Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  

Notes: by Harry Belafonte, Malvina Reynolds and Alan Greene. Published by Clara Music Publishing Corporation (ASCAP). Administered by Next Decade Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Copyright 1957, assigned 1958 to Clara Music Publishing Corporation, renewed 1986.¹ a.k.a. "Where Are You Going?" "Turn Around"'s popularity was boosted by its use as the theme for a memorable Kodak television commercial.

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you're two,
Turn around and you're four,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door.
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door.

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Little dirndls and petticoats, where have you gone?²
Turn around and you're tiny,
Turn around and you're grown,
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own.
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own.

Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- Little Boxes and Other Handmade Songs
---- The Malvina Reynolds Songbook
---- There's Music in the Air: Songs for the Middle-Young

Other place(s) where the music to this song appears:
---- 30 Easy Guitar Hits (Miami Beach: Charles Hansen, 1968)
---- Peter Blood and Annie Patterson: Rise Up Singing: The Group-Singing Song Book [lyrics & guitar chords only] (Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out Corp., 1992)
---- Peter and Annie Blood-Patterson: Winds of the People [lyrics & guitar chords only] (Sing Out, 1980?)
---- Peter Blood-Patterson: Rise Up Singing: The Group-Singing Song Book [lyrics & guitar chords only] (Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out Corp., 1988), p. 228
---- Classic Coffeehouse Hits (Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, 2001)
---- Milton Okun: Great Songs...Of the Fifties (New York: Cherry Lane Music Co., 2001)
---- Sing Out!, Volume 10(1) (1960), p. 11
---- Rosalie Sorrels, ed.:What, Woman, and Who, Myself, I Am (Sonoma, CA: Wooden Shoe, 1974), pp. 12-13

Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- The Ultimate Pollution
---- Malvina
---- listen to youtube.com video

