Moritat

My friend’s been after me for a while to join her in a couple of dance classes at the local Senior Center and I finally went yesterday. It was so much fun, good to move, with lots of sweat and I was in front of the fan for goodness sake! The teacher had a great playlist from soul, blues, jazz, rock, disco and more.  One of my favorites, was written for a German Threepenny Opera in 1928 by Bertoldt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill. The era fascinates me for many reasons as does the story, and there have been many versions — Sonny Rollins, Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (whose live version won a Grammy award) — of the tune amongst several artists. You might know the song as “Mack the Knife.”

“Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, yeah, Sukey Tawdry
Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town”