# Fascinating history of the popular song "Mack the Knife" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386 "2014-11-23T03:19:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/1 "2014-11-23T03:19:13Z")
I was curious about the lyrics but in wikiing it up I had no idea the song had such an varied and extensive history. Wiki is worth a read. [Mack the Knife](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_the_Knife) > [@](#): > > “Mack the Knife” or “The Ballad of Mack the Knife”, originally “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer”, is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists, including a US number one hit for Bobby Darin. > [@](#): > > “Mack the Knife” was introduced to the United States hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1956, but the song is most closely associated with Bobby Darin, who recorded his version at Fulton Studios on West 40th Street, New York City, on December 19, 1958 (with Tom Dowd engineering the recording). Even though Darin was reluctant to release the song as a single,[8] in 1959 it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the Black Singles chart, and earned him a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Dick Clark had advised Darin not to record the song because of the perception that, having come from an opera, it wouldn’t appeal to the rock & roll audience. In subsequent years, Clark recounted the story with good humor ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/2 "2014-11-23T03:25:35Z")
There is a tribute album called [September Songs](http://www.amazon.com/September-Songs-David-Johansen/dp/B0000029WM) that includes two versions of the song. The first is the German-language recording by Bertolt Brecht himself, complete with pre-Hitler rolled Rs. The other is a (not particularly imaginative) take by Nick Cave. It is a great album. It includes other Kurt Weill songs performed by Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, William S. Burroughs, P.j. Harvey, The Persuasions, Betty Carter, and Mary Margaret O’Hara, as well as by Kurt Weill himself and his wife, Lotte Lenya. I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/3 "2014-11-23T03:30:13Z")
Did you notice the wiki links back to a Straight Dope column? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/4 "2014-11-23T05:01:07Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Did you notice the wiki links back to a Straight Dope column? 🙂 All that will be has begun. All that has come is not gone. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/5 "2014-11-23T05:57:36Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > There is a tribute album called [September Songs](http://www.amazon.com/September-Songs-David-Johansen/dp/B0000029WM) that includes two versions of the song. . . There’s also kind of a [salsa version](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Navaja) by Ruben Blades from Fania, which which was pretty big in the 70s–[not the same melody but similar in sentiment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI5_qxzjCAw). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/6 "2014-11-23T06:43:12Z")
Of course, The Threepenny Opera is a German adaptation of _[The Beggar’s Opera](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar%27s_Opera)_, written in 1728 by John Gay, and a huge success in 18th century Britain. The character of Macheath, Mack the knife, was Gay’s invention, not Brecht’s or Weill’s. Another Brecht-Weill song that became a rock hit, was “[Alabama Song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_Song)”, recorded by both _The Doors_ (with Ray Manzarek, most appropriately, on marxophone) and David Bowie. I always though Kurt Weill would have been a great name for a punk rocker, if it hadn’t already been taken. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/7 "2014-11-23T12:48:34Z")
One of the alternate versions is by [Ella Fitzgerald](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YPA8QwtxQE), where she just makes up her own lyrics, supposedly because she had forgotten the original ones. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/8 "2014-11-23T13:35:31Z")
Previous discussion of Mack the Knife [Mack the Knife lyrics interpretation, please - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=530194) that might be of some interest. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/9 "2014-11-23T15:26:32Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > One of the alternate versions is by [Ella Fitzgerald](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YPA8QwtxQE), where she just makes up her own lyrics, supposedly because she had forgotten the original ones. I dunno, it seemed like she got most or all of the original words in. I’d bet the extra verses on the end — including the Louis Armstrong impression — were deliberate. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/10 "2014-11-23T16:52:41Z")
I can’t not think of a Moon in sunglasses playing piano when I hear this song. Thanks McDonald’s… ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fascinating-history-of-the-popular-song-mack-the-knife/705386/11 "2014-11-24T19:39:35Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I can’t not think of a Moon in sunglasses playing piano when I hear this song. Thanks McDonald’s… It’s Mac Tonight!