From "Mack the knife"

Question

In that song (I have the Frank Sinatra's version), there are some words and expressions that I do not understand nor can I find them in my dictionaries:
1.- "Macheath", as in" Just a jack knife has macheath dear
And he keeps it way out of sight"
2.- "Could that someone be mack the knife", as in"On the sidewalk, one sunday morning
Lies a body, oozin' life
Someone's sneaking 'round the corner
Could that someone be mack the knife"
3.- "Split the scene", as in"My man louis miller, he split the scene babe
After drawing out all the bread from his stash
Now macheath spends like a sailor
Do you suppose our boy, he's done something rash"
Also, I do not understand the meaning of the second line of the verse; although I think that I understand almost all the words, I cannot make sense of the verse, nor can I see the relation between the first two lines and the two last lines.
There is a similar Spanish song, "Pedro Navaja" by Rubén Blades, that is sung with the same music and the first verses are very similar in meaning, but the English version differs in that it does not tell the whole story of Mack the Knife; instead, it talks about singers and musicians.

English lyrics:
http://www.cool-lyrics-place.com/Mack The Knife Lyrics.html

Spanish lyrics:
http://www.carnecrua.com.br/archives/000285.htm
Would anybody, please, explain me the meaning of the above words/expressions?

Saludos cordiales
Javi
Mood conjugation:
I am an artist
You are a Bohemian
He forgot to shave this morning
(Craig Brown)

Usenet · Accepted Answer

Thus spake Javi:
[nq:1]In that song (I have the Frank Sinatra's version), there are some words and expressions that I do not understand ... 1.- "Macheath", as in " Just a jack knife has macheath dear And he keeps it way out of sight"[/nq]
"MacHeath" is the subject of the sentence, and a proper noun. "MacHeath has just a jack knife, dear."
[nq:1]2.- "Could that someone be mack the knife", as in "On the sidewalk, one sunday morning Lies a body, oozin' life Someone's sneaking 'round the corner Could that someone be mack the knife"[/nq]
The second someone refers to the first. In other words, is it Mac the Knife "sneaking 'round the corner"?
[nq:1]3.- "Split the scene", as in "My man louis miller, he split the scene babe After drawing out all the bread from his stash Now macheath spends like a sailor Do you suppose our boy, he's done something rash"[/nq]
"Split" means "leave".
[nq:1]Also, I do not understand the meaning of the second line of the verse; although I think that I understand ... sense of the verse, nor can I see the relation between the first two lines and the two last lines.[/nq]
"Bread" = money
"Stash" = hidden store
Whether or not Louis Miller is MacHeath, I will leave for native Chicagoans to answer. The last two lines in relation to the first two suggest he is.

Simon R. Hughes

Usenet · Answer

Once upon a 12/29/03 3:48 AM, in the land of
[nq:1]In that song (I have the Frank Sinatra's version), there are some words and expressions that I do not understand ... 1.- "Macheath", as in " Just a jack knife has macheath dear And he keeps it way out of sight"[/nq]
"MacHeath" is the name of the character described in the song. "Mack the Knife" is his nickname. The song is from Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera , which is an adaptation of an early work The Beggar's Opera .

