Lyrics to Kurt Weill's Three Penny Opera

[Scott Sheppard]

Does anybody know where I can get a copy of the lyrics to the
song "Call to the Grave" from Kurt Weill's _Three Penny Opera?
I have combed the libraries of Phoenix and can only find words
to "Mac the Knife" of the same play. I believe Bertolt Brecht
collaborated with Kurt on this one. I looked under his name too
to no avail.

--
Scott Sheppard
UUCP: ...!ncar!noao!asuvax!gtephx!sheppards

[Stephen Smoliar]

In response to the request, here is Brecht's original text:

RUS AUS DER GRUFT

Nun hoert die Stimme, die um Mitlein ruft.
Macheath liegt heir nicht unterm Hagedorn
Nicht unter Buchen, nein in einter Gruft!
Hierher verschlug ihn des Geschickes Zorn.
Gott get, dass ihr sein letztes Wort noch hoert!
Die dicksten Mauern schliessen ihn jetzt ein!
Fragt ihr denn gar nicht, Freunde, wo er sei?
Ist er gestorben, kocht euch Eierwein.
Solang er aber lebt, steht ihm doch bei!

Wollt ihr, dass seine Marter ewig waehrt?
Jetzt kommt und seht, wie es ihm dreckig geht!
Jetzt its er wirklich, was man pleite nennt.
Die ihr als oberste Autoritaet
Nur eure schmier'gen Gelder anerkennt
Seht, dass er euch nicht in die Grube faehrt!
Ihr muesstet mit ihr ueber ihn was sprechen
Wie Schweine eines hinterm andern laugen:
Ach, seine Zaehne sind schon lang