Moritat

A few weeks ago I found a cheap used copy of Lyle Lovett's Smile: Songs From The Movies (also check it out on Amazon). It's quite enjoyable. It may not be where I'd tell someone to start if they weren't already at least a little familiar with Lovett's work, but on the other hand it wouldn't be a horrible introduction either (especially if folks have ever seen any of the source movies).

The first four tracks are OK, but didn't immediately grab hold of me. After those, though, the album really takes off for me. My favorites are probably "Summer Wind" (from For Love Of The Game), "What'd I Say" (from Where The Heart Is), "Walking Tall" (from Stuart Little), and especially "Till It Shines" (a duet of a Bob Seger tune with Keb' Mo' from Mumford).

As a Steely Dan fan I couldn't help noticing some Dannish connections ("-ish" due to some solo Becker/Fagen associations too) as I perused the credits... Roger Rosenberg (Baritone Sax on "Summer Wind"), Cindy Mizelle and Tawatha Agee (two of three female background vocalists on "What'd I Say"), Dean Parks (electric guitar on "Till It Shines"), Sweet Pea Atkinson and Harry Bowen (among the background vocalists on "I'm A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord"). There could be others I missed, but those were the ones I immediately recognized.

Anyway, the track I really want to focus on is "Moritat (Mack The Knife)" (from Quiz Show) which made me curious when I saw it listed because I didn't know what the "Moritat" bit was all about. (According to Wikipedia... from mori meaning "deadly" and tat meaning "deed.") Of course I knew "Mack The Knife." Or thought I did. Turns out I didn't. Naturally I'm well acquainted with the classic Bobby Darin (and Louis Armstrong) versions and anyone can easily find YouTube versions of Darin performing it.

I'm probably showing my glaring musical ignorance here, but I just never knew there was so much history behind "Mack the Knife," that there was more than one English lyrical version through the years. Lovett's take is slower in tempo, much more ominous sounding musically, and the dude Mack the Knife seems much more sinister as a result of both the music and more graphic lyric. I won't say I like it more than Darin's, but after many listens it has certainly grown on me. I like it, but for different reasons, mainly that the tone just matches the lyric and the Mack the Knife character so much better. On the other hand Darin's is definitely the toe-tapper of the two and will always be the definitive version for me (and I doubt I'm unique in that regard).

Rather than try to summarize the history and different versions of the song, I'll just direct folks to Wikipedia or, for a more flowing (though perhaps slightly less detailed) narrative account, to The Straight Dope ("Fighting ignorance since 1973"). From the latter page comes this nice chunk of summary...

. . .

So, we finally get to ... the "Ballad of Mack the Knife" (Die Moritat von Mackie Messer) from The Three Penny Opera. The song was a last-minute addition to appease the vanity of tenor Harald Paulson, who played Macheath. However, it was performed by the ballad singer, to introduce the character. The essence of the song is: "Oh, look who's coming onstage, it's Mack the Knife - a thief, murderer, arsonist, and rapist." (If these last two startle you, be patient for a couple paragraphs.)

The Brecht-Weill version premiered in Germany in 1928 and was an instant hit. Within a year, it was being performed throughout Europe, from France to Russia. Between 1928 and 1933 it was translated into 18 languages and had over 10,000 performances.

In 1933, The Three Penny Opera was first translated into English and brought to New York by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky. There have been at least eight English translations over the years. In the 1950s, Marc Blitzstein wrote an adaptation, cleaning up "Mack the Knife" and dropping the last two stanzas about arson and rape. At the revival in New York using the Blitzstein translation, Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weill's widow, made her comeback - she had a role in the original 1928 Berlin production.

Blitzstein's sanitized adaptation is the best known version of the song in the English-speaking world, and undoubtedly the one you've heard. Louis Armstrong popularized it worldwide in 1955 with an amazing jazz beat. Bobby Darin's 1958 recording was #1 on the Billboard charts for many weeks and won a Grammy as best song. It's been sung as ballad, jazz, and rock by many of the greats, including Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney.

