Does anyone know who was the original singer of jack the knife..?

Question

Does anyone know who was the original singer of jack the knife..?

Answer 1

I Think you mean Mack the knife!

The first time it appeared in the charts was on 24th March 1956. It was titled: A Theme from the Threepenny Opera (Mack The Knife).

It was in the UK charts for 7 weeks & reached No 12.  However, this was an instamental. The first singer of the song was Louis Armstrong. He appeared with the song on 14th April 1956 in the UK Charts. It charted for 12 weeks & reached No 8.

Answer 2

Bobby Darin was most famous for singing this song. It was his signature song. Sinatra also had a version and most recently, Bobby Caldwell did a nice cover as well. Great song!

Answer 3

The Ballad of Mack the Knife is from the play Die Dreigroschenoper (Threepenny Opera) with words by Bertold Brecht and music by Kurt Weil.  It was first performed in 1928 and is based on the 1728 play by John g*y called The Beggar's Opera.

The first English production of the play featured Robert Chisholm as MacHeath (Mack the Knife, to you).  It ran in 1933.

Answer 4

Don't you mean "Mack the Knife"?

Answer 5

Louis Armstrong recorded it in Sept 1955, but it was originally written in 1928 for the "Theme From the Threepenny Opera".

So opera singer Lotte Lenya was the original one to sing,

  'Oh, the shark, has pretty teeth, dear....and he shows them pearly white...'

Great song though, whoever sings it!

Answer 6

bobby darin

Answer 7

I think you mean Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin.

Answer 8

Lotte Lenya, 1928

Answer 9

You mean "Mack the Knife" dont you? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_the_Kn...

Answer 10

' Mack ' the knife. That goes clear back to the 30's in Germany at least. A film was made of it directed by Pabst, I think. Sort of mealy mouthed demimonde junk. My pal the hood - this sort of thing.

Answer 11

you mean Mack the Knife? i think Bobby Darin

Answer 12

Mack Davis!

Answer 13

Mack the Knife

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other uses, see Mack the Knife (disambiguation).

"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 Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928. The song has become a pop standard.

Contents [hide]

1 The Threepenny Opera

1.1 1954 Blitzstein translation

1.2 1976 Manheim-Willett translation

1.3 1994 translation

2 Crimes of Macheath

3 American popular song

4 Selective list of recorded versions

5 External links



[edit]

The Threepenny Opera

A moritat is a medieval version of the murder ballad performed by strolling minstrels, from mori meaning "deadly" and tat meaning "deed". In The Threepenny Opera, the moritat singer with his street organ introduces and closes the drama with the tale of the deadly Mackie Messer, or Mack the Knife, a character based on the dashing highwayman Macheath in John g*y's The Beggar's Opera. The Brecht-Weill version was less dashing and much more cruel and sinister and has been transformed into a modern anti-hero.

The opera opens with the moritat singer comparing Macheath (unfavorably) with a shark, and then telling tales of his robberies, murders, rapes, and arson:

The first verse in German:

Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne,

Und die trägt er im Gesicht.

Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer,

Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.

Literal translation:

And the shark, he has teeth,

And he wears them in his face,

And Macheath, he has a knife

But the knife one does not see.

[edit]

1954 Blitzstein translation

In the best known English translation, from the Marc Blitzstein 1954 version of The Threepenny Opera, which introduced the song to English-speaking audiences, the words are:

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear,

And he shows them pearly white

Just a jack-knife has Macheath dear

And he keeps it out of sight.

This is the version performed on popular hits by Louis Armstrong (1956) and Bobby Darin (1959) (Darin's lyrics differ here and there), and most subsequent 'swing' versions. Weill's widow, Lotte Lenya, the star of both the original 1928 German production and the 1954 Blitzstein Broadway version, was present in the studio during Armstrong's recording. He spontaneously added her name to the lyrics, which already named several of Macheath's female victims.

The rarely heard final verse—not included in the original play, but added by Brecht for the 1930 movie—expresses the theme, and compares the glittering world of the rich and powerful with the dark world of the poor:

In German:

Denn die einen sind im Dunkeln

Und die andern sind im Licht

Und man siehet die im Lichte

Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht

In English:

There are some who are in darkness

And the others are in light

And you see the ones in brightness

Those in darkness drop from sight

[edit]

1976 Manheim-Willett translation

In 1976 the version translated by Ralph Manheim and John Willett opened on Broadway, a movie version was later made starring Raul Julia as Mackie. Here is an excerpt:

See the shark with teeth like razors

You can read his open face

And Macheath, he's got a knife, but

Not in such an obvious place

This is the version later performed by Sting and Nick Cave. It is also the version performed by Lyle Lovett on the soundtrack of the film Quiz Show (1994) — the same movie that features the Darin rendition over the opening credits.

