Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  

Notes: words by Malvina Reynolds, music by Pete Seeger; copyright 1962 Brio Music, renewed 1990. a.k.a. "I Want to Go to Andorra!" Pete Seeger's recording of this song was issued on a CD in 2003 by the Andorran government. Also on the CD is a 1996 speech by the Andorran Foreign Minister given on the occasion of his signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty at the U. S. State Department in Washington, D.C.

Chorus:
I want to go to Andorra, Andorra, Andorra,
I want to go to Andorra, it's a place I adore,
They spent four dollars and ninety cents
On armaments and their defense,
Did you ever hear of such confidence?
Andorra, hip hurrah!

In the mountains of the Pyrenees
There's an independent state,
Its population five thousand souls,
And I think they're simply great.
One hundred and seventy square miles big
And it's awf'lly dear to me.
Spends less than five dollars on armaments,
And this I've got to see.

(Chorus)

It's governed by a council,
All gentle souls and wise,
They've only five dollars for armaments
And the rest for cakes and pies;
They didn't invest in a tommy gun
Or a plane to sweep the sky,
But they bought some blanks for their cap pistols
To shoot on their Fourth of July.

(Chorus)

They live by the arts of farm and field
And by making shoes and hats,
And they haven't got room in their tiny land
For a horde of diplomats;
They haven't got room in their tiny land
For armies to march about,
And if anyone comes with a war budget
They throw the rascals out.

(Chorus)

Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- Little Boxes and Other Handmade Songs

Other place(s) where the music to this song appears:
---- Peter Blood and Annie Patterson: Rise Up Singing: The Group-Singing Song Book [lyrics & guitar chords only] (Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out Corp., 1992)
---- Peter Blood-Patterson: Rise Up Singing: The Group-Singing Song Book [lyrics & guitar chords only] (Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out Corp., 1988), p. 158
---- Broadside No. 5 (May 1962)
---- Sing Out!, Volume 12(3) (1962), pp. 32-33
---- Wanda Willson Whitman: Songs That Changed the World (New York: Crown, 1969)

Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- [none]

Recordings by other artists on which this song is performed:
---- Gerri Gribi: It's A Dog's Life (Lilyfern Records LR-46, 1988)
---- Annie Patterson et al.: Everything Possible; 164 Songs About Community & Change (Sing Out Corp. SO107-SO112, 1991)
---- Pete Seeger: The Bitter and the Sweet (Columbia CS 8716, 1962)
---- Pete Seeger: Pete Seeger in Prague, 1964 [as "I Want to Go to Andorra!"] (Flyright FLY CD 68 and FLY CD 69, 2001)
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video