Kurt Weill: RFI

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Just blahed on my website (see me! fee-eee-eee-eel me!) about my encounter with a song by Mr. Weill. So, if I want more, where should I go? (That Weill tribute scares me, and I think I have every right to be scared...)

― David Raposa, Monday, 29 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

ignorance alert: did kurt weill write "mack the knife?" (and if not, why do i think this?) if so, he deserves a wet willie for punishing me with a manager at a bakery who played that in the basement office at TOP VOLUME at least five times a day.

― jess, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

30s kabaret, worked lots with brecht, see also alabama whiskey song (made famous by doors), soldeirs wife ( i think) by marianne faithful etc... was a trib album with burroughs, costello, eetc a few yrs back, ute lemper also does his stuff very well...over to you anthony.

― Geoff, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Yes, Weill wrote "Mack the Knife", though allegedly Brecht came up with the basic melodic idea.

To David Raposa: any recording with Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife) or Gisela May should do. I'd avoid Ute Lemper and Ann-Sofie von Otter (and just about every other classical vocalist). There are two tribute albums: Lost in the Stars (a Hal Wilner thing) and September Songs. I like the former, which has Dagmar Krause doing the definitive "Surabaya Johnny", much better than the latter.

Weill was a gorgeous melodicist, but generally, I prefer Hanns Eisler's less sentimental Brecht settings.

― Johan Lif, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

First of all, there are several Weill tribute albums, but the one you really shouldn't be scared of is _Lost in the Stars_, the album that got me through high school, and the album that made the whole misbegotten tribute-album thing seem like a good idea in the first place. Among other things, it's got a DEVASTATING version of "Ballad of the Soldier's Wife" by Marianne Faithfull; other highlights include Stanard Ridgway of all people giving his best-ever vocal performance on "The Cannon Song," Tom Waits making "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" sound as scary as it is, a John Zorn take on "Der Kleine Leutnant des Lieben Gottes" that marked a major advance in Zorn's career, etc. I mean, even the Sting song is good.

Weill is one of the few composers who considered classical composition and pop songwriting to be effectively the same thing at their best; if you don't hear his songs in the context of their operas (early) or Broadway musicals (late), that's fine. (That said, if you happen to see a recording of the _Dreigroschenoper_ in German with his wife Lotte Lenya singing in it, do yourself the favor.)

Other than the million variations on "Moritat von Mackie Messer" (yes, "Mack the Knife"), there have been a whole lot of good pop covers of Weill songs. Pet Shop Boys' "What Keeps Mankind Alive?" and the Persuasions' "Oh Heavenly Salvation" leap to mind...

― Douglas Wolk, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Yep "Lost In The Stars" is a good introduction. If you can find it there is a fantastic EP of covers "Songs From Bill's Dance Hall" by Philip Chevron, he made after Radiators (From Space) and before hoining the Pogues.

― James Kyllo, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Don't forget Lou Reed's version of September Song. Also, "Lady In The Dark" a later Weil musical produced in the U.S. -- one version has some magnificent versions of his songs done by Danny Kaye. City of Mahogony, which is where Alabama Song comes from, is probably his most "significant" work.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

3 Penny Opera of Course, Seven Deadly Sins, Theater Songs (which include Whiskey Bar , Pirate Jenny, Lost in the Stars, Speak Low, )

He did not in fact work alot with Brecht, they only worked on three peny opera .

The singers who i think best interept his work are Lotte Lenya ,Ute Lemper and Marraine Faithfull , however Thersa Struass(sp) is worth checking out. There is an all star tribute album called lost in the stars which can work as a primer and Nina Simones version of priate jenny is strong .

― anthonyeaston, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

A must-listen is The Young Gods' Play Kurt Weill album. The version of "September Song" on that in particular is devestating.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

He also did at least Mahogony w/ Brecht, and I think some other stuff too.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I just went out & found a Sony Classical disc of Lotta Lenya performing a bunch of his songs. The silly thing is in one of those behemoth 2-CD cases - all the songs are on one disc, mind you, but the accompanying booklet is HUGE. No "Ballad of a Soldier's Wife" (unless it's taunting me beneath some pseudonym - doubtful), but has a good selection of songs from the works y'all have mentioned. Many thanks, kids-in-flesh & kids-at-heart.

