Mack the Knife

When I think of a knife, I can’t help but think of the classic song, “Mack the Knife” as sung by Louie Armstrong. But what I didn’t know is that the song has been around for a very long time.

“Mack the Knife,’ or “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” was composed by Kurt Weill, who also wrote the lyrics, for a 1928 German music drama called The Threepenny Opera. The song told of a knife-welding criminal in the London underworld named, “Macheath.” The opera had a traveling minstrel that sang the song and introduces a terrible villain, Macheath, who is loosely based on a thief named Jack Sheppard, but is far more cruel and sinister and whose crimes include rape and murder. Macheath became a modern anti-hero.

The song became popular after it was translated by Marc Blitzstein for Louie Armstrong to record in 1955. The most popular version of the song was by Bobby Darin in 1959, whose recording became a #1 hit in the U.S. and U.K. and earned him two Grammys. Ella Fitzgerald also recorded the song in 1961 and also received a Grammy for her performance.

The song has actually had many translations over the years. A much darker translation by Robert David MacDonald and Jeremy Sams into English was used for the 1994 Donmar Warehouse  theatrical production in London. The new translation attempted to recapture the original tone of the song:

Though the shark’s teeth may be lethal
Still you see them white and red
But you won’t see Mackie’s flick knife
Cause he slashed you and you’re dead.

Here is Bobby Darin, singing “Mack the Knife” on the Ed Sullivan show. I don’t think my father was a big fan of him. My father would say, “He likes himself enough for all of us.”

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it out of sight

You know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old Macheath, babe
So there’s never, never a trace of red

Now on the sidewalk, huh-huh, huh
Ooh, Sunday mornin’, uh-huh
Lies a body just oozin’ life, eek!
And someone’s sneakin’ ’round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

A-there’s a tugboat, huh, huh, ah-ah
Down by the river, don’t you know?
Where a cement bag’s just a-droopin’ on down
Oh, that cement is just, it’s there for the weight, dear
Five’ll get you ten, old Mack, he’s back in town

Now did ya hear ’bout Louie Miller?
He disappeared, babe
After drawin’ out all his hard-earned cash
And now MacHeath spends just like a sailor
Could it be our boy’s done somethin’ rash?

Now, Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Suky Tawdry
Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya, and Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Mack, he’s back in town

I said, Jenny Diver, whoa, Suky Tawdry
Look out to Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Yes, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Mack, he’s back in town

Look out, Old Mack, he is back!

Songwriters: Bertolt Brecht / Marc Blitzstein / Kurt Weill

Thursday Inspiration #289 Cuts Like a Knife