Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear....

[HEyHEY]

And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack-knife has Mac-heath dear
And he keeps it out of sight

When the shark bites with his teeth dear
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves though wears Mac-heath dear
So there's not a trace of red
On the sidewalk Sunday morning
Lies a body oozing life
Someone's sneaking 'round the corner
Is the someone Mack the Knife
From a tugboat by the river
A cement bag's dropping down
The cement's just for the weight dear
Bet you Mackies's back in town
Louis Miller disappeared dear
After drawing out his cash
And Mac-heath spends like a sailo
Did our boy do something rash
Sukey Tawdry, Jenny Diver
Polly Peachum Lucy Brown
O the line forms on the right dear
Now that Mackie's back in town

[tuvor]

1. Reminds me...I must rent Beyond the Sea

Good night, everybody!!!

[HEyHEY]

3. I love that stuff

Actual talent being part of being famous

[RebelOne]

15. It's in my queue at NetFlix. n/t

[RetroLounge]

18. Kevin Spacey was pretty damn good!

RL

[Dogmudgeon]

2. That's "MacHeath"

It's the guy's name.

"MacHeath Messer" in full, IIRC.

In the original German, the song is called "Der Lied von Mackie Messer" or "Mackie Messer's Song". It's from The Threepenny Opera (Dreigroschen Opfer in German). A modern Classic, like Porgy and Bess or Music for Airports.

Corrections? Post 'em, by all means!

--p!

[lenidog]

5. Can you believe this I was trying to find the original lyrics

and couldn't find a single site that had them.

[supernova]

8. Mackie Messer is actually a funeral dirge

in Der Drei Groschen Oper.

Bobby Darin totally ruined it by Vegas-izing it. :puke:

[AlGore-08.com]

4. In German, everybody!

1. Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und MacHeath, der hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.

2. Ach, es sind des Haifischs Flossen
Rot, wenn dieser Blut vergießt!
Mackie Messer trägt 'n Handschuh
Drauf man keine Untat liest.

3. An der Themse grünem Wasser
Fallen plötzlich Leute um!
Es ist weder Pest noch Cholera
Doch es heißt: MacHeath geht um.

4. An 'nem schönen blauen Sonntag
Liegt ein toter Mann am Strand
Und ein Mensch geht um die Ecke
Den man Mackie Messer nannt.

5. Und Schmul Meier bleibt verschwunden
Und so mancher reiche Mann
Und sein Geld hat Mackie Messer
Dem man nichts beweisen kann.

6. Jenny Fowler ward gefunden
Mit 'nem Messer in der Brust
Und am Kai geht Mackie Messer
Der von allem nichts gewußt.

7. Wo ist Alfons Glite, der Fuhrherr?
Kommt das je ans Sonnenlicht?
Wer es immer wissen könnte
Mackie Messer weiß es nicht.

8. Und das große Feuer in Soho
Sieben Kinder und ein Greis
In der Menge Mackie Messer, den
Man nicht fragt und der nix weiß.

9. Und die minderjährige Witwe
Deren Namen jeder weiß
Wachte auf und war geschändet
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?

10. Und die Fische, sie verschwinden,
Doch zum Kummer des Gerichts
Man zitiert am End den Haifisch,
Doch der Haifisch weiß von nichts

11. Und er kann sich nicht erinnern
Und man kann nicht an ihn ran,
Denn ein Haifisch ist kein Haifisch
Wenn man nicht beweisen kann.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Danke Schöne!

--p!

[AlGore-08.com]

7. Danke Schoen, Darling, Danke Schoen.

Thank you for all the joy and pain.
Picture shows, second balcony, was the place we'd meet,
Second seat, go Dutch treat, you were sweet.

Danke Schoen, Darling, Danke Schoen.
Save those lies, Darling don't explain.
I recall, Central Park in fall.
How you tore your dress, what a mess, I confess.
That's not all.

Danke Schoen, Darling, Danke Schoen.
Thank you for walks down Lover's Lane.
I can see, hearts carved on a tree.
Letters inter-twined, for all time, yours and mine, that was fine.

Danke Schoen, Darling, Danke Schoen.
Thank you for seeing me again.
Though we go on our seperate ways,
Still the memory stays, for always, my heart says, Danke Schoen.

Danke Schoen, Oh Darling, Danke Schoen.
I said, Thank you for seeing me again.
Though we go- on our seperate ways,
Still the memory stays, for always, my heart says, Danke Schoen.

