Today In Labor History April 3, 1950: Composer Kurt Weill died. Weill’s most famous song was Mack the Knife ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"), which became a schlock classic after Bobby Darin’s rendition. However, Weill wrote the song as part of Bertolt Brecht’s “Three Penny Opera,” which was a socialist critique of the capitalist world. Weill was persecuted by the Nazis for his political views and his Jewish heritage. He fled to America, with his wife, singer Lotte Lenya. Some of Weill’s other well-known songs include: Alabama Song (covered by the Doors), Pirate Jenny (covered by Nina Simone), Mack the Knife (also covered by Louis Armstrong), Der Kleine des Lieben Gottes (covered by John Zorn).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6orDcL0zt34
#workingClass #LaborHistory #nazis #antisemitism #holocaust #KurtWeill #LotteLenya #BertoltBrecht #socialism #communism #NinaSimone #LouisArmstrong
'every grinning oaf with a borrowed hat has done it. Michael Buble, obviously. Robbie Williams. Even fucking Westlife, who, I imagine, stood up from their stools one at a time in time to mark each of the key changes, though not so much ratcheting up the tension than draining all remaining traces of it until the song lay pale and lifeless on the floor'
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