This book is, among other things, a "lost writing" of Woody Guthrie's. Woody wrote not one but two "Forewords" and multi-paragraph introductions for nearly all the songs included, and for each of the several subject headings. Alan Lomax gathered together the songs, with help and guidance from his collaborators; Pete Seeger transcribed their melodies & simple guitar tablature ("G," "C7," etc.), and anyone with an elementary musical education can learn to sing and strum these songs from the text. Oh, and Woody wrote a lot of the songs, too - "Union Maid," "66 Highway Blues," and many others.

These are all topical songs - "protest" songs, labor-organizing songs, contemporary ballads - and many are guaranteed to rile Establishment partisans even today - for instance, "I Hate The Capitalist System" by Sara Ogan Gunning. There are songs by Kokomo Arnold, Big Bill Broonzy, Joe Hill, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Washboard Sam, Sonny Boy Williamson the First... and there are new Afterwords by Lomax and Seeger, plus great Depression-era photographs on every other page. This is an entertaining and valuable text, whether you plan to sing out or just read it in solitude.

I first starting using this book when I thought I was going to be a folklorist, about 30 years ago. I've been through 2 hardback copies and will probably have to buy the new paperback version. The most striking thing about Hard Hitting Songs..., is that it strips away all the glamor of the Folk Scare days to reveal the essence of these songs and the people who wrote and sang them. The stark black and white photography accompanying the songs is as evocative as the music. The simple presentation of the melody lines with chord symbols boils each song down to its essentials. A few lines of background on each song place it in historical, political and cultural context. And, many of them are pure politics.

These are the real songs of the people. True, some of them were written by professionals. Some are mere parodies of popular songs of the day. But all of them rise out of the lives of those who often had to make their own music if they were to have any at all.

The only dispiriting thing about this collection is that too many of the songs remain meaningful to too many modern Americans. On the other hand, it reminds us that even in this New Guilded Age, we have an economic history of which we should be mindful.

Pete Seeger used this book as his lecture notes when he appeared in 1971 at Cornell University's Willard Straight Hall for a lecture on "The Role of Music in the Labor Movement." It was more of a concert, really, but as always, he delivered the goods by bringing the text and music of the book to life.

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