When Copland wrote this atmospheric miniature he had already adopted a gritty, dissonant style for such works as orchestral variations, dance panels, and connotations. Yet here, Copland reverted to his American pastoral sound, made famous by the quiet sections of Appalachian Spring. The reason: Down a Country Lane was commissioned by and published in the middlebrow Life magazine as a piano solo for children. In an article appearing with the two-page score, Copland explained that the music "is descriptive only in an imaginative, not a literal sense. I didn't think up the title until the piece was finished." Copland fabricated what he called a "baby-simple" diatonic melody with harmony in thirds and fifths, much like the "Grovers Corners" segment of his score for the film Our Town. In 1964, he prepared a version for small orchestra, intended as fodder for youth groups. The piece could serve as a lullaby, with its gently rocking rhythm; the melodic line, however, wanders all over the staff without developing a strong profile, and without great care and balance, it can easily become submerged in the chordal accompaniment.

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