"Which song, in the best known translation, contains the words ""Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear, And he shows them pearly white, Just a jack-knife has Macheath dear, And he keeps it out of sight""?"
Mack the Knife Opera", the singer with his street organ introduces and closes the drama with the tale of the deadly "Mackie Messer", or "Mack the Knife", a character based on the dashing highwayman Macheath in John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" (who was in turn based on the historical thief Jack Sheppard). The Brecht-Weill version of the character was far more cruel and sinister and has been transformed into a modern anti-hero. The play opens with the singer comparing Macheath (unfavorably) with a shark and then telling tales of his crimes: arson, robbery, rape, murder. The song was a last-minute addition that was
Mack the Knife That production, however, was not successful, closing after a run of only ten days. In the best known English translation, from the Marc Blitzstein 1954 version of "The Threepenny Opera", which played Off-Broadway for over six years, the words are: <poem style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear, And he shows them pearly white Just a jack-knife has Macheath, dear And he keeps it out of sight.</poem> Blitzstein's translation provides the basis for most of the popular versions heard today, including those by Louis Armstrong (1956) and Bobby Darin (1959; Darin's lyrics differ slightly), and most subsequent swing versions.