Kurt Weill: RFI

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.

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...

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 .

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.

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.)

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

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).

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.

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.

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

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

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mags4q1M931rtmp17o1_500.jpg

Hollywoodpflantze
Schweenchen

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...)

http://www.recordsale.de/cdpix/l/lotte_lenya-lotte_lenya_singt_kurt_weill.jpg

This album is terrific!

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

http://open.spotify.com/album/3n3wtkt4LHUzGzVTtV0o2O

this is so badass

i listen to Kurt Vile more i have to say

Been listening to the Lenya Berlin Theater Songs record lately -- so great and so dark, perfect for transitioning me into my fall/winter madness

I love the way Lenye's voice is so unpretty -- the Weill songs I've already heard make so much more sense the way she sings them. I always used to think Moritat was kinda boring, but she makes it so chilling.

I loooooooove her!! It's a strong evocative emotionally versatile voice.

Michael Bourne will be celebrating Ned's birthday on WBGO-FM with a Kurt Weill tribute- his best show ever, according to him- starting about an hour from now.

Mac attack!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5iGWfguyY8

Thanks James! Listening now. Great sound quality. He just played the very eerie "Oh Heavenly Salvation," by Aaron Neville, Johnny Adams, and Mark Bingham, from the Willner-produced, excellent 80s tribute album Lost In The Stars (shows the re-release CD with even more bonus tracks; I'll have to get that too). Willner's lesser-known September Songs brings back some of the previous album's performers for new verions, like Lou Reed, who originally speeded up "September Song," here does it as more of a slow blues, with v. Reedian electric guitar rushes; also some people who weren't on LITS, like PJ Harvey.

Only thing, some of the tracks Bourne is playing remind me that Weill's music is not singer-proof: some of it seems compliant with/submissive to flowery, slick etc. "stylists." Gets lost in the stardust.

On the other hand, now that he's playing Bobby Darin's version of "Mack The Knife," I finally get that BD is going for a clear-eyed, bullet-point-tabloid-detailed, yet that's-just-the-way-it-goes, swingin' "Stagolee"-type effect. As Robt. Earl Keen would say, "The road goes on forever, and the party never stops."

Sinatra's "September Song": amazing with the intro, and now into the searching groove ritual

I picked up a Lotte lenya cd about 10 years ago that has a lot of the Weill work on it. They were married so I think a lotof it was written with her in mind. Had been meaning to pick up something comprehensive for years befoe taht. I think I'd made a mistake over buying the right set on vinyl back in the early to mid 80s. Wound up with a double lp when I could have had a more comprehensive box set for I think a bit cheaper.

The Young Gods Weill set is ok too, not sure if that had been mentioned.

literally crying again over Pirate Jenny

Lenya’s German version is even better, even though I don’t know German. You can feel the bitterness more, she’s less coquettish. And the language feels more direct, something about the specificity of “the ship with eight sails” vs “the ship, the black freighter”. And I think i’m right that whereas in the English version the pirates ask her WHEN to kill the townsfolks (and she says “right now”) in the German version the pirates ask her WHO they should kill, and she takes a look around and says “All of them”

Nina Simone’s version probably the best ever recorded tho tbrr

hilariously this song was an inspiration for “When The Ship Comes In”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Ship_Comes_In

and Dylan appears not to realise the irony in seeing a hotel clerk who doesn’t know “who he is” as an oppressor to be wiped away by pirates when in fact the original song is about… a hotel chambermaid being looked down on by privileged male fuckheads lolololol

Hehe. I seem to recall Dylan actually seeing a Brecht/Weill piece somewhere in the village, maybe his gf at the time was an actress or director.

It's an all-time song, I was obsessed with it when I was younger. The Simone version is the one I hear when I think of it.

Inspired Dogville, too

And I think i’m right that whereas in the English version the pirates ask her WHEN to kill the townsfolks (and she says “right now”) in the German version the pirates ask her WHO they should kill, and she takes a look around and says “All of them”.

Yes, that's right:

Und an diesem Mittag wird es still sein am Hafen
Wenn man fragt, wer wohl sterben muss.
Und dann werden Sie mich sagen hören "Alle!"
Und wenn dann der Kopf fällt, sage ich "Hoppla!"

And this afternoon it will be silent in the port,
When they ask me who must die,
And then you'll hear me say "All of them!"
And when the head falls, I'll say "Oops!"

Yeah, hoppla an amazing word choice too, so childlike and whimsical - it's like she's Harley Quinn.

absolutely. I also think of it as the kind of thing a chambermaid might say when making a mistake, right before being castigated by a hotel guest

This time she gets to say it as the cherry on the cake of her revenge

I think "hoppla" is more of a thing to say when performing a trick (from "hoppen", to jump)

but yes, wonderful wording and better than "oops"

The Steeleye Span version (yes, Steeleye Span recorded a version) uses "hoopla".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEYqGBMDtA0

french people say it that way too, for a trick, like “ta-da”

along the lines of what corrs said, I think Dylan had a gf who was stage manager of a Brecht review, and he may have encountered "Pirate Jenny" there, according to some Dylan bio I read (so many, back in the day). Also, seems like in Chronicles he cited that song as giving him insight on his writing in general, not only re "When The Ship Comes In"---might be wrong about that; anyway Tracer's comments also pertain for sure.

"Hoppla" is an expression of mild dismay, like something you'd say if someone stumbles but is not badly hurt. Or that's how it was used by my German language family anyway.

So this is the video follow-up to Willner's album (I have the soundtrack):

September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill is a music video of 94 minutes recorded in 1994 for Rhombus Media, ZDF (Germany), CBC (Canada) and RTP (Portugal).[1] It was produced and directed by Larry Weinstein, and written by Weinstein and David Mortin. The film was conceived as a follow-up to the album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill whose producer Hal Willner served as the music supervisor in this project.[2] The film was nominated for the 1995 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Cultural Program;[3] it won five Gemini Awards in 1997. An album was released in 1997.[4]

two artists reprised their performances from Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill: Lou Reed recorded a second version of "September Song", and Charlie Haden re-recorded "Speak Low" with new arrangement by Fred Hersch and archived voice of Kurt Weill singing the song added.

Betty Carter was originally slated to appear in the first album, but scheduling issues precluded her inclusion. Here she performed "Lonely House,"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Songs_%E2%80%93_The_Music_of_Kurt_Weil
More music in the film than on the soundtrack, and here are two posts of the former; the first is from "a VHS promo screener," the second from "Livewire Remote," dunno which has better quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO6tuKFerR8
This second one may or may not have some black screen for the first few seconds, but it seems to be working OK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRwe3yNEeMQ

Well no it says Haden and Reed reprised, sorry.

bluesy, not Gary Blusey.

Just noticed that the second post is 1 hr. 44 min. and change, the first is only 1' 28" 02.