Ballad of Mackey Knife

The ballad of Mackey Knife first appeared in The Three Penny Opera. Moritat is a medieval version of a killing ballad performed by roaming minstrels . “Mori” means “deadly, deadly,” and “Tat” means “action, deed.” At the very beginning of the Three Penny Opera, the street singer presents the audience with the help of the ballad of the protagonist - Makki Knife. This character is a “revised version” of the dashing robber Makheath from “The Beggars ' Opera ” by John Gay ( 1685 - 1732 ) ^[2] . Gay , a popular English playwriter and poet who collaborated with Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope , used criminals from the lower strata of society to ridicule the government and the aristocracy . This technique has since been used very often ^[3] .

• The murder of an unknown person in London on Strand Street
• The rich man - Meyer Shmul, who disappeared prematurely
• Jenny Towler, stabbed in the chest with a knife
• Seven children and an elderly man who died as a result of arson
• Rape of a minor widow ( German: minderjährige Witwe ) in her bed
• Arson and rape were excluded from the original version in Blitzstein's translation, but remain in the play.

Translation of Mark Blitzstein ( 1954 )

The most famous translation of the song into other European languages ​​is the translation of the American composer Mark Blitzstein , made by him in 1954 for an English audience:

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.

The most famous and recognized versions of Blitzstein’s translation belong to Louis Armstrong , who recorded Mack The Knife in 1956 and to Bobby Darin in 1959 (the lyrics performed by Darin differ slightly from the original English version), and in most subsequent swing versions.

There is a known case when the widow of Kurt Weil , Lotte Lenya was present in the studio while recording a version of Louis Armstrong . Armstrong spontaneously included her name Lotte in the lines of the song at the time of the listing of the female victims of Macheath.

Sukey Tawdry, Jenny Diver .. Lotte Lenya, Sweet Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, dears ... .. now that Macky's back in town

In rare cases, the verse uses a verse added by Bertolt Brecht for the 1930 film , where the poet compares the world of the rich and strong with the dark world of poverty :

Translation by Ralph Manheim and John Willett ( 1976 )

In 1976, Ralph Manheim and John Willett made their translation, opening the production of Mackie on Broadway with Julia Raul :

See the shark with teeth like razors
You can read his open face
And Macheath, he's got a knife, but
Not in such an obvious place

This version will later be performed by Sting and Nick Cave . The Maname-Willlet translation version was also performed by Lyle Lovett. Recording Lovett became the soundtrack for the 1994 film - “ Quiz ”.

Translation of the London Donmar Warehouse Theater ( 1994 )

The darkest translation into English is the translation made by the London Donmar Warehouse in 1994 . The new translation retains 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's slashed you and you're dead

Translation into Russian

The song, translated by A. Eppel into Russian, was recorded by Galina Pashkova and the ensemble “ Melody ” for the album “Bertold Brecht. Songs and Ballads ”(1974) ^[4] :

Shark teeth are sharp
You can’t count them at all.
Makito has a razor knife
But where is he, this knife?

There is also a translation by S. Apt and Yu. Mikhailov, made for the play "Three-Penny Opera", staged at the Moscow Theater of Satire by V. Pluchek (1980) ^[5] :

Shark teeth have wedges
All stick out like a show.
And Makki has a knife and nothing more
Yes, and he is hidden from view.

“Mack the Knife” performed by the famous jazz artist Louis Armstrong participated in the US charts in 1954 , and reached No. 20, soon becoming a single hit .

Another successful performance belongs to singer Bobby Darin , who recorded the song on December 19, 1958 (recording engineer - Tom Dow). In 1959, Darin’s version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the Black Singles chart. Success in the charts brought the singer a Grammy Award for Record of the Year . Mack The Knife 's song was performed by Bobby Darin in 1958 and for a long time occupied the first places in the charts of popular compositions. By this time, Darin was already quite famous. His repertoire consisted of very lively, energetic, simple, teen- oriented songs. When the singer announced that he wanted to record “Mack the Knife”, manager Clark tried to dissuade the artist from such a rash step, but already in 1959 the song glorified Bobby ^[6] . Frank Sinatra , who had recorded the song with Jimmy Buffett shortly before, called the version of Darin “the most complete”. Darin’s version was No. 3 on Billboard's All Time Top 100 ^[7] . In 2003, the singer’s version took 251st place in the list of “ 500 greatest songs of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine.” On BBC Radio 4 on Desert Island Discs , Simon Cowell named Mack the Knife the best song ever written.

The version of the song performed by Ella Fitzgerald is especially known thanks to the singer's live performance in 1960 ( Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife ), in which Fitzgerald , having forgotten the lyrics after performing the first couplet, showed the public her own performance of the famous ballad, which brought her an award Grammy .

