Shocking Reaction To Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife

[@metalmark1214]

Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht wrote this song in 1928 for the German play The Threepenny Opera. "Mack" is Macheath, the title character, portrayed as a criminal. The light melody can make this feel like an upbeat song, but it contrasts sharply with the lyrics, which are about a murderer Source: Songfacts

[@eddhardy1054]

Yep! Based on the Beggar's Opera by English dramatist John Gay.

[@user-gt2uf8cq9y]

Lotte Lenya was married to Kurt Weill when he wrote this in 1928. Most folks would know here from her role 35 years later as murderous Rosa Klebb from the James Bond movie "From Russia, With Love".

[@johnharkness7114]

And the upshot of the play is that Mack, the serial murderer, decides to become a banker, because if you rob from a dead person you only can rob him once, but as a banker, you have your debtors on their knees, so you can rob them the rest of their lives. It was a very leftist, anti-capitalist play. Ironic that the tune has been used in MacDonalds commercials

[@vladimirtrifunovic8019]

That's where the great Tom Waits comes from.

[@Mark-iv7np]

Great singer was being groomed for the next Sinatra. Sadly died at age 37 or 38. Had many good songs. Splish Splash, Beyond the Sea. Dream Lover(especially good), Things and If I were a Carpenter.

[@Shannonbarnesdr1]

you gotta here his version of go tell it on the mountain, man had soul ! through n through ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3-7nZyQqaeMl8k

[@Lakeshore14]

To get the full effect of Bobby Darin you need to see him perform. He had so much charisma and yes he was looked at as the next Sinatra. He had the vocals, the personality, the talent to succeed Sinatra. Thanks for this great reaction. 👏👏🇨🇦

[@SandraJones-py1bd]

Probably the first teen idol

[@kentclark6420]

It's true that music was less violent back then, since this song was one of the rare few that expressed any real violence.

[@realbser1956]

Bobby’s most famous song. Had he not died so early, he would have been one of the greatest ever.

[@hannejeppesen1809]

Even dying at 37 he still left a mark. He was incredibly talented, he could sing, act, dance and do impressions.

[@Code9]

Bobby started off as a young rock-n-roller with a HUGE hit called "Splish Splash". Then, a while later, he just hit us without warning as a big-band, swing-jazz crooner with Mack the Knife and the rest is history! Turned out he was one of the best at that type of jazzy crooning. The band that backed him in those performances was so good! The staccato stings from that horn section were so tight! Great stuff that never gets old.

[@jeffreyflint6286]

This song and Bobby Darin are timeless. I still do this one live. It always goes over extremely well. We're heavy rockers, but hey great is great no matter what the music is! 🤟👍

[@Ken-dh2te]

Bobby was such a good singer. He could dance & was a good actor too. Total class. Saw him in Vegas...awesome talent.

[@athos1974]

I like the steady buildup with orchestra as the song gets toward the end. Really keeps the song moving at a fast clip. When I hear this, I think of old Las Vegas back in the 50-60s.

[@alanpeterson4939]

What a talent he was. Died waaay too young.

[@Cosmo-Kramer]

Didn't the title tip ya off that it was somethin' dark and violent? Great, great song, guys, I enjoyed your reaction. My parents had the album so I've loved it since the '60s! Next from Bobby please do his studio version of, *"Beyond The Sea",* it is exquisite!

[@texasps91]

Actually this song was presented to Frank Sinatra, but he turned it down thinking it would hurt his reputation with fans recording a song about a killer, so Bobby Darin accepted it and it Boomed his career over the top. Big Band music so Great! Such a talent!

[@MitchellMaichak-ze7mr]

The arrangement AND performance sounds alot like Nelson Riddle !!!

[@victorcowboywest]

Louis Armstrong had a big with this song, Bobby Darin has the most acclaim and popular version it has been covered by Ms. Ella Fitzgerald on her "LIVE AT THE DEUTSCHLAND, IN BERLIN (1960) release. Which a surprise hit for her. And from " L.A. IS MY LADY " you have Frank Sinatra ( with some famous names from the world of jazz)

[@blitztim6416]

The song was originally written in German for the 1928 The Three Penny Opera. Lotte Lenya was an an performer in the play.

