Even some 35 years later, even out of context, even in English and with some lyrics vastly changed, Lotte Lenya IS Pirate Jenny now and forever, and her performance still gives chills. You can't look away from her.
Lenya always gives me chills. I used to work at a godawful piano bar in NYC, where the customers treated me like I was a commodity. To release stress, I'd sing Pirate Jenny on Mondays. All I could do. Hopefully the pandemic finally shut them down. Could never do justice to her.
As a former resident of a once magical, transformative, transgressive, empathetic, global small town, I apologize They were tourists who wanted to stay and instead homogenized the city into wannabees
That would have been something! I think Cabaret is far closer to Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht than Bob Fosse and Liza Minelli! But that's my opinion, and probably not a very popular one. ;)
@@rolleicanon meh kinda wrong. Some of the songs were political such as the gorilla song about a Jewish woman compared to a gorilla. The money song references the 1929 berlin depression.
She was probably in her 60s when I saw her in a touring version of the revue “Brecht on Brecht”. About half or more of the audience consisted of college students who had never even heard of her, and they were mesmerized. I can still almost hear her scornful, half-whispered “That’ll learn ya.” Yikes!
I just looked up her life. She was old but very much alive back then. Weil’s widow. THE best in these roles. You are lucky to have met her. Nice comment.
Although there were many subsequent English translations of the original German libretto and although the rhymes don’t always land, Marc Blitzstein’s translation is the only one that stands toe to toe with Weil’s masterpiece of a score.
You people can watch while I'm scrubbing these floors And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawking Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell In this crummy Southern town In this crummy old hotel But you'll never guess to who you're talkin'. No. You couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'. Then one night there's a scream in the night And you'll wonder who could that have been And you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin' And you say, "What's she got to grin?" I'll tell you. There's a ship The Black Freighter With a skull on its masthead Will be coming in You gentlemen can say, "Hey gal, finish them floors! Get upstairs! What's wrong with you! Earn your keep here! You toss me your tips And look out to the ships But I'm counting your heads As I'm making the beds Cuz there's nobody gonna sleep here, honey Nobody Nobody! Then one night there's a scream in the night And you say, "Who's that kicking up a row?" And ya see me kinda starin' out the winda And you say, "What's she got to stare at now?" I'll tell ya. There's a ship The Black Freighter Turns around in the harbor Shootin' guns from her bow Now You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face Cause every building in town is a flat one This whole frickin' place will be down to the ground Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound And you yell, "Why do they spare that one?" Yes. That's what you say. "Why do they spare that one?" All the night through, through the noise and to-do You wonder who is that person that lives up there? And you see me stepping out in the morning Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair And the ship The Black Freighter Runs a flag up its masthead And a cheer rings the air By noontime the dock Is a-swarmin' with men Comin' out from the ghostly freighter They move in the shadows Where no one can see And they're chainin' up people And they're bringin' em to me Askin' me, "Kill them NOW, or LATER?" Askin' ME! "Kill them now, or later?" Noon by the clock And so still by the dock You can hear a foghorn miles away And in that quiet of death I'll say, "Right now. Right now!" Then they'll pile up the bodies And I'll say, "That'll learn ya!" And the ship The Black Freighter Disappears out to sea And On It Is Me
Oh thanks for posting! I didn't know this clip existed! Lotte is incredibly compelling here, though in her late sixties! (Appreciation of Brecht/Weill brought me here.)
Shooting "GUNS!!!" I loved this and many other wonderful little details of her singing!! I'm gonna watch it a thousand times!! I have Judy Collins vinil, loving her singing for decades, but this Lotte Lenya version is sooooo true, so alive!!! Thank you again and forever for giving us this gift!!!
This reminds me of a Tom Waits song called Black Spider an awful lot! The accent and the way she sings "black freighter" is very reminiscent of that song...
Here for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century: 1910. I think the songstress in the novel depicted Lotte Lenya. Searching for her original version to verify....
Glad to know Bob Dylan brought you to the persiflage, as Bertolt Brecht himself called his opera, derived from the John Gay´s THE BEGGAR´S OPERA, 1700 onwards presented first at the Court of Hannover.
They always say the original is the best. Proven so many times. Streisand, lenye, lupone, merman, Glynis johns, Ellen Greene, ebersole, Jennifer Holliday.
I'm glad I found this English version of "Pirate Jenny" sung by Lotte Lenya herself. I'm puzzled that she used this translation. It was panned by several people as being an "adaptation" rather than a translation.
Definitely an adaptation rather than translation. An updating, also! Now the ship with the eight sails has become a dark freighter. See the original movie for the German "eight sails" version. They have it with subtitles!
The New York version of Threepenny Opera (in the 1950's -- I saw it with her in it!) at Theater de Lys used this translation, as did many others until recently.
Well, she probably understood the character better than anyone. Possibly more than Brecht himself. I think about how her voice breaks about the ribbon in her hair, the once nice pretty thing she wants to give herself. She might agree with the spirit of the lyrics or something.
I find it very "weird" in that my only context for Lotte Lenya was in the role of Rosa Kleb! So, it is a bit "weird" to see Spectre's number 3 on stage singing!
Sometime in the 1960s I was at do and I was speaking with lenya I was afraid of becoming tongue-tied as I realized I was speaking with Jenny I was only in in my twenties and haven't been in New York too long I remember when I got home I called my parents and said you'll never believe it I was speaking with Lottie lasagna tonight and my mother said who is Lotte lenya yes I just laugh
Для меня это мало понятно, я не знаю языка, но чувствую музыку, есть Высоцкий Владимир, который говорил как-то слово "зонг" и упоминал Брехта, а я знаю и читал "Трёхгрошовая опера" и знаю о Вейле и Лотте Лейле и ещё о Бобе Дилане.
the only mistake in this great translation and this astonishing performance is the last line ;"That'll learn yah" ..Which should of course be; "That'll teach yah." Polly Peacha
Actually, where I grew up people did say, That’ll learn ya” (or sometimes “That’ll learn ya, dern ya” 😉 ) As the comment below points out, it’s part of the dialect.
The Danish sing a song writer Sebastian created a rather different music for the translated text. Even though you don't understand the exact words, you know the contents - try to take a listen to this very powerful version 🙂 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xR-9EVEawe8.html
