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Lot #674
Woody Guthrie

Unpublished Guthrie song from 1949—"Married Prisoner"

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Estimate: $2000+
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Description

Unpublished Guthrie song from 1949—"Married Prisoner"

Incredible autograph lyrics for an apparently unpublished song, titled and signed at the top, "Married Prisoner, Woody Guthrie, 12-14-1949, FDH, NYC,” one page, 7.75 x 10.75, signed again at the conclusion, "Words & music by Woody Guthrie." Guthrie pens four verses, in full: “I sit within my prison walls / And write you these few lines / I’m thinking of my days with you / Both sad and happy times. / I hear you single men tell tales / ‘Bout rambles you’ve had with girls / But you don’t compare to a married pair / In the blessing of this world. / You wave your hands and tell me yarns / of dancing girls you’ve seen / My wife to me is prettier still / She’s queen of all the queens. / You single folks can’t dance as well / as a married man and wife / This is why you’ll find me hitched / The rest of my natural life. / The joy just starts at the dancing hall / That’s not the place it ends / You kiss your partner a few hot smacks / and you never see them again. / They spin and whirl and go and blow / away with the dust and wind; / And the married pair each minute share / Life’s greatest joys again. / We argue and cuss and wave and swear / And call our mates loud names. / We hug and kiss, forgive, forget, / and fall in love again. / We flirt, we court, we look, we wink, / And when we kiss a kiss / It’s hotter and sweeter than single kisses / and a married kiss can’t miss.” Guthrie has numbered the bottom of the page “30.” In fine condition. When Guthrie died in 1967, the folk song-writing legend left behind more than 3,000 songs, most of them unpublished and unrecorded. A prisoner's ode to the joys and betterments of married life, this wonderfully romantic song was likely penned for his second wife Marjorie Mazia; around the time this song was written, Marjorie and Guthrie separated when the latter's Huntington's disease began to worsen.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: March Auction
  • Dates: #523 - Ended March 07, 2018





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