See
[nq:1]2.- "Could that someone be mack the knife", as in "On the sidewalk, one sunday morning Lies a body, oozin' life Someone's sneaking 'round the corner Could that someone be mack the knife"[/nq]
Can it be that that person (that "someone") sneaking round the corner is Mack the Knife (MacHeath).
[nq:1]3.- "Split the scene", as in "My man louis miller, he split the scene babe After drawing out all the bread from his stash Now macheath spends like a sailor Do you suppose our boy, he's done something rash"[/nq]
"Split the scene" means "left town" or just "is not seen around any more". Sinatra is improvising the lyrics (and the melody), substituting contemporary slang for the original which was:
Louie Miller disappeared, dear
After drawing out his cash
And MacHeath spends like a sailor
Did our boy do something rash?
[nq:1]Also, I do not understand the meaning of the second line of the verse; although I think that I understand ... sense of the verse, nor can I see the relation between the first two lines and the two last lines.[/nq]
A guy named "Louis Miller" has suddenly disappeared just after withdrawing all the money (bread) from his bank account (stash). Now MacHeath is suddenly spending money wildly (like a sailor), Is it possible he's done something rash?
[nq:1]There is a similar Spanish song, "Pedro Navaja" by Rubén Blades, that is sung with the same music and the ... in that it does not tell the whole story of Mack the Knife; instead, it talks about singers and musicians.[/nq]
The part about singers and musicians is completely improvised by Sinatra for this version, it isn't in the original. It's just an off the cuff tribute to the many other singers who've sung this particular song in the past, and to the band that's backing him up for this version.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]In that song (I have the Frank Sinatra's version), there ... macheath dear And he keeps it way out of sight"[/nq]
[nq:1]"MacHeath" is the name of the character described in the song. "Mack the Knife" is his nickname.[/nq]
Thank you, the fact that the page where I found the lyrics does not capitalize proper nouns confused me.
[nq:1]The song is from Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera , which is an adaptation of an early work The Beggar's Opera . See [/nq]
[nq:2]2.- "Could that someone be mack the knife", as in ... 'round the corner Could that someone be mack the knife"[/nq]
[nq:1]Can it be that that person (that "someone") sneaking round the corner is Mack the Knife (MacHeath).[/nq]
Thank you again. It is so evident now. I could not understand it because in the Spanish version it is Pedro Navaja who dies, so I thought that the body lying was his.
[nq:2]3.- "Split the scene", as in "My man louis miller, ... sailor Do you suppose our boy, he's done something rash"[/nq]
[nq:1]"Split the scene" means "left town" or just "is not seen around any more". Sinatra is improvising the lyrics (and ... Miller disappeared, dear After drawing out his cash And MacHeath spends like a sailor Did our boy do something rash?[/nq]
As it seems, there are two different versions by Louis Armstrong, one with the words you quote
http://www.just-lyrics-place.net/Mack The Knife Lyrics.html

and another one that says
Now d'ja hear 'bout Louie Miller? He disappeared, babe After drawin' out all his hard-earned cash
And now MacHeath spends just like a sailor
Could it be our boy's done somethin' rash?
http://www.france-jeunes.net/paroles/index.php?tid=MTkyMjk=
[nq:2]Also, I do not understand the meaning of the second ... between the first two lines and the two last lines.[/nq]
[nq:1]A guy named "Louis Miller" has suddenly disappeared just after withdrawing all the money (bread) from his bank account (stash). Now MacHeath is suddenly spending money wildly (like a sailor), Is it possible he's done something rash?[/nq]
That is a very good explanation.

Saludos cordiales
Javi
Mood conjugation:
I am an artist
You are a Bohemian
He forgot to shave this morning
(Craig Brown)

Usenet · Answer

Thank you for the help, Simon.
[nq:1]Whether or not Louis Miller is MacHeath, I will leave for native Chicagoans to answer. The last two lines in relation to the first two suggest he is.[/nq]
I am not a native Chicagoan (is the story supposed to happen in Chicago?), but there is a previous verse that says
"From a tugboat.... by the river..... a cement bag's, droopin' down Yeah, the cement's just for the weight, dear...bet you mack, he's back in town"
or, according to another version
"There's a tugboat, huh, huh, down by the river dontcha know Where a cement bag's just a'drooppin' on down
Oh, that cement is just, it's there for the weight, dear Five'll get ya ten old Macky's back in town "
So I understand that Louis Miller's body ends in the river, in a cement sarcophagus; could it be?

Saludos cordiales
Javi
Mood conjugation:
I am an artist
You are a Bohemian
He forgot to shave this morning
(Craig Brown)

Usenet · Answer

"Simon R. Hughes" (Email Removed) wrote on 29 Dec 2003:
[nq:1]Thus spake Javi:[/nq]
I think that Mack the Kinfe forced Louie Miller to draw out all his hard-earned cash and then killed him. Now Mackie is spending all of Louie Miller's money. Bobby Darin's version says not "he split the scene" but "he disappeared", which suggests that Miller cannot be found because he sleeps with the fishes.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]The song is from Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera , which is an adaptation of an early work The Beggar's Opera . See [/nq]
The version you have discovered actually has little to do with Brecht. Americans like Sinatra & Bobby Darin felt the urge to 'jazz it up' both melodically and lyrically.
In the original German, with my crude translation appended, it goes:

1, Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und MacHeath, der hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.
(And the Shark, he's got teeth
and he wears them in his face
Macheath, he has a knife
But you never see the knife)
2. Ach, es sind des Haifischs FlossenRot, wenn dieser Blut vergießt!
Mackie Messer trägt 'n Handschuh
Drauf man keine Untat liest.
(Oh, it's the shark's fins are
red when it sheds blood!
Mack the Knife wears gloves
and you can't read his misdeeds on them
3. An der Themse grünem WasserFallen plötzlich Leute um!
Es ist weder Pest noch Cholera
Doch es heißt: MacHeath geht um.
(In the Thames' green water
People sometimes fall in!
They say it's either plague
or cholera: MacHeath strolls about)
4. An 'nem schönen blauen SonntagLiegt ein toter Mann am Strand
Und ein Mensch geht um die Ecke
Den man Mackie Messer nannt.
(On a lovely sunny Sunday
There's a corpse in the Strand
And a guy turns up his toes
for naming Mack the Knife)
5. Und Schmul Meier bleibt verschwundenUnd so mancher reiche Mann
Und sein Geld hat Mackie Messer
Dem man nichts beweisen kann.
(And Schmul Meier is still missing
such a rich man
and Mack the Knife has his money
But nobody can prove it)
6. Jenny Fowler ward gefundenMit 'nem Messer in der Brust
Und am Kai geht Mackie Messer
Der von allem nichts gewußt.
(They found Jenny Fowler
With a knife in her breast
And Mack the Knife strolls on the Quay
and knows nothing about it)
7. Wo ist Alfons Glite, der Fuhrherr?Kommt das je ans Sonnenlicht?
Wer es immer wissen könnte
Mackie Messer weiß es nicht.
(Where is Alfons Glite, the Carrier?
Will he ever come out into the sunshine again?
Whoever might know the answer
Mackie doesn't know a thing)
8. Und das große Feuer in SohoSieben Kinder und ein Greis
In der Menge Mackie Messer, den
Man nicht fragt und der nix weiß.
(And the big fire in Soho
Seven children and an old man
In the crowd - Mackie Messer
No-one questions him and he knows nothing)
9. Und die minderjährige WitweDeren Namen jeder weiß
Wachte auf und war geschändet
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?
(And the underage widow
whose name everyone knows
wakes up violated
Mackie - how much did they pay you?)
10. Und die Fische, sie verschwinden,Doch zum ****** des Gerichts
Man zitiert am End den Haifisch,
Doch der Haifisch weiß von nichts
(And the fishes, they disappear
To the sorrow of the Courts
Eventually they summon the shark
But the shark doesn't know anything)
11. Und er kann sich nicht erinnernUnd man kann nicht an ihn ran,
Denn ein Haifisch ist kein Haifisch
Wenn man nicht beweisen kann.
(And he can't remember anything
And nobody can do anything to him
Since a shark isn't a shark
If you can't prove anything)
'Schmul Meier' becomes 'Louis Miller' in the US version. And the references to rape, arson and child-murder are dropped. John Gay's original Threepenny Opera didn't have an equivalent to the Ballad as his hero, MacHeath, was more an honest Highwayman than the Mafia Hitman of Brecht's devising.
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

Thus spake CyberCypher:
[nq:2]Whether or not Louis Miller is MacHeath, I will leave ... lines in relation to the first two suggest he is.[/nq]
[nq:1]I think that Mack the Kinfe forced Louie Miller to draw out all his hard-earned cash and then killed him. ... "he split the scene" but "he disappeared", which suggests that Miller cannot be found because he sleeps with the fishes.[/nq]
I saw Carmen's reply, and then John Dean's, and realised how ignorant I was of the origin of this song. Your interpretation is also much better than mine.

Simon R. Hughes

Usenet · Answer

Javi filted:
[nq:1]I am not a native Chicagoan (is the story supposed to happen in Chicago?), but there is a previous verse ... town " So I understand that Louis Miller's body ends in the river, in a cement sarcophagus; could it be?[/nq]
Not necessarily completely enclosed as in a sarcophagus, but weighted down and unable to escape sinking...the traditional picture is something like this:

http://www.gameaholics.com/gsr wbc/gsr prize overshoes.JPG

Or as Scotty on "Star Trek" phrased it, "wearing concrete galoshes"..