Recordings by other artists on which this song is performed:
---- Harry Belafonte: Love is a Gentle Thing (RCA Victor LSP 1927, 1958/9)
---- Harry Belafonte: "Darlin' Cora/Turn Around" (45 r.p.m. single, RCA 47-7491 / RCA 45-RCA-1116, 1959)
---- Harry Belafonte: This Is Harry Belafonte (RCA Victor VPS6024, 1970)
---- Harry Belafonte: The Great Belafonte (RCA Victor CL42956, 1979)
---- Harry Belafonte: [in addition to the preceding, the song appears on at least twenty other releases by Belafonte]
---- Bev Bos with Michael Leeman: Thumbprints (Turn-the-Page Press, 1985)
---- Bev Bos and Michael Leeman: Thumbprints and Thumbprints Too (Turn-the-Page Press, n.d.)
---- Brigham Young University Choirs and Orchestras: Songs of Praise and Remembrance (Tantara Records TCD 0600SPR, 2000)
---- Brigham Young University Singers: Songs of the Soul (Tantara Records TCD 0700SSL, 2000)
---- The Brothers Four: The Honey Wind Blows (Columbia CS 9105, 1965)
---- Rolf Cahn: California Concert With Rolf Cahn [as "Where Are You Going?"] (Folkways Records FA 2416, 1959)
---- Guy Carawan: This Little Light of Mine and Other Songs [as "Where Are You Going?"] (Folkways FG 3552, 1959)
---- Nancy Cassidy: KidsSongs Sleepyheads (Klutz Press, 1992)
---- Rosemary Clooney: Mothers & Daughters (Concord Jazz CCD-4754-2, 1996)
---- Rosemary Clooney: Rosemary Clooney 70 (Concord Records CCD-4804-2, 1997)
---- Rosemary Clooney: Songs From a Girl Singer (Concord Records CCD2-4870-2, 1999)
---- Perry Como: Seattle (RCA Victor LSP-4183, 1969)
---- Co-op Hootenanny (Century Records 22912, 1965)
---- Dick and Dee Dee: "Turn Around/Don't Leave Me" (45 r.p.m. single, Warner Brothers WB 5396, 1963)³
---- Dick and Dee Dee: Turn Around (Warner Brothers WS 1538, 1964)
---- Dick and Dee Dee: Songs We've Sung on Shindig (Warner Brothers WS 1623, 1966)
---- Dick and Dee Dee: The Best of Dick & Dee Dee (Varese Vintage VSD-5576, 1995)
---- Everly Brothers: Roots (Warner Brothers WS 1752, 1968)
---- Tennessee Ernie Ford: My Favorite Things (Capitol ST-2444, 1966)
---- Candy Forest and Emil Miland: Speeney, Spawney, Go to the Moon (Sisters' Choice SCR469-2, 1995)
---- Freddie and the Dreamers: "Turn Around/Funny Over You" (45 r.p.m. single, Columbia DB 8033, 1966)
---- Freddie and the Dreamers: The Best of Freddie & the Dreamers; the Definitive Collection (EMI Records USA CDP-7-96979-2, 1992)
---- Freddie and the Dreamers: The Very Best of Freddie & the Dreamers (Collectables Records COL-CD-2727, 1998)
---- Gee Baby Gee: Del-Fi Girl Groups [as "Tourne-Toi"] (Del-Fi Records DFCD 71266, 1999)
---- The Good Time Singers: The Good Time Singers (Capitol ST 2041, 1964)
---- Nanci Griffith: Other Voices, Other Rooms (Elektra 9 61464-2, 1993) listen to youtube.com video
---- Growing Songs (Classroom Materials Co., 1973)
---- Priscilla Herdman: Darkness Into Light (Flying Fish FF 420, 1987)
---- Kay and Bill Holford: Kay Holford's Guide to Wedding Music (Bellaire CD 1145, n.d.)
---- Danny Kaye: Danny Kaye (Dena, 1964)
---- Kingston Trio: Time to Think (Capitol ST-2011, 1964)
---- The Lettermen: Once Upon a Time (Capitol ST-1711, 1962)
---- The Lettermen: The Lettermen; a Collection of Their Finest Songs (Capitol SPRO 4789, 1969)
---- Kenny Loggins: More Songs from Pooh Corner (SONY LK 63514, 2000)
---- Charlie Louvin: The Longest Train (Watermelon Records CD 1056, 1996)
---- John McCutcheon: Mail Myself to You (Rounder CD 8016, 1988)
---- Pierre and Anne-Lyse: "Tourne-Toi" (45 r.p.m. single, Del-Fi Records 4232, 1963)
---- Kathy Reid-Naiman: On My Way to Dreamland (Merriweather Records M0202cd, 2002)
---- Robert De Cormier Singers: The Folk Album (Command Records RS-897, 1966)
---- Jimmie Rodgers: Child of Clay (A & M Records SP-4130, 1967)
---- Sally Rogers: Love Will Guide Us (Flying Fish FF 365, 1985)
---- Margie Rosenthal and Ilene Safyan: It's Time to Sing; Songs for Shabbat and Everyday (SheeRa Productions SR-003, 1988)
---- Diana Ross: Last Time I Saw Him (Motown M 812 V1, 1973)
---- Martha Schlamme: Martha Schlamme Says "Kissin's No Sin" (MGM Records E4190, 1963)
---- Sharon, Lois, and Bram: Elephant Party (Drive Entertainment DE2-43244, 1996/1988)
---- Sharon, Lois, and Bram: Happy Birthday (Elephant Records ED 0309, 1988)
---- Ernie Sheldon and Joyce James: Ernie Sheldon and Joyce James Sing of Laughter, Beauty and Compassion (Mercury SR-60781, 1962)
---- Shenandoah Trio: Shenandoah Trio (Dot DLP-3393/25393, 1961)
---- Dick Smothers: Saturday Night at the World (Mercury SR-61134, 1968)
---- Sonny and Cher: The Wondrous World of Sonny & Cher (Atco 33-183, 1966) 
---- Rosalie Sorrels: What Does It Mean to Love? (Green Linnet GLCD 2113, 1994)
---- Rosalie Sorrels: Learned by Livin', Sung by Heart (Way Out in Idaho Productions, 2003)
---- Tut Taylor: 12 String Dobro! (World-Pacific ST-1816, 1963)
---- Travelers 3: New Sounds (Capitol ST 2207, 1965)
---- Up with People: Times of Your Life (Eastman Kodak EK1, 1979)
---- Wanderers Three: We Sing Folk Songs (Dolton Records BST-8021, 1963)
---- The Wayfarers: The Wayfarers at the World's Fair (RCA Victor LSP-2946, 1964)
---- Josh White, Jr.: I'm on My Own Way (Mercury MG-21022, 1965)
---- Deniece Williams: When Love Comes Calling (ARC/Columbia JC 35568, 1979)
---- Womenfolk: We Give a Hoot! (RCA Victor LSP 2821, 1963)
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video
---- listen to youtube.com video

Additional notes
1. Although Greene and Belafonte are listed as co-composers here, some recent public comments made by friends of Malvina's make it sound as though the song was actually wholly of her making, and that the copyright was set up in this fashion simply because Belafonte made this a condition for his recording it. More accurately, it would appear that Belafonte agreed to record the song only after Alan Greene had made some modifications (most notably the addition of the chorus) to Malvina's original words and music. A couple of the word changes may have been suggested by Belafonte, though in Malvina's own songbooks she credited the song as "Words and Music" by Malvina Reynolds and Alan Greene.

2. When Harry Belafonte recorded the song, he sang "Little dirndls and petticoats" instead of “Little sunsuits and petticoats," saying that you don’t wear petticoats with sunsuits. “I wasn’t thinking of wearing,” said Malvina. “I was thinking of ironing.” Since dirndls aren’t popular any more, people may want to revert to the original line. The entire original song went like this:

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Where are you going, my sonny, my own?
Turn around and you’re two, turn around and you’re four,
Turn around and you’re a young man going out of my door.

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Little sunsuits and petticoats, where have you gone?
Turn around and you’re tiny, turn around and you’re grown,
Turn around and you’re a young wife with babes of your own.

The chorus was added for the Belafonte recording, and Malvina also sang and recorded it that way.

3. This single peaked at number twenty-seven on Billboard and number thirty on Cashbox in December 1963. To our knowledge none of the several other 45s issued featuring the song ever charted (at least in English-speaking countries).