[@skyepuppy7763]

I believe the ladies named at the end of the song are NOT targets of Mack's knife. They're going to be lining up to date Bad Boy Macky, who's so flush with cash.

[@bobwallace9814]

They were prostitutes that he spent the money on.

[@crsounddoctor4937]

Hey TNT, Yeah there was a lot of "coded" sayings in this song, but you eventually understood what it was talking about...Mack The Knife was no joke!!! This song by Bobby Darin is a Classic, Big Band Sounding "Slice of Americana!!!" Definitely one for the ages too!!! Thanks for this reaction....

[@michaellazzeri2069]

From the VERY German, " Three penny Opera " ----------and in German, it's much more dark than it comes out in English. In '59, this was Billboard's #1 Song of The Year. RIP, to the great, Bobby Darin, who died at 37 y/o, on the operating table, during a mitral valve replacement that today, can be done off bypass.-------------MJL, 76 y/o

[@get2rog]

Had to watch this again. The look on your face when the penny dropped over the cement bag. Had me laughing so hard.

[@peppers8489]

In the song Mack the knife gets Louie Miller and takes his money. All the ladies names are not victims but they are lining up to get Mack's attention now that he is flush with the coin.

[@Mister_Ed9]

Bobby Darin - Mack The Knife is by far the greatest pop song every recorded.

[@darrinlindsey]

It's about mobsters!!!

[@danielvolk237]

Bobby's version of this song was listed as the #4 song of all time on the billboard chart. Bobby is one of a few people to be in both the rock and roll hall of Fame and the songwriter's hall of Fame. He was a great actor and entertainer. He married the actress Sandra Dee. He died during heart surgery at the young age of 37. A true superstar. 👍😭

[@Djeispark]

I was one of the ONLY two bobby darin tribute performers and impersonators in Vegas and im so glad to see the younger generation finally get into his music. He would've been as famous as Sinatra if he didnt die so young at 37 but he has a huge catalog of music that you can listen to because he was in the studio so much. He knew his time was limited.

[@thecelt471]

Even though there was a play ftom the 1920's that this song was based on. The actual Macheath was a pirate/highway man known for his use of knives. In any case, a great song.

[@Plastikdoom]

Great song…and gotta love Bobby, the last of the crooners, as far as being born.

[@AliciaNyblade]

I've loved this song for a long time but didn't realize until recently that it was about a mobster killing people. It just goes to show that the lyrics could slip your mind if the tune is catchy enough. And honestly, the combination of the tune being such a jam and the lyrics telling such a dark tale makes the song even more awesome. What a timeless classic.

[@PsalmS-vi8zl]

🙂🙂🙂🙂👍👍👍👍👍❤The song is from a 1928 music drama called The Threepenny Opera, about a criminal in the London underworld.

[@Johnnycdrums]

You hear another swingin' sad one, listen to "Artificial Flowers" Made me cry the first time I heard it, but swings very very nicely with big fat horns along the way.

[@maryannturton9830]

My dad's all time favorite! So smooth!🎙🎶

[@easilydistracted5140]

I have danced many times to that. Never knew it was about mob hits

[@sherigrow6480]

Bobby Darin was great. Composer, singer, actor. I love his, If I Were A Carpenter

[@frndofbear]

"Scarlett Billows" what a description.

[@t.j.payeur5331]

All the women mentioned were cabaret stars in Weimar era Berlin. Lotte Lenye sang it originally in the play 3 Penny Opera.

[@spencerific93]

Personally, Bobby Darin is the GOAT when it comes to crooners. I'll take him over Sinatra. An incredible talent, and he burned bright. But he also burned short. He had a lifelong heart condition, and knew he was on borrowed time. Sure enough, a heart attack took him before he even hit 40.

[@mrod7692]

The song Timothy by the Buoys in 1970 was so controversial they banned it for a while, should check it out.

[@BladeRunner25463c]

Yeah, it was about cannibalism 😳

[@georgemartinez7861]

You have to see the video of Bobby Darin singing this song.

[@primategaberocco]

Just a great singer, a gem was Bobby. 😂🥃

[@joemckinley754]

This song is exactly what it sounds like it is. You nailed it! What's interesting is that even though that's what the song is about, back in the mid 80s, McDonald's used this song for the base of an entire as campaign they called Mac Tonight. It came complete with a mascot. Great job as usual.