[edit]

1994 translation

A much darker translation into English was used for the 1994 Donmar Warehouse production in London:

Though the shark's teeth may be lethal

Still you see them white and red

But you won't see Mackie's flick knife

Cause he's slashed you and you're dead

[edit]

Crimes of Macheath

The song attributes many crimes to Macheath:

A dead man on the Strand

A rich man, Schmul Meier, disappeared for good

Jenny Towler, killed with a knife in the chest

Seven children and an old man killed in an arson fire

Rape of an underage widow (minderjährige Witwe) in her bed

The arson and rape were omitted from the Blitzstein version.

[edit]

American popular song

"Mack the Knife" was introduced to the U.S. hit parade by Louis Armstrong in 1954, but the song is most closely associated with Bobby Darin, who recorded his version at Fulton Studios on West 40th Street, NYC, December 19, 1958 (with Tom Dowd engineering the recording). In 1959 Darin's version reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 and number six on the Black Singles chart, and was described by Frank Sinatra, who also recorded the song, as the "definitive" version.

Ella Fitzgerald made a famous live recording in 1960 (released on Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife) in which, after forgetting the lyrics after the first verse, she successfully improvised new lyrics in a performance that earned her a Grammy. Robbie Williams also recorded the song on his 2001 album Swing When You're Winning. Other notable versions of "Mack the Knife" include performances by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nick Cave, Brian Setzer, Westlife, Merrill Osmond, Kenny Garrett, and Michael Bublé. Sonny Rollins recorded an instrumental version called simply "Moritat" in 1956. A 1959 instrumental performance by Bill Haley & His Comets was the final song the group recorded for Decca Records, Tito Puente has also recorded a instrumental version.

UK Psychobilly band King Kurt recorded the song in 1983 for their album Ooowallahwallah!. It was a minor hit single in the UK Charts & in Europe, and was produced by Dave Edmunds.

American parodists the Capitol Steps used the tune for their song "Pack the Knife" in their 2002 album When Bush Comes to Shove.

Morgan Stanley CEO John J. Mack once put on a shark costume and sang "Mack the Knife" at a charity event, a feat that reportedly raised $75,000 alone.

Many versions of "Mack the Knife" pay homage to previous artists who have recorded the song by naming them towards the end.

Pop mogul Simon Cowell named the song (as sung by Bobby Darin) the best song ever written on Radio 4's Desert Island Disks.

[edit]

Selective list of recorded versions

1928/29 "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" - Bertolt Brecht

1954 Gerald Price, Broadway cast recording of The Threepenny Opera

1956 Louis Armstrong

1956 "Moritat" - d**k Hyman, instrumental

1956 "Moritat" - Sonny Rollins, jazz saxophone instrumental

1958 Bobby Darin, U.S. #1

1959 Bill Haley & His Comets on the album Strictly Instrumental

1960 Ella Fitzgerald on the album Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife

1968 The Doors on the album Live In Stockholm

1980 The Psychedelic Furs on the 2002 re-release of their self titled first album

1983 King Kurt on the album Ooowallahwallah!, psychobilly version

1984 Frank Sinatra

1985 Sting on the album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

1994 Lyle Lovett on the soundtrack to Quiz Show

1995 Nick Cave on the album September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill

2000 The Brian Setzer Orchestra on the album Vavoom!'

2001 Robbie Williams on the album Swing When You're Winning

2002 Capitol Steps parody as "Pack the Knife"

2004 Michael Bublé

2004 Westlife

Tony Bennett

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

Dean Martin

Merrill Osmond

Answer 14

Bertolt Brecht (a German) wrote it, Bobby Darin sang the Americanized version.

Answer 15

Putting my neck on the line here.  Are you sure you dont mean Mack the Knife?  If so, it could have been Sinatra, though he may have covered it, though I think his was the original.

Answer 16

King of The Road by Roger Miller.

Answer 17

You're probably thinking of "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darrin