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Mack the Knife

by Marc Blitzstein, Bertolt Brecht, and Kurt Weill

Duet with Frank Sinatra that appears on “Duets II”

Lyrics

(Frank)
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth dear
And he shows ‘em, pearly white
Just a jack knife has Macheath dear
And he keeps it, keeps it way out of sight

(Jimmy)
When that shark bites with his teeth dear
Scarlet billows they begin to spread
Fancy white gloves has Macheath dear
So there’s never, never a trace of red

(Frank)
On the sidewalk one Sunday mornin’
(Jimmy)
Lies a body oozin’ life
(Frank)
Someone’s sneaking ’round that corner
(Both)
Could that someone, perhaps, per chance, be Mack the Knife?

(Jimmy)
From a tugboat on the river goin’ slow
(Frank)
A cement bag is dropping down
(Jimmy)
You Know the cement is for the weight, dear
(Frank)
You can make a large bet that bum is in town, Yeah he’s in town

My man Louie Miller,
(Jimmy)
He split the scene, babe
(Frank)
After drawin’ out all the bread from his stash
(Jimmy)
Now Macheath spends like a sailor
Do you suppose this guy did something rash?

(Both)
Ah, old Satchmo, Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darrin
They did this song nice, Lady Ella too
They all sang it, with so much feeling
That Old Blue Eyes, he ain’t gonna add anything new, oh yes you do

(Frank)
But with this big fat band jumpin’ behind me
Swinging hard, Jack, (That’s Jimmy, Frank!) I know I can’t lose
When I tell you, all about Mack the Knife babe
It’s an offer, you can never refuse

(Jimmy)
We got Patrick Williams
(Frank)
Bill Miller playin’ that piano
And this wonderful great big band bringing up the rear
All these bad cats in this band now
They make the greatest sounds, you ever gonna hear

Oh Sookie Taudry, Jenny Diver, Polly Peachum, Miss Lulu Brown
(Jimmy)
Yeah the line forms, on the right dear
(Frank)
Now that Macheath
(Jimmy)
Oh that Macheath
(Frank)
Yeah that bum is back
(Jimmy)
Oh, he’s back
(Frank)
Yeah I’m gonna tell you what I think he should do
You better lock your door, and call the law
Because Macheath’s, he’s come back to town