For just about the bluest instrumental you’ve ever heard, try George Shearing’s piano solo of “Mack the Knife” on his Grand Piano CD. The sample at Amazon is a minute long, but probably won’t sound familiar because it is only the introduction. It gives you an idea of the mood though.
The contrast with Darrin’s up tempo song really underscores the versatility of the music. Love them both.
I was going to post this, you are spot on.
Before the Mack the Knife version of the song became the definitive way it was presented, and I believe Louis Armstrong pioneered that, the instrumental Moritat was among several Easy Listening tunes that were played regularly on the “pop” radio stations. Others of the same period, maybe half a year or better, were Lisbon Antigua and Poor People of Paris which had (obviously) a sort of international flair. These would be played at fairly regular intervals among the budding Rock and Roll and pre-rock things of the period. From memory (without doing a search for dates on these instrumentals) I’d place that period in the mid-50’s, a year or two before the Elvis explosion. Those pre-rock “doo wop” items would include “Sh Boom” and “Mister Sandman.”
Now that I’ve committed to the dates of that period, I’ll go look a few of them up.
I’m sorry as I was typing that up last night and recovering from what my Dad had just told me, I guess I assumed that Bobby Darin’s discovering that his Older Sister was really his Mom was common knowledge. The neighborhood had apparently always thought of her as his sister and my Parents didn’t learn the truth until they read his Bio. I only included the Mom part to keep someone else from posting that his sister was really his Mom. I’ve been aware of that for a while.
I don’t think Dion was from the same neighborhood and either way he was too young for my parents to have known. They are 4 years older than Bobby Darin.
Thank you for explaining choie, I did a poor job of it.
Jim
Not unless it was science fiction: The Beggar’s Opera was first performed around 1728, a century before the Victorian Era.
Okay, anybody old enough to remember more than half of the songs in CASH BOX TOP 50 BEST-SELLING SINGLES Week ending March 3, 1956 may be able to back me up on the other instrumentals of that same era. If I remember right, Ebb Tide was several years earlier.
But it appears that my memory is flawed as to how quickly Elvis moved in to reorganize “popular” music. Heartbreak Hotel and I Want You, I Need You, I Love You both hit the charts in 1956. Maybe I have a mental block about the suddenness of Elvis.
Hal Willner, the guy who puts out tribute records that aren’t awful, arranged a tribute to Kurt Weill some 20 years ago, called Lost in the Stars. I really like that record’s version of “Mack” – the arrangement is much more Brechtian and the translation is better – and I don’t even mind that it’s sung by Sting. There’s also a fine version of “The Cannon Song” sung by the dude from Wall of Voodoo whose name is escaping me. I should get this on CD. There’s a few clunkers but some realy great stuff.
So is “The Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)” the only other Brecht/Weill tune to have crept into the rock repertoire? I know The Doors and David Bowie both did it.
In that linked list of songs in my last post, notice that number 48 is La Mer (aka Beyond The Sea) which was another big Darin hit later in his career (and the title of the Spacey movie about Bobby). It’s peculiar that those tunes were on the same Top 50 chart!
Did anybody notice the post number on the La Mer post?
I am convinced I heard Peggy Lee sing ‘Mack the Knife’ with George Shearing on piano. I think it was a 4 track record release, and she sang ‘Fever’ and ‘I’m a Woman’ too.
But I can’t find it!
I can’t swear that I have heard that version, but I do know that there was a period when Shearing was doing “duet” (actually it was his quintet) records with Dakota Staton, Nancy Wilson and other Capitol artists. Peggy was a Capitol artist so it makes good sense to me.
Coincidentally, Three Penny just opened in a revival starring Alan Cummings.
As for finding out your sister is really your mother, that also happened to actor Jack Nicholson and serial killer Ted Bundy.
Wow, now that’s timing! Big Bad Voodoo Lou, hence thee to the Nick Cave/O’Malley’s Bar thread, where not an hour ago I posted a link to Nick singing Mack the Knife on YouTube. 
My hero (or possibly heroine)!
That’d be heroine.
If you do a search on YouTube, there’s also a very fun video of Bobby Darin’s version as well.
My favorite version of Moritat is Lyle Lovett’s.
I can’t help but think of a funny Gary Larson cartoon: A fork, spoon, and knife in an apartment. The caption is something to the effect of: “The three friends made a pact that they would all become famous someday. Sadly, Ernie the Spoon and Bob the Fork’s careers went nowhere, and only Mack achieved stardom.”
As did David Johansen {former New York Doll} on the aforementioned September Songs.
For the benefit (and I use that term very loosely) of those who aren’t already aware of the fact, I just thought I’d add that Applebee’s has recently started airing a commercial which appropriates the Mack the Knife melody.
Incidentally, Darin’s original name was Walden Robert Cassotto, and the generally-accepted account is that he took his stage surname from a partially-burned-out restaurant sign. However, a quick Google search reveals precious little agreement on the actual name of the eatery (was it MANDARIN HOUSE, MANDARIN DUCK, or something else?) and other details of the story.
Stan Ridgway (Him of Camoflauge fame)
Speaking of Brecht, BTW, Dead Can Dance do a great version of How Fortunate The Man With None, from Mother Courage IIRC.