Mack the Knife
by: Berthold Brecht (words), Kurt Weill (music), and Marc Blitzstein (English)

Oh, the shark, has pretty teeth, dear
and he shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has MacHeath, babe
and he keeps it, out of sight
When that shark bites with his teeth, dear
scarlet billows start to spread
Just a gloved hand, has MacHeath, babe
and he never shows a single drop of red

On the sidewalk
Sunday morning, commin' down
lies a body oozin' life
Someone's sneakin' 'round the corner
could that someone be Mack the Knife?

There's a tugboat
down by the river
with a cement bag, hangin' down
Oh, the cement's just for weight, dear
five'll get ya ten old Macky's back in town

Ole Louie Miller disappeared, babe
after he withdrew all his cash
Now MacHeath spends like a sailor
could it be our boy's
done somethin' rash?

There's Jenny Diver, and Sukey Tawdry
Miss Lotte Lenya, and ole Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
now that Macky's back in town

I said that line forms on the right, babe
now that Macky's back in town.

As anyone who studies Jazz knows, each performance by an artist is unique. What follows is the lyrics as done in one particular performance recorded by Pops.

Hey man, there goes Mack the Knife!

Oh, the shark, has pretty teeth, dear
and he shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has MacHeath, dear
and he keeps it, out of sight
When that shark bites with his teeth, dear
scarlet billows start to spread.
Fancy gloves though wears MacHeath, dear
so there's not a trace of red.

On the sidewalk,
Sunday morning,
lies a body oozin' life.
Someone's sneakin' 'round the corner,
is that someone Mack the Knife?

From a tugboat
by the river
a cement bag's droopin' down
Yeah, the cement's just for the weight, dear
bet you MacHeath's back in town.

Lookie here, Ole Louie Miller disappeared, dear
after withdrawing all his cash.
And MacHeath spends like a sailor.
Did our boy
do somethin' rash?

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

Take it, Sax.

Last Modified Sunday, 05-Aug-2018 13:08:47 EDT These pages were made by Justin R. Erenkrantz unless otherwise stated. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. These pages will look best in an XHTML 1.0 compliant browser.