Robbie Williams also recorded the song for his 2001 album , Swing When You're Winning . Other interesting recordings include performances by Jimmy Dale Gilmore , Tony Bennett , Marianne Faithfull , Nick Cave , Brian Setzer , Kevin Spacey , and Michael Buble . The Swiss group “ The Young Gods ” radically changed the song, recording it in the industrial genre, while the jazz singer Sonny Rollins recorded an instrumental version in 1956, giving it the name “Moritat”.

In 1959, an instrumental version of the song was introduced by Bill Haley & His Comets . The record was released under the label " Decca Records ". Tito Puente also recorded an instrumental version of the song. Salsa artist Ruben Blades titled his version as Pedro Navaja ^[8] Brazilian composer Shico Buarque , in his work on the Three Penny Opera (Ópera do Malandro), made two versions called A Volta do Malandro and O Malandro No. 2 ", with texts in Portuguese.

The song was used in many other creative projects.

American parodist Capitol Steps used music for his 2002 song “Pack the Knife” in the album “When Bush Comes to Shove”. In the mid -1980s , McDonald's introduced Mac Tonight as the mascot of its restaurants; the lyrics were based on the original version of Mack the Knife.

• 1928/29 - Bertolt Brecht
• 1931 - Ernst Bush for the movie G.V. Pabst " Three-Penny Opera "
• 1954 - Herald Price, recording for The Threepenny Opera
• 1955 - Lotte Lenya for the album " Lotte Lenya Sings Berlin Theater Songs of Kurt Weill "
• 1956 - Louis Armstrong

• Dick Human, instrumental version
• Billy Vaughan, instrumental version
• Sonny Rollins , jazz tool for Saxophone Colossus

• 1957 - Bing Crosby and Bob Scobey for the album " Bing with a Beat "
• 1959 - Bobby Darin USA and UK

• Bill Haley & His Comets for Strictly Instrumental
• Kenny Dorham for Quiet Kenny

• 1960 - Ella Fitzgerald for the album Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife
• 1964 - Milos Kopecký (music for the Czech comedy western “ Lemonade Joe ”)
• 1964 - Ramaz Chkhikvadze , in Georgian , recording for The Threepenny Opera ^[9]
• 1965 - Ben Webster for Stormy Weather
• 1967 - Dave Van Ronk for the album "Live at Sir George Williams University", in 1992 - for the album "Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht"
• 1968 - The Doors for the album "Live In Stockholm"
• 1974 - Galina Pashkova , the ensemble “ Melody ” - in Russian for the album “Bertold Brecht. Songs and ballads " ^[4]
• 1980 - Andrei Mironov - in Russian, translation by Apt and Mikhailov. In particular, recorded on the disc "Andrei Mironov" in 1983 with other songs in his performance - mainly from films.
• 1980 - The Psychedelic Furs for their first album, The Psychedelic Furs
• 1983 - King Kurt for Ooowallahwallah!
• 1984 - Frank Sinatra for LA Is My Lady
• 1985 - Sting for the album " Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill "
• 1988 - Ute Lemper for the album "Ute Lemper sings Kurt Weill"
• 1990 - Roger Daltry soundtrack for the movie "Mack the Knife"
• 1991 - The Young Gods for the album " The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill "
• 1994 - Lyle Lovett (soundtrack for the movie TV Quiz )

• Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Buffett for Duets II

• 1995 - Nick Cave for the album "September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill"
• 2000 - The Brian Setzer Orchestra for Vavoom! "
• 2001 - Robbie Williams for the album " Swing When You're Winning "
• 2004 - Westlife band for the album " Allow Us To Be Frank "
• 2006 - Kevin Spacey (soundtrack for the film " By the Sea ")
• 2010 - Teufel - Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer (Absinthe album)
• 2013 - Mark Lanegan - Mack the Knife (Imitations album)
• Tony bennett
• Jimmy Dale Gilmore
• Dean Martin
• Peggy Lee
• Dee Snyder
• Also, the song’s music was used in the cartoon “Gray Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood” (“These teeth are made of metal ...”).
• The rhythm and lyrics in German are featured in the Haifisch song of the industrial band Rammstein .
• Russian rock musician Yegor Letov used an opening solo performed by Louis Armstrong as an accompaniment in the recording of the song “On the Life of Black Negroes” for his project “ Communism ” (album “Summer It Bee”, 1989).

• Everything You Wanted to Know About Mack the Knife
• Bobby Darin - “Mack the Knife”
• Broadway production ibdb.com
• History of the song “Mack the Knife”
• Song of Mecca-knife from the play "Three-Penny Opera"