Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People - photo 1
Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People - photo 2
Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People - photo 3
Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People - photo 4

Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People

Lot 353
19.10.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 4 788
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1033014
Lot 353 | Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People
Estimate value
$ 5 000 – 8 000
GUTHRIE, Woodrow Wilson (1912-1967), and AMBELLAN, Harold (1912-2006). An archive including song lyrics and partial draft of Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People [New York], ca.1940s.

85 pages, various size and paper stocks, 215 x 280mm to 215 x 430mm, mainly typescript (but with one autograph page), occasionally lightly annotated (a few pages brittle with chipping at margins).

From the papers of Harold Ambellan: Woody Guthrie's partial draft of the landmark folk song compilation, Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People—as well as over 60 typescript pages of song lyrics not included in the book (of these, approximately 33 are not listed in Tulsa’s Woody Guthrie Center finding aid). These 60 pages include variant titles and variant verses to recorded or published versions, as well as a handful of items attributed to other musicians, namely Leadbelly. “The Ballad of Harry Bridges” is warmly inscribed by Woody Guthrie to Ambellan.

In Nora Guthrie’s introduction to Woody Guthrie’s landmark work Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, she tells the story of Woody Guthrie and artist, sculptor, and part-time musician Harold Ambellan. It was 1940, and Ambellan and his wife, artist and writer Elisabeth Higgens, had a loft on 21st Street that would serve as home-base for Guthrie over the course of the year. “Evenings at the loft often included impromptu hootenannies, where Woody and Pete’s [Seeger] musician friends would gather to raise some money to help pay the Ambellans’ rent.” There was a lot of singing, and a lot of songwriting, and it was in the 21st Street loft that Hard Hitting Songs came into existence:

Alan Lomax’s father, John Lomax, had collected a group of songs that dealt with migrant workers’, share crop farmers’, and industrial workers’ issues, many of the lyrics protesting workers’ conditions and advocating for their rights. At the time, the material was considered ‘too hot to handle’ by government employees, so Alan handed it over to Pete [Seeger] and Woody to browse through. They loved the material and together with Alan, they decided to create a new songbook they would embellish with their own writings and commentary, as well as some additional original songs. Working fourteen hours a day, they completed the songbook in about five months. […] The manuscript, which they had titled Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, was left behind in the loft, literally saved by Elisabeth Higgens until its existence became known in the 1960s, when it was first published in 1967.

As Nora Guthrie notes, these early songs inspired Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, playing a pivotal role in shaping their work and creating the icons known around the world today. A more detailed inventory of this lot is available upon request.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
14.10.2023 10:00 – 17:00
15.10.2023 13:00 – 17:00
16.10.2023 10:00 – 17:00
17.10.2023 10:00 – 17:00
18.10.2023 10:00 – 17:00
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

Guthrie , (W, ),
Guthrie , (W, ),
€600
Song lyrics and draft material
Song lyrics and draft material
$100

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>