A Theme From (The Three Penny Opera) 'Moritat'

Album

Single

Label

Dot Records

Genre

Show Tunes

Media Type

45

Duration

2:15

Composer(s)

Marc Blitzstein;Kurt Weill

Entered Chart

Feb 4, 1956

Peak Date

Mar 3, 1956

Released

Jan 1956

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Dot 45-15444

B-Side

Little Boy Blue

Original Artist

Louis Armstrong

"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 named Macheath, the "Mack the Knife" of the title. An instrumental version of "Mack the Knife" titled "Moritat – A Theme From "The Three Penny Opera"" was recorded by Dick Hyman,[5] and it performed better than Louis Armstrong's vocal version that charted around the same time, reaching No. 9 on Billboard's Top 100. It also reached No. 9 on the Cashbox chart, as well as No. 9 on the UK chart in 1956. A number of other instrumental versions also appeared on The Top 100 at the same time: Richard Hayman and Jan August (No. 12), Lawrence Welk (No. 31), Billy Vaughn (No. 37), and Les Paul and Mary Ford (No. 49). Billy Vaughn also reached No. 12 in the UK The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists after it was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1955 with translated lyrics by Marc Blitzstein. 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 at the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards. Ella Fitzgerald also received a Grammy for her performance of the song in 1961.

Instrumental