Why was the song added so late to The Threepenny Opera?

The actor playing Macheath demanded a showier entrance; Brecht wrote the verses overnight and Weill composed music the next morning.

How did Gerald Price’s 1954 version influence later covers?

It popularised Blitzstein’s English lyrics, which Louis Armstrong adopted in 1955, paving the road for Bobby Darin’s 1959 pop smash.

What awards has the song earned?

Darin’s single won the 1960 Grammy for Record of the Year and Best New Artist, while Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 Berlin improv scored Best Female Pop Vocal at the 3rd Grammys.

Did “Mack the Knife” top charts outside the U.S.?

Darin’s rendition ruled the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in October 1959, while Armstrong’s version peaked at No. 8 in Britain in 1956.

Is the song in the public domain?

The original German music and text entered U.S. public domain on January 1 2024; Blitzstein’s English lyrics remain under copyright until 2050.

The Ballad of Mack the Knife Lyrics – Threepenny Opera

The Ballad of Mack the Knife Lyrics

[BALLAD SINGER]
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 the 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 oozing life
Someone's sneaking 'round the corner
Is the someone Mack the Knife?

From a tugboat by the river
A cement bag's dropping down
The cement's just for the weight, dear
Bet you Mackie's back in town

Louie Miller disappeared, dear
After drawing out his cash
And Macheath spends like a sailor
Did our boy do something rash?

Sukey Tawdry, Jenny Diver
Polly Peachum, Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, dears
Now that Mackie's back in town

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
Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it

[VOICE]
Look, there goes Mack the Knife

[BALLAD SINGER]
Out of sight
Last Update: August, 01st 2025

Song Overview

The Ballad of Mack the Knife lyrics by Gerald Price — Gerald Price delivers *The Ballad of Mack the Knife* **lyrics** in this vintage clip.

First whispered to life on August 31 1928, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s murderous lullaby tiptoed from Berlin’s Bahnhof bars to Broadway lore. The 1954 Off-Broadway revival—fronted by Gerald Price’s street-corner tenor—repackaged the Moritat (murder-ballad) as The Ballad of Mack the Knife, its jaunty melody masking the stench of crimson streets.

Personal Review

I can’t hear these lyrics without picturing a grin slick with gin: “Oh, the shark has pretty teeth…” That grin belongs to Macheath—part dandy, part butcher—sashaying through Marc Blitzstein’s English vowels. Price’s 1954 cast recording lets each consonant gleam like a freshly stropped blade, reminding us that terror often wears tuxedo tails.

Snapshot: a busker strikes up his barrel-organ, Berlin dusk flickers violet, and suddenly the crowd realises the tune is a police report set to waltz.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Gerald Price performing The Ballad of Mack the Knife — The street-singer unspools Macheath’s rap sheet in three-quarter time.

In Weill’s score the Moritat opens The Threepenny Opera, serving two jobs at once: plot teaser and moral red carpet. The lyrics list bodies, betrayals, and missing cash, yet the melody bounces like a carousel. That dissonance is the joke—Brecht’s satire of a society that hums along while knives flash in alleyways.

Blitzstein’s 1953 translation smooths the German grit, but keeps the gallows grin. Note the economic shorthand:

“Louie Miller disappeared… after drawing out his cash / And Macheath spends like a sailor.”

A whole bank heist told in two lines—mass-media song as tabloid headline.

The 1954 revival ran 2,707 performances at Greenwich Village’s Theatre de Lys, briefly the longest-running musical in American history and an LP best-seller for MGM. Price’s recording became the seed that sprouted every pop cover to follow, from Louis Armstrong’s 1955 hot-jazz romp to Bobby Darin’s finger-snapping chart rocket in 1959.

Weill envisioned a small dance-band: banjo, harmonium, trap drums, muted brass. On vinyl, those instruments clatter like an old fairground ride—innocent timbres selling grim tales. Each chorus resolves on a sweet major triad, then slides back into minor suggestion, as if the knife has already vanished into its sheath. The effect is deliciously unsettling.