In the 1970s, Joseph Papp commissioned Ralph Manheim and John Willett to do an adaptation/translation that would be "more faithful" to Brecht....

. . .

Lovett's version is apparently based on that '70s one (1976 to be more precise according to Wikipedia).

Also from the Wikipedia page comes this bit about the Lotte Lenya reference...

In the best known English translation, from the Marc Blitzstein 1954 version of The Threepenny Opera, which introduced the song to English-speaking audiences, the words are:

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear,
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack-knife has Macheath dear
And he keeps it out of sight.

This is the version popularized by Louis Armstrong (1956) and Bobby Darin (1959) (Darin's lyrics differ slightly), and most subsequent swing versions. Weill's widow, Lotte Lenya, the star of both the original 1928 German production and the 1954 Blitzstein Broadway version, was present in the studio during Armstrong's recording. He spontaneously added her name to the lyrics, which already named several of Macheath's female victims.

As an added bonus I've included (above) a YouTube clip of Lotte Lenya doing the song in the original German. Not that I speak German, but I just thought it was an interesting virtual find.

Following is the lyrical version Lovett performs on Smile, then the "complete version" as translated by John Willett, and lastly the well known Darin version...

---

Moritat (Mack The Knife)
(Originally composed by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill, translated by John Willett...
...as performed by Lyle Lovett—though only a 30-second clip)

See the shark with teeth like razors
You can read his open face
And Macheath, he's got a knife, and
In such an obvious place

On a beautiful blue Sunday,
See a corpse stretched in the Strand
See a man dodge 'round the corner...
Mackie's friends will understand

Mr. Meier reported missing
Like so many wealthy men
Mack the knife acquired his cashbox
God alone knows how or when

Jenny Towler, she turned up lately
With a knife stuck through her breast
While Macheath, he walks the embankment,
Nonchalantly unimpressed

And the ghastly fire in Soho,
Seven children at a go
In the crowd stands Mac the knife, but
He isn't asked, he doesn't know

And the child bride in her nightgown,
Whose assailants still at large
Violated in her slumbers
Mackie how much did you charge?

Yes, the child bride in her nightgown
Whose assailants still at large
Violated in her slumbers
Mackie how much did you charge?

Mackie how much did you charge?
How much did you charge?
How much did you charge?
How much did you charge?
How much did you charge?

---

The Ballad Of Mack The Knife (Complete Version)
(Translation by John Willett)

See the shark has teeth like razors
All can read his open face
And Macheath has got a knife, but
Not in such an obvious place

See the shark, how red his fins are
As he slashes at his prey
Mac the Knife wears white kid gloves which
Give the minimum away

By the Thames turbid waters,
Men abruptly tumble down
Is it plague, or is it cholera?
Or a sign Macheath's in town?

On a beautyful blue Sunday,
See a corpse stretched on the Strand
See a man dodge around the corner...
Mackie's friend's will understand

And Schul Meier who is missing
Like so many wealthy men,
Mack the knife aquired his cashbox
God alone knows how or when

Jenny Towler turned up lately
With a knife stuck in her breast
While Macheath walked the embankment,
Nonchalantly unimpressed

Where is Alfred Gleet the cabman?
Who can get that story clear?
All the world may know the answer,
but Macheath has no idea

And the ghastly fire in Soho,
Seven children at a go
In the crowd stands Mac the knife, but
He's not asked and doesn't know

And the child bride in her nightie,
Whose assailant's still at large
Violated in her slumbers
Mackie how much did you charge?

---

The classic Bobby Darin version...

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... ah... out of sight.

Ya know when that shark bites, with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there’s nevah, nevah a trace of red.

Now on the sidewalk... uuh, huh... whoo... sunny mornin’... uuh, huh
Lies a body just oozin' life... eeek!
And someone’s sneakin' ‘round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

A-there's a tugboat... huh, huh, huh... down by the river don’tcha 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 ya ten old Macky’s back in town.

Now, d'ja 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... Sukey Tawdry
Ooh... Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town.

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

Look out... old Macky is back!!