Danke Schoen, Auf Wiedersehen, Danke Schoen

[Jokerman]

9. I always wondered what the women's name were.

Polly Peachum always sounded like "Lolly Linda" to me.

Now when I sing this one in the shower I can get the words right.

THANKS!

[WeRQ4U]

10. Bobby Darin added and changed words in his version..

I think you are right in what he says. I don't think he says Polly Peachum.

He also says Jenny Diver before he says Sukey Tawdrey. But there have been tons of people who sang this song. Each with their own version.

[Squeech]

11. Funny thing about that

The translation most of us know, which played on Broadway, and which is the one Darin worked with, is by lyricist Marc Blitzstein, and is not a terribly accurate rendering of Bertold Brecht's German text.

And one way in which it's clearly wrong is that it's more singable and catchy than the original. Brecht's idea was that theatre should be proud of its artifice, and he was always trying to insert effects into his plays to emphasize that what was going on wasn't an imitation of real life, but at best an analogy or hearsay evidence. So he often has his characters deliver asides to the audience (like Shakespeare), or just say really over-the-top goofy jokes, or sing songs with clumsy scansion and lame rhymes.

Blitzstein went the other way and chose words that played well as song lyrics, smoothing out the rhythms into proper Broadway groove, from which Darin took his cue.

There's another translation out there, which has also been staged and recorded, where the emphasis is on Brecht's actual meaning.

Curiously, neither set of lyrics seems to be available on the web. Blitzstein's estate apparently has a real good intellectual property lawyer. (Or it could be Brecht's estate, but that's less likely.)

[WeRQ4U]

12. That's really interesting. Thanks for that.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. The names were characters in Threepenny Opera

I'm pretty sure they were hookers who MacHeath killed.

When I was a kid -- I was about six at the time Bobby Darin's version was popular -- I tried figuring out what words they were. I had an undiagnosed hearing problem which made it more interesting. I could never figure it out that it didn't sound completely ludicrous, and none of my friends' parents knew where it came from or who the people mentioned in it were. My father was the only classical and opera listener I knew, and he told me it was originally in German (a language he didn't speak).

Also, I believe "Alabama-Lied" comes from the opera; it was recorded by The Doors -- "Oh, show me the way to the next whisky bar, or I shall die ..." -- but the original, again, was about pederasty.

Does anyone have anymore Threepenny Opera trivia or insights?

--p!
Oh show me the way to the next DU thread
Or I shall die, or I shall die ...

[Squeech]

14. Not really

Mackie Messer didn't kill any hookers, he just used them (see the duet he sings with Jenny, which I think is entitled "Tango-Ballad," where he brags about pimping her out and spending all her money).

There are a couple different ways to interpret Mackie: either he's just a dude trying to get along in a milieu that's both classist and social-Darwinist, or else he really is a cold-hearted thug who kills for fun. The evidence is ambiguous. The words of "Mack the Knife" strongly suggest the latter, but you could also see that as a tabloid-style exaggeration, to suck you into the story. Because he's also shown as a kind (if inconstant, and massively unfaithful) lover to Polly, and a stout friend of Tiger Brown the police chief (with whom he sings the "Canon Song," the one about being in the Army). And the counterexample of Pirate Jenny, who really does seem to get her jollies killing people, makes Mackie look downright mellow. But then again, on the other other hand, Brown is also a valued business associate-- i.e. Mackie pays him off so he can run his various rackets unmolested-- so Mackie has incentives to be extra-friendly.

"Alabama-Lied" is from a different opera-- Mahagonny? I'll have to Google it. As you check out more Brecht, you observe that his point seems to be that there's very little difference between the behavior of a career mobster like Mackie (and some of the other, cruder thugs in some of his other plays) and, say, a corporate apparatchik of our world, or Brecht's own Germany. Certainly the same skills prevail: gladhanding, prioritizing, ruthless efficiency, and fanatical devotion to profit.

On edit: yes, it's from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

[neweurope]

16. Applause... this is the first time I see even a mention of Brecht by

Americans - and you really do know about him :) Now if you also like "Mutter Courage" you're my man! :)

-----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Dogmudgeon]

17. Well, there is a major problem

I haven't heard any of those songs -- works -- more than once or twice since I was a small child (except for Mack the Knife in English). And if I listen to them, I'm going to want to hear them in German, too, and I'll need the libretto for that.

Which means I should really put some Brecht/Weill on my listening list. Britney and "Drrrty" Christina just can't satisfy me anymore :)

--p!