What's the next chorus to this song now?

June 11, 2023 9:27 AM

We swung Mack the Knife in Berlin town. The magnificent Ella Fitzgerald live in West Germany in 1960, singing the obligatory Mack the Knife (very well-known at the time from releases by Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong). She forgot the lyrics? No problem!!
posted by JanetLand (15 comments total)

I have that "forgot the lyrics" version on a few playlists so I know it by heart. It's a life goal to do it verbatim at karaoke someday. Such joy and fun!
posted by kinsey at 9:57 AM on June 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

I first heard this version of Mack the Knife when I took the "Jazz, Pop, and Rock" course at my university and the professor played it for the class. It was a great course and this track really stood out!
posted by zsazsa at 11:06 AM on June 11, 2023

The little chuckle as she realizes she can rhyme "recognize it" with "surprise hit" is one of my favorite moments in music
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 11:35 AM on June 11, 2023 [4 favorites]

Of course Sarah Vaughan has a similar gag on How High The Moon (Live @ Mister Kelly's Chicago) 1957, in which she (a) name-checks Ella and (b) declares "I don't know the words to this song, but I'm-a gonna sing 'em anyway!" It seems like a jazz singer improvising ersatz lyrics is like breaking in sketch comedy - whether necessary or not, the audience is going to love that shit.

It seems like this Sarah recording predates Ella in Berlin (1957 vs. 1960?) but I suspect these shenanigans were an ongoing thing.
posted by anhedonic at 12:00 PM on June 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

And who can forget the great rendering of this as a duet by Pearl Bailey and Dinah Shore?
posted by sixswitch at 12:16 PM on June 11, 2023 [2 favorites]

She forgot the lyrics? No problem!!

Well, this certainly does give a new meaning to the word scatological.
posted by y2karl at 12:20 PM on June 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am ashamed to admit, that even though my son has this on his piano reperoire, and I hear it a lot.

I can never not sing the creepy McDonalds lyrics to it.

"This song is McDonalds..."

.
.
.
"I"M LOVIN' IT"
posted by Windopaene at 1:25 PM on June 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Ella in Berlin is the first Mack the Knife I was introduced to. It is clearly the best version.
posted by freethefeet at 4:42 PM on June 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

One of my favorite examples of entertainers turning Spinal Tap disasters into great showbiz moments!
As usual, hearing one version of the song has sent me looking up all the versions...

From the Wikipedia page on "Mack the Knife" a.k.a. "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" from The Threepenny Opera (1928):

Weill intended the Moritat to be accompanied by a barrel organ, which was to be played by the singer. At the premiere, though, the barrel organ failed, and the pit orchestra (a jazz band) had to quickly provide the accompaniment for the street singer.
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 11:12 PM on June 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

I urge any English speakers who enjoy the song to look into the history of its multiple translations from German. I (who both have played in the orchestra for The Threepenny Opera and took years of German in school, alluded to it once before. It’s a much darker song than most of us think, which makes the jaunty accompaniment all the more striking.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:47 AM on June 12, 2023 [3 favorites]

Wow. Sixswitch. Wow Wow Wow.

That is brilliantissimo, ossum, amazing and too wonderful for words. I love it. Haha.
posted by dutchrick at 6:07 AM on June 12, 2023

I like singing slightly modified lyrics to Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" to this tune.

Hello mother
Hello father
Here I am at
Summer camp

Camp is very
Entertaining
And they say we’ll
Have dry fun

I went hiking
With Joe Spivey
He developed
Poison oak

You remember
Leonard Skinner
He got ptomaine
From the food

Oh the cooks, they
Hate the waiters
And the lake has
Crocodiles

And the head coach
Wants no sissies
So he reads us
Finnegan’s Wake

Now I don’t want
This should scare ya
But my bunkmate
Needs quinine

You remember
Jeffrey Hardy
They’re about to
give up hope

[etc.]
posted by infinitewindow at 6:16 AM on June 12, 2023

Slightly spoiling it, but "I hope I remember the words" at the beginning makes it sound like she planned it (or at least, planned to improvise).
posted by pw201 at 6:44 AM on June 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've joked that singers should have to apply for a special license to be allowed to scat. Ella can get away with things many singers couldn't pull off.
posted by ovvl at 9:33 AM on June 12, 2023

Previously
posted by adamvasco at 3:30 AM on June 14, 2023