[@erickent3557]

"Yes, but our violence sounded classy!" ... hehe, it's a great song :) I like Darin's "Beyond the Sea", too.

[@jsmilers]

Great reaction and observations. Bobby Darin was the coolest of the cool. He was the biggest act in the world before dying from a heart problem in his mid-30's

[@wompa70]

The scarlet billows. Mack wears fancy gloves so he doesn’t leave a trace. Yep. Ole boy murdered a guy that pulled all his money out of the bank. Now Mack’s spending it on the ladies.

[@hollypinkley]

Sinatra did so this song but only AFTER Bobby's version hit the airwaves!!! Those 3 ladies weren't on a hit list - those are his ladies he likes to "be" with!!!!

[@gerryhatrick6678]

Thar is why he is called Mack the knife...the shark and the gloves ....

[@americanaforever6725]

Another great song from this era is “Stagger Lee” by Lloyd Price

[@youngthing12]

Bobby Darin sang this in 1958 🤩 Frank Sinatra sang it in 1984 👍🏻🤩🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@hannejeppesen1809]

I love this version, Ella Fitzgerald also did it. tt is tie between the two. Listen to Ella's version "Live in Berlin".

[@alanshepherd4304]

If your foot is not tapping to this song then you're obviously dead !! Macky has done you!!😂😂🇬🇧

[@theccpisaparasite8813]

You guys liked this tune which is great. BUT, there is an absolutely legendary version of this song done by Ella Fitzgerald back before I was born. Ella in Berlin, 1960. Her band and her just learned the song the day of the show ... as a throw it. Unsurprisingly ... it doesn't go quite as planned as she forgets some of lyrics about halfway through the song. But she doesn't miss a beat and just improvises over it, her band is so good that they just go with it and don't miss a beat either. An absolute clinic in top shelf musicianship. Whoever had tape rolling for that performance captured lightning in a bottle. It was simply an incredible performance. Even if you don't react to it, everyone should hear it once in their lifetime. It is simply spellbinding.

[@dalemorris7014]

It's one of my go to songs for cheering up! Darin's Clementine and Artificial Flowers are also about death, but they're really toe-tapping fun!

[@teethhuller8275]

Bobby Darrin had a few dark songs. Artificial Flowers is the most upbeat tragedy ever!!

[@vdoggydogg3922]

Clementine as well.

[@hobbypassion]

Lotta Lenya was Kurt Weil's wife and Jenny in the original production. She was also one of the villains in the James Bond movie 'From Russia With Love'.

[@patticrichton1135]

He talks about a murder at the beginning, "Mack the Knife" is a guy who kills with a knife.

[@russgilbertson8689]

Bobby Darin is a great singer, has many songs and does real good covers too.

[@EmptyGoat]

Leon Payne - Psycho. Dude wrote a serial killer song in the '50's.

[@dirish709]

Fun to watch Bobby signing this. He also acted a bit. Gunsmoke comes to my mind.

[@richb313]

Love your reaction to a song about a mob hit man.

[@cliffordwaterton3543]

I once made the bad mistake of singing this on karaoke at a works christmas party - i wasn't even drunk - i completely lost my way about halfway through (this song has a really tricky rhythm to keep up with) and it still makes me cringe thinking about it.😆

[@suebeawho6537]

You've gotta watch a vid with Bobby singing live😎😃

[@SillyMe2718]

He was either Mafia or a Serial Killer that is going to settle scores with him. Reminds of Mob hit ‘s we heard around town growing up.

[@jp9094]

Lote Lenya appeared in the original play and sang this song which is accompanied by a hurdy gurdy in the original. You shouls listen to her original in German!

[@grege9019]

Mack wasn't nothin' nice!🤣🤣🤣

[@rj-ps8hy]

When he's back in town , the suckers line-up to get fleeced !

[@jeffdetmer4681]

Okay Mac didn't kill the women. The story is that Mac killed the guy after making him draw all his money out of the bank. The women are all lining up to go out on the town with Macky, who is a big spender.

