Malvina Reynolds
Malvina Reynolds wrote sharp, plain folk songs and durable children's numbers. Little Boxes, Morningtown Ride and Magic Penny sit among protest and nursery pieces that other singers took into clubs, charts and classrooms.
Her craft favours clear melody and direct words: suburbia mocked in tidy boxes, rain spoiled by fallout, a magic penny that multiplies love when you give it away. Morningtown Ride rocks little travellers to sleep; Turn Around watches children grow in a few spare verses. The same plain line serves civil-rights and anti-war songs as readily as pieces for the youngest listeners, which is why her name turns up both in live folk sets and on nursery collections.
Compositions by Malvina Reynolds appear on
Captain Quaver's Merry Go Rounds
A cheerful set of nursery rhymes and songs for little folk, mixing traditional favourites with pieces by Lorraine Milne, Malvina Reynolds and others. First issued in 1969 and reissued by Move in 1990.