“Fancy gloves wears Macheath, dear / So there’s not a trace of red”

Gloves hide evidence; the jaunty rhyme hides critique. Brecht meant it that way—pretty surfaces, rotten core. Fast-forward a century and the hook still worms into radio playlists, jingles, and film trailers, proof that a catchy tune can launder any crime.

Verse Highlights

The Ballad of Mack the Knife lyric video by Gerald Price — A grim fairy-tale told in pearl-button diction.

Opening Stanza

Shark imagery frames Macheath as nature’s inevitability—predator and elegance entwined. We hear the smirk in Price’s held notes on “pearly white,” painting carnage with toothpaste shine.

Sunday Morning Verse

The tempo eases; cymbals hush. One body oozes life on the sidewalk—yet the phrasing stays lilting. That casual swing pins a chill heavier than a cement sack in the river.

Song Credits

Scene from The Ballad of Mack the Knife by Gerald Price — Berlin’s underworld—not a trace of red, just spotlight and grin.

Featuring: Gerald Price (Ballad Singer)
Producer: Brian Drutman (2000 reissue); original 1954 LP produced by MGM Records
Composer: Kurt Weill
Lyricist: Bertolt Brecht
English Translator: Marc Blitzstein
Release Date: July 1954 (LP issued)
Genre: Moritat, Weimar cabaret, show tune
Instruments: Banjo, piano, accordion, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, tuba, drums, harmonium
Label: MGM Records (original); Decca Broadway reissue
Mood: Jaunty, sinister, satirical
Length: 3 min 03 sec
Track #: 3
Language: English (Blitzstein adaptation)
Album: The Threepenny Opera (Original Off-Broadway Cast)
Music style: Swing-inflected cabaret in 3/4 with chromatic runs
Poetic meter: Alternating anapestic and trochaic trimeter

Songs Exploring Themes of Charming Villainy

“Frankie and Johnny” (traditional) recounts love-turned-murder in jaunty ragtime. Like The Ballad of Mack the Knife, its lyrics sugarcoat bloodshed with a toe-tapping beat, warning us how easily melody blinds moral sight.

“Sympathy for the Devil” (1968) by The Rolling Stones invites listeners to dance with Lucifer over samba grooves. Mick Jagger’s suave narration—“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name”—echoes Macheath’s wry self-advertisement.

“Smooth Criminal” (1987) by Michael Jackson modernises the predator myth: a slick hook, whispered danger, and questions—“Annie, are you OK?”—left unanswered. Where Mack prowls wharfs, Jackson’s assailant slides through apartment corridors, but both killers move to irresistible rhythm.

Questions and Answers

Why was the song added so late to The Threepenny Opera?: The actor playing Macheath demanded a showier entrance; Brecht wrote the verses overnight and Weill composed music the next morning.
How did Gerald Price’s 1954 version influence later covers?: It popularised Blitzstein’s English lyrics, which Louis Armstrong adopted in 1955, paving the road for Bobby Darin’s 1959 pop smash.
What awards has the song earned?: Darin’s single won the 1960 Grammy for Record of the Year and Best New Artist, while Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 Berlin improv scored Best Female Pop Vocal at the 3rd Grammys.
Did “Mack the Knife” top charts outside the U.S.?: Darin’s rendition ruled the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in October 1959, while Armstrong’s version peaked at No. 8 in Britain in 1956.
Is the song in the public domain?: The original German music and text entered U.S. public domain on January 1 2024; Blitzstein’s English lyrics remain under copyright until 2050.

Awards and Chart Positions

Bobby Darin’s version spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Sept 28–Nov 2 1959) and two weeks at No. 1 in the UK, later earning the Grammy for Record of the Year and induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Louis Armstrong’s 1955 take reached No. 8 on the UK chart and remains enshrined in the National Recording Registry.

Ella Fitzgerald’s improvised “forgot-the-lyrics” Berlin recording hit No. 27 on the U.S. Hot 100 and won her a Grammy, with the album later entering the Grammy Hall of Fame.

How to Sing?

Keep the tempo sly—around 110 bpm—swinging but never rushed. Enunciate plosives (“jackknife,” “cement bag”) so each threat pops. Warm-breathed legato on the shark imagery draws listeners close, then sharpen consonants when the bodies fall. Smile through every deadly line; the secret weapon is charm.

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