An interesting surprise - he set Ogden Nash & Langston Hughes verses to song? Haven't heard the songs yet, so I don't know what they're like, but that was something I didn't expect.

― David Raposa, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

there is a recent version of The ThreePenny Opera with Nina Hagen in a brilliant role as Mother Peachum, you could probably make endless tapes with Weill-covers, Marc Almond did some morning-after-hangover versions of Surabaya Johnny (of course)and, if you want to try your patience, Seerauber Jenny

― erik, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

whatever the song is that jenny sings to herself as she sweeps the floor, imagining mack coming for her with a mighty fleet of ships, to take her out of that life forever, so she can spit on all the hotel guests who looked down on her - what is that? pirate jenny? "and a ship with eight sails..." "they'll ask who to kill and i'll say 'ALLES'!" that song chills me every time i hear it. don't know who's singing; it's some cast recording of 3 penny opera.

of course willie nelson does the best "september song", on stardust...

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

"Pirate-Jenny"! Oh yes. I saw Bea Arthur's one-woman show in San Francisco a couple of months ago--it was mostly novelty songs and reminiscences, but she sang "Pirate-Jenny" (in the Blitzstein translation) totally straight and brought the house down.

The recording I've got of Lenya singing it is incredible: "und das Schiff mit acht Seglen und mit fünfzehn Kanonen..." [forgive my misspellings, please]

If anyone here has read _Watchmen_, that's where the title of _Tales from the Black Freighter_ comes from. (Well, the English translation, anyway.)

― Douglas, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Just thinking of that song can make me cry. Her pain and frustration and violent anger. What that turned into. Fucking hell.

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 30 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I'd avoid Ute Lemper and Ann-Sofie von Otter (and just about every other classical vocalist).

Johan, I have a version of Threepenny Opera by John Mauceri and RIAS Berlin Sinfonia that features Lemper, which I actually like. The performance is from the original score, but I gather you prefer something a little less "classical" -- maybe more down to earth? What's a good version to look for? Also, is there a version with Dagmar Krause?

― dleone, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Dagmar Krause has done a lot of Weill. Her version of Surabaya Johnny is particularly good.

― James Kyllo, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

From Momus' Folktronic:

"Moon of Alabama is my favourite country-tune. It got lyrics by a communist and music by a jew"

― erik, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

dleone: If you can find it, the original cast recording of the Threepenny Opera is great, as is just about any version with Lotte Lenya. Yes, I prefer the "Brechtian"/anti-aesthetical approach to Ute Lemper's more polished style. I think she gets somewhat cold and boring, and sucks the integrity out of the music. I also dislike the "decadent cabaret" cliche.

Dagmar Krause never performed in the Threepenny Opera, as far as I know, but she recorded one album with Brecht songs, Supply and Demand (Angebot und Nachfrage), as well as an album dedicated to the music of Hanns Eisler, Tank Battles (Panzerschlacht). Both are good, especially the German versions (the English translations tend to be a little clumsy).

― Johan Lif, Thursday, 1 November 2001 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

My folks took me to see Happy End this weekend. It deserves its reputation as a mediocre show with fantastic songs.

I downloaded a couple of versions of "Surabaya Johnny" -- Ute Lemper's, which is fairly good (she has a sweet voice but can scream where needed), and Combustible Edison's, which is surprisingly straight and passably good, but doesn't leave much of an impression otherwise.

The verse where the (I assume) Hawaiian steel guitar starts harmonizing with her gets me every time.

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 18 July 2005 12:11 (7 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

OMG I finally picked up the "Lost in the Stars" tribute album, which has been on my must-get list for many years. What a find. Wolk OTM up thread.

― Jazzbo, Friday, 29 August 2008 16:40 (4 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

Yesterday I bought Speak Low, the collection of letters between Weill and Lotte Lenya. Has anyone read it?

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Friday, 24 August 2012 16:46 (8 months ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

I have started to read it. There's an appendix of pet names they had for each other.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Sunday, 16 September 2012 19:53 (8 months ago) Permalink

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 21:02 (8 months ago) Permalink

Hollywoodpflantze
Schweenchen

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 21:03 (8 months ago) Permalink

This album is terrific!

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 21:05 (8 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/nyregion/rescued-kurt-weill-recording-is-sweet-vindication-for-accidental-discoverer.html

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 21 October 2012 13:49 (7 months ago) Permalink

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