Written by: Kurt Weill
Arranged By: Frank Foster – Frank Foster – Frank Foster
& Patrick Williams
Album Title: Duets II
The
Reprise Collection, Disc 4
Label: Qwest – Reprise – Capitol
Recorded: 4/16/84 – 10/30/86 – 5/17/94 (with Jimmy
Buffet)
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Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear
And he shows 'em, pearly white
Just a jack knife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it, keeps it way
out of sight
When that shark bites with his teeth, dear
Scarlet billows, they begin to
spread
Fancy white gloves though has Macheath, dear
So there's rarely, never one
trace of red
On the sidewalk, one Sunday
mornin'
Lies a body oozin' life
Someone's sneaking 'round the
corner
Could that someone, perhaps,
perchance, be Mack the Knife?
From a tugboat on the river goin' slow
A cement bag, it is dropping
down
Yeah, the cement is just for the weight, dear
You can make a large bet
Macheath is back in town
My man Louie Miller, he split
the scene, babe
After drawin' out all the bread
from his stash
Now Macheath spends just like a pimp, babe
Do you suppose that our boy, he
did something rash?
Ah, old Satchmo, Louis
Armstrong, Bobby Darrin
They did this song nice, Lady
Ella too
They all sang it, with so much
feeling
That Old Blue Eyes, he ain't
gonna add nothing new
But with Quincy's big band,
right behind me
Swinging hard, Jack, I know I
can't lose
When I tell you, all about Mack
the Knife babe
It's an offer, you can never
refuse
We got George Benson, we got
Newman & Foster
We got the Brecker Brothers, and
Hampton's bringing up the rear
All these bad cats, and more,
are in the band now
They make the greatest sounds,
you ever gonna hear
Hey Sookie Taudry, Jenny Diver,
Polly Peachum, Old Miss Lulu Brown
Oh the line forms, on the right
dear
Now that Macheath, I mean that
man Macheath
Yeah he's bad, mercy mercy
Yeah he's badder than old Leroy
Brown
You better lock your door, and
call the law
Because Macheath's, that bum,
He's back in town