# Mack the Knife **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2003, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374 "2003-05-29T21:34:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/21 "2003-05-30T19:44:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kung fu lola \* > That song gives me the frigging creeps. Mack sounds like an American version of Jack The Ripper. Unless you’re using a liberal translation (i.e. Bobby Darin et al.), Mackie is British (the song refers to a body along the Thames and a fire in Soho). The whole piece is critical of Capitalism, especially as seen in Britain. Also of interest - in Bobby Darin’s version (I’m pretty sure) he mentions ‘Lotte Lenya’ as one of the victims. ---
**Author:** ![snac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@snac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snac)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/22 "2003-05-30T20:08:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\*That’s a pretty bowdlerized translation of Brecht’s lyrics. > > MacHeath is a gangleader, murderer, pimp, and rapist. There’s a bit of double entendre about his “knife.” \*\* Larry–Where did you get these translations? The German at the end of the first stanza says simply “Doch das Messer sieht man nicht” – “But you don’t [can’t] see the knife.” You can draw from that line that Mackey has a particular KIND of knife as well, but it’s a good deal more subtle an innuendo than a translation involving “obvious place” would indicate. (Also, the translation about blood and gloves is, fairly directly, the second stanza of the German.) ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/23 "2003-05-30T20:24:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panamajack \* > **The whole piece is critical of Capitalism…** Yes, exactly. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by dalovindj_ > **Bobby Darin. Frank Sinatra. Tony Bennet. These guys were the OG’s (original gangsters). I love gangster rap to no end, but I love the old crooners who sang about (and for) gangsters. They did it with style and flare. Back when being a gangster was about wearing cool suits and hats while you engage in your murderish thugging.** I’ve always seen Darin’s version of being consciously ironic in just this way. It’s as if Weill/Brecht are saying “Look at this evil product of capitalist society” while Darin is saying “Look at this cool, stylin’ guy from capitalist society”. ---
**Author:** ![UnwrittenNocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/24 "2003-05-30T20:34:19Z")
**Nick Cave** did a gloriously dastardly version. His gravelly snarl really bit into the song ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/25 "2003-05-30T22:42:26Z")
I’m reminded of the headline from The Onion’s _Our Dumb Century_: > [@](#): > > Knife Songs Top German Radio Charts ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/26 "2003-05-31T05:51:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panamajack \* > \*\* > Also of interest - in Bobby Darin’s version (I’m pretty sure) he mentions ‘Lotte Lenya’ as one of the victims. \*\* Yes, he does. But I thought it was about all the women lining up to be his honey now that he has a lot of money and spends it like a sailor: 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. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/27 "2003-05-31T08:17:13Z")
Whenever I hear that verse, I always think that that would be Lucy’s name in _Peanuts_ if she married Charlie Brown. And yes, I know how weird that is. ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/28 "2003-05-31T15:30:44Z")
Sonny Rollins and co. do a great job on what he calls _Moritat_ on his **Colossus** album, recorded in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374/29 "2003-06-01T03:18:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Robot Arm \* > \*\*Whenever I hear that verse, I always think that that would be Lucy’s name in _Peanuts_ if she married Charlie Brown. > \*\* Good grief! Then the lyrics would have to be “good old Lucy Brown.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mack-the-knife/178374.md?page=1)