Always Looking – People Who Made a Difference XXII

By John I. Blair

Meet Malvina Reynolds

   Malvina Reynolds (1900-1978) was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for writing songs like “Little Boxes,” “What Have They Done to the Rain,” and “Magic Penny.” Often recorded by other artists (such as Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, and Pete Seeger), her songs were very famous during the 60s and 70s of the past century.

   Born Malvina Milder in San Francisco to Jewish immigrant parents, Reynolds was raised a socialist and atheist, and married William Reynolds, a carpenter and socialist organizer. She earned a BA and MA in English, and later a doctorate, from UC Berkeley.

   Jobs were scarce during the Depression, even for women with PhDs. Reynolds wrote a column for the People’s World and eventually took a job on a bomb factory assembly line during WW II while her husband worked as a carpenter in a shipyard.

   She began her songwriting career in the late 1940s after meeting folk singers and songwriters. Ultimately she recorded six albums for adults and three for children. Later in life Reynolds attended Unitarian Universalist churches and was a member of the Berkeley UU Church, where she often sang at services.

   She was quoted as saying “I don’t think of myself primarily as a writer of children’s songs. . . . I’m not your nice old grandma. However . . . I have this sharp cutting edge . . . because I do care for people. I care about children, and I think the world is ripping them off, taking away their natural environment and much more than that . . . and leaving them stripped, uneasy, uncomfortable, and in deep trouble, and it’s because of that that I’m so sharp.”

Adapted from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvina_Reynolds and www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/reynolds.html

Author's Note: I remember Clara and me, back in the 1970s when we were both Sunday School teachers at our church, learning to sing “Magic Penny” at a religious education training workshop in Dallas, from a teacher who had learned it directly from Malvina.

Magic Penny

Love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

It's just like a magic penny,
Hold it tight and you won't have any.
Lend it, spend it, and you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

Money's dandy and we like to use it,
But love is better if you don't refuse it.
It's a treasure and you'll never lose it
Unless you lock up your door.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

So let's go dancing till the break of day,
And if there's a piper, we can pay.
For love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

For love is something if you give it away,
Give it away, give it away.
Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.

© Malvina Reynolds
Pictures Above are of Malvina Reynolds; Picture Below is of her copyrighted sheet music for Magic Penny.

Researched and compiled by John I. Blair

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