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Mack the Knife

"Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (German: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer") is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama The Threepenny Opera (German: Die Dreigroschenoper). The song tells of a knife-wielding criminal of the London underworld from the musical named Macheath, the "Mack the Knife" of the title.

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

Mack the Knife

Die Moritat von Mackie Messer

German

31 August 1928 (1928-08-31)

The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists after it was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1955. The most popular version of the song was by Bobby Darin in 1959, whose recording became a number one hit in the US and UK and earned him two Grammys. Ella Fitzgerald also received a Grammy for her performance of the song in 1961.


The original German lyrics and music of the song entered the public domain in the United States in 2024.[1]

"A Theme from The Threepenny Opera (Mack the Knife)"

"Back O'Town Blues"

1955

New York City
28 September 1955[13]

3:25

"Was There a Call for Me"

August 1959

December 19, 1958, at Fulton Studios, New York City

3:11 (Album version)
3:04 (Single version)

"Lorelei"

April 1960

February 13, 1960, at Deutschlandhalle, Berlin

4:42

List of 1920s jazz standards

List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1950s

marketing figure for McDonald's in the late 1980s using this song

Mac Tonight

Sources

on YouTube, sung by Lotte Lenya (3:39)

"Mackie Messer"

on YouTube (2:48)

Bertolt Brecht sings "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"

Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife" website

The Straight Dope, 1 April 2004

"What's the story behind 'Mack the Knife'?"

at the Internet Broadway Database

​Threepenny Opera​

Lyrics