[@MikeAdams-dc9ib]

I love all Bobby's songs he could do now wrong he was great l miss him much

[@maddmuggs]

One of my favorites

[@wanderinmoose5534]

Check out when he does this song on The Ed Sullivan show in 1959 awesome performance

[@roydownes2458]

yeah, its a swingin little ditty about a professional killer. :p :/

[@brentkelsay3439]

Macky laid the smacky down

[@Zebred2001]

Great reaction T&T! Please check out Bobby Darin's -> Beyond the Sea.

[@AWalkOnDirt]

This song hurts when I hear it. One of her favorites. I can’t even listen to it at this moment.

[@corvuslight]

That's life! The 50's were deceptive...

[@rickyconner6782]

Gansta of the 50s!!

[@bspks756]

So the sixties were pretty wild, apparently Mack the Knife was a hitman! Yikes!

[@barbarabisson2551]

You were talking when the body was oozing life, so you missed it. It was about the mafia doings that were around back then. Hit man got out of jail, it seems.

[@miamidolphinsfan]

What a classic from 1959

[@waltermacpherson3648]

Love this song!😁👍

[@pattyhildreth2977]

my favourite Bobby Darin song 😳🐬🐬🐬🐬😳 Frank Sinatra does a good cover, too🥰

[@christinerobinson9372]

Somebody FINALLY reacting to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next: "Stagga Lee", by Loyd Price (there are other covers, quite a few, to this song).

[@Bigarnj1]

Until he recorded this LP of standards, Bobby Darin was already well known as a rock and roll singer/songwriter and those around him thought he was crazy to make such a drastic departure in style. He proved them all wrong when this song became a worldwide hit and was the number 1 song in the US for 8 weeks in 1959. But yeah the song is about a jackknife wielding thug who goes around un-aliving people, then at the end he calls out the young ladies who have captured his interest, twice lol...

[@carlosmcmullen8154]

I believe mcdonalds actually used this song for a promotion during the 80s or 90s until somebody pointed it out that it wasn't family friendly 🤔

[@Erica-wy8zx]

I remember that.

[@crazydale1000]

Thanks for the trip back to my childhood.

[@PopularMonsterUSA]

One of my fav songs!!! ❤

[@kayeruss7313]

He's not called Mack the Knife for nothing :)

[@jimfrederick3907]

Please listen to "Beyond the Sea" and "Simple Song of Freedom" - two of his best!

[@perrymalcolm3802]

My favorite of his is BEYOND THE SEA

[@alexandralynch5686]

This is based on an Opera called The Beggars Opera.

[@_whatsername1911]

Before my time, but This one is still way up at the very top of the classics lists! xx

[@cassbumk3565]

The song is about a mob hit

[@fairlane19641]

Pretty good actor too .

[@tannonwraith4692]

Great choice!

[@WilliamPatience-ic8st]

Serial killer of the top 40.

[@davidfabian7505]

This song was banned for awhile on radios

[@sandralorenz1796]

This song was written in 1928.

[@coinneachmaclellan3121]

Sinatra was great but I don't think that he could match the chutzpah that Darin puts into the song that makes it such a classic.

[@MamaBe1963]

Mack the KNIFE

[@luvlgs1]

those names are all his female fans! the girls love him!

[@Shannonbarnesdr1]

you also gotta hear his , beyond the sea, splish splash, dream lover, he did a lot of great songs that still hold up well today. good music doesn't age and it nerve dies ! also his version of go tell it on the mountain, was PURE SOUL ! dude, its powerful, fun, energetic. and just, wow ! you gotta react to it, i heard it in 5th grade and loved it ever since . kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3-7nZyQqaeMl8k only one flaw, its too short, it just shy of 2 minutes ! its criminal !

[@wompa70]

Songs, plays, poems, etc have always had lewd or criminal examples. “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” stops people in my parent’s generation when they bitch about 70s and 80s Metal. But there are surviving examples back to Ancient Rome.

[@kentclark6420]

It's true that music was less violent back then, since this song was one of the rare few that expressed any real violence.

[@bennettmusiccollective3218]

Yeah but it took you until the end to realize it was a gangster tune. So that’s why older music was better. More subtle …just as bad ass.

[@terryconnelly484]

Why am I seeing this for the second time this is a different feed

[@jgsrhythm100]

Why no African American cats from the 60's and 70's? Not down with the Funk? Curtis Mayfield- Superfly (1973) 🔥 Title track from the groundbreaking Soundtrack? Funky as Hell 🔥