my grandson, Felix.

You can watch our performance of the song. and the lyrics are here.

There'll Come a Time

This is one of Malvina Reynolds' most pessimistic environmentalist songs.

Here is my performance and here are the lyrics.

Turn Around

Malvina co-wrote this song with Alan Greene, and it was popularised by Harry Belafonte, who apparently insisted on some changes before he agreed to record it, in particular the addition of the chorus. In the original song, for example, it was "sunsuits and petticoats," rather than "dirndls and petticoats." Belafonte argued that you don’t wear petticoats with sunsuits. Malvina's response was that she wasn’t thinking of wearing; she was thinking of ironing!

Here is Malvina Reynolds singing the song and here is a Kodak advertisement that also helped to make the song popular. Here is a good cover by YouTube's MonkeylessJohn.

And here is my rendition, and the lyrics too.

We Hate to See them Go

Here is Heather Lev singing one of Malvina's anti-war songs - On Ukulele.

What Have They Done to the Rain?

This song, about nuclear fallout, is one of Malvina Reynolds' most popular songs It has been covered by many singers, including The Searchers, The New Seekers, Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger and Marianne Faithfull.

I first heard it sung by Joan Baez, the first time she recorded a song with a "message", as opposed to the traditional ballads of her earliest recordings.

Here is my performance and here are the lyrics.

Malvina Reynolds sings "No Hole In My Head"