Bertholt Brecht was a German nationalist, during World War 1, when the Kaiser Wilhelm II, wanted to destroy Britain, France, Italy and the United States.
But Brecht conveniently became an anti-German communist, during the Weimar Republic years - and abandoned Germany for Switzerland, Sweden and ultimately the United States.
Americans, ultimately discovered him to be the communist, that he was - and expelled him -whereron he got sanctuary amongst his fellow-communists in the Soviet-controlled DDR.
Brecht was a German, half-Catholic/half-Lutheran, writer, playwright and inspiration of musical lyrics.
He wrote a variety of plays, most of which, are largely forgotten in the Western world today.
But during the decadent, German, Weimar Republic - he wrote Die Dreigroschenoper, an anti establishment play that was lyricicized by his fellow communist/socialist, Kurt Weill. It crossed the Atlantic - and on Broadway, was transformed into, "The Three Penny Opera."
The theme song to it was Mackie Messer, which was first recorded in 1920 by German singer, Lotte Lenya .We'd run that video here, but it is so appallingly bad that it would scare away most of our readers.
It was performed in the 1960s by the renowned German singer/actress Hildegard Knef on her German TV show. (She actually spent some time on Broadway and had a major role in Hollywood with Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner.)
Around the same time, 1950s teenage heart-throb, Bobby Darin performed a version of the song, transformed into English as, "Mack the Knife." As such it retained the dark character of the German version, but slightly transformed the plot into being that of of New Jersey dockside mafia hit.
Darin's version skyrocketed to # 1 in both the USA and the UK.
The song was so successful that it was later performed by scores of English-language luminaries, including African/American stars, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
The remarkable post-war singer, (and author) Hildegard Knef's, "Mackie Messer" was performed on her German TV show in 1963, and remarkably captured the dark artistic mood of the devastated post-war Germany:
Four decades after its original 1920 composition in Germany, in 1959, American pop star, Bobby Darin reprised the song in English as, "Mack the Knife". It went to #1 in both the USA and UK, that year.
Darin's song, contained the same dark sentiments of the Bertolt/Weill original 1920s song. However it was lyrically transformed to evoke the dark tension of an American mafia dockside murder.
The song was so popular in the US, that several years later the hefty black American singer, Ella Fitzgerald hyperbolically, and egocentrically sang "Mack the Knife." While wonderfully euphonic, it is probably the most hideously trite version of Bertolt Brecht's classic song ever performed, by a major singer.
This woman, actually shows herself to be rather silly and petty by, in the song, mocking serious singers who performed it, the great Italian-American, Bobby Darin, and the great black jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. How rude! Ella Fitzgerald's version was a pop-music joke. (If they heard her bastardization of the song, Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill would be rolling in their graves):
And if that weren't a sufficient testimonial to the magnificent capacity of Americans to trivialize serious music, McDonalds, the worldwide slinger of hamburgers (and major employer of cheap illegal-alien labor in the US) actually used this song in one of their TV commercials - EGADS!:
If you would like more information on these artists:
Go to the Bobby Darin Memorial site:
http://www.bobbydarin.net/
And to the Hildegard Knef (She also starred on Broadway and in Hollywood) Memorial site:
http://www.hildegardknef.de/
And to the Ella Fitzgerald Memorial site:
http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/
More information on the communist Bertolt Brecht can be found on the web - most prominently on the Russian web or other communist websites- but we won't provide it here.
Thanks to CSMR correspondent, Joseph Sebastian of Sacramento, California, USA for contributing to this article.
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| Bobby Darin (R) and Elvis Presley (L) |
But Brecht conveniently became an anti-German communist, during the Weimar Republic years - and abandoned Germany for Switzerland, Sweden and ultimately the United States.
Americans, ultimately discovered him to be the communist, that he was - and expelled him -whereron he got sanctuary amongst his fellow-communists in the Soviet-controlled DDR.
Brecht was a German, half-Catholic/half-Lutheran, writer, playwright and inspiration of musical lyrics.
He wrote a variety of plays, most of which, are largely forgotten in the Western world today.
But during the decadent, German, Weimar Republic - he wrote Die Dreigroschenoper, an anti establishment play that was lyricicized by his fellow communist/socialist, Kurt Weill. It crossed the Atlantic - and on Broadway, was transformed into, "The Three Penny Opera."
The theme song to it was Mackie Messer, which was first recorded in 1920 by German singer, Lotte Lenya .We'd run that video here, but it is so appallingly bad that it would scare away most of our readers.
It was performed in the 1960s by the renowned German singer/actress Hildegard Knef on her German TV show. (She actually spent some time on Broadway and had a major role in Hollywood with Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner.)
Around the same time, 1950s teenage heart-throb, Bobby Darin performed a version of the song, transformed into English as, "Mack the Knife." As such it retained the dark character of the German version, but slightly transformed the plot into being that of of New Jersey dockside mafia hit.
Darin's version skyrocketed to # 1 in both the USA and the UK.
The song was so successful that it was later performed by scores of English-language luminaries, including African/American stars, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
The remarkable post-war singer, (and author) Hildegard Knef's, "Mackie Messer" was performed on her German TV show in 1963, and remarkably captured the dark artistic mood of the devastated post-war Germany:
Four decades after its original 1920 composition in Germany, in 1959, American pop star, Bobby Darin reprised the song in English as, "Mack the Knife". It went to #1 in both the USA and UK, that year.
Darin's song, contained the same dark sentiments of the Bertolt/Weill original 1920s song. However it was lyrically transformed to evoke the dark tension of an American mafia dockside murder.
The song was so popular in the US, that several years later the hefty black American singer, Ella Fitzgerald hyperbolically, and egocentrically sang "Mack the Knife." While wonderfully euphonic, it is probably the most hideously trite version of Bertolt Brecht's classic song ever performed, by a major singer.
This woman, actually shows herself to be rather silly and petty by, in the song, mocking serious singers who performed it, the great Italian-American, Bobby Darin, and the great black jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. How rude! Ella Fitzgerald's version was a pop-music joke. (If they heard her bastardization of the song, Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill would be rolling in their graves):
And if that weren't a sufficient testimonial to the magnificent capacity of Americans to trivialize serious music, McDonalds, the worldwide slinger of hamburgers (and major employer of cheap illegal-alien labor in the US) actually used this song in one of their TV commercials - EGADS!:
If you would like more information on these artists:
Go to the Bobby Darin Memorial site:
http://www.bobbydarin.net/
And to the Hildegard Knef (She also starred on Broadway and in Hollywood) Memorial site:
http://www.hildegardknef.de/
And to the Ella Fitzgerald Memorial site:
http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/
More information on the communist Bertolt Brecht can be found on the web - most prominently on the Russian web or other communist websites- but we won't provide it here.
Thanks to CSMR correspondent, Joseph Sebastian of Sacramento, California, USA for contributing to this article.