I don't see any mention so far in this thread of the recording Ernie Kovacs used as background music for many of his blackout sketches...that one was sung in the original German, and known to viewers as "Mickie Messer"..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Whether or not Louis Miller is MacHeath, I will leave for native Chicagoans to answer.[/nq]
Er, now you've gone and wook up Kirsh.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]In that song (I have the Frank Sinatra's version), there are some words and expressions that I do not understand ... 1.- "Macheath", as in " Just a jack knife has macheath dear And he keeps it way out of sight"[/nq]
"MacHeath" is a proper name.
Just a jack knife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it out of sight.
[nq:1]2.- "Could that someone be mack the knife", as in "On the sidewalk, one sunday morning Lies a body, oozin' life Someone's sneaking 'round the corner Could that someone be mack the knife"[/nq]
"Mack the Knife" is a nickname for MacHeath, who is known for using a knife. On the side-walk Sunday morning
Lies a body oozing life;
Someone's sneaking 'round the corner.
Is the someone Mack the Knife?
[nq:1]3.- "Split the scene", as in "My man louis miller, he split the scene babe After drawing out all the bread from his stash Now macheath spends like a sailor Do you suppose our boy, he's done something rash"[/nq]
"Split the scene" (or just "split") = "leave, especially suddenly" (COD10, #5 s.v. "split").
Louie Miller disappeared, dear
After drawing out his cash;
And Macheath spends like a sailor.
Did our boy do something rash?
[nq:1]Also, I do not understand the meaning of the second line of the verse; although I think that I understand ... sense of the verse, nor can I see the relation between the first two lines and the two last lines.[/nq]
The "bread" is the money he has kept in "his stash." After taking it out ("drawing out"), he spends it. (See above)
[nq:1]There is a similar Spanish song, "Pedro Navaja" by Rubén Blades, that is sung with the same music and the ... in that it does not tell the whole story of Mack the Knife; instead, it talks about singers and musicians.[/nq]
The real song ("Moritat vom Mackie Messer") is from "Die Driegroschenoper" (Three Penny Opera) by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht (1928, English adaptation 1954), based on "The Beggar's Opera" by John Gay and John Pepusch (1728). Neither Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin are to be relied on for the real song.
The 1954 Blitzstein version had the approval of Brecht and Lenya (who played Pirate Jenny), but has many problems and is an adaptation, not a translation. Its castrated form is the result of the McCarthyite attacks on the earlier Blitzstein-Bernstein attempt. There are several better versions
in English: Ralph Manheim & John Willett,
Michael Feingold,
Hugh McDiarmid,
Robert David McDonald & Jeremy Sams
in French: Jean-Claude Hémery
in Italian: Emilio Castellani
The Manheim & Willett version was used in the magnificent New York Shakespeare Company's performances. I have not checked the Frank MacGuiness version. Avoid the Bentley-Vesey version (not listed above); it makes Blitzstein's version look good. The Feingold version resets the scene to the US in 1925.
Anyway, here is the original:
Die Moritat vom Mackie Messer (aus "Dreigroschenoper")

Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne,
Und die trägt er im Gesicht,
Und Maceath, der hat ein Messer,
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.
An `nem schönen blauen Sonntag
Liegt ein toter Mann am Strand,
Und ein Mensch geht um die Ecke
Den man Mackie Messer nennt.
Und Schmul Meier bleibt verschwunden,
Und so mancher reiche Mann,
Und sein Geld hat Mackie Messer,
Dem man nichts beweisen kann.
Jenny Towler ward gefunden
Mit `nem Messer in der Brust,
Und am Kai geht Mackie Messer,
Der von allem nichts gewußt.
Und das große Feuer in Soho,
Sieben Kinder und ein Greis,
In der Menge Mackie Messer,
Den man nichts fragt, und der nichts weiß.
Und die minderjährige Witwe,
Deren Namen jeder weiß,
Wachte auf und war geschändet
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?
Und die Fische, sie verschwinden!
Doch zum ****** des Gerichts:
Man zitiert am End den Haifisch
Doch der Haifisch weiß von nichts.
Und er kann sich nicht erinnern
Und man kann nicht an ihn ran
Denn ein Haifisch ist kein Haifisch
Wenn man?s nicht beweisen kann.

Martin Ambuhl

From "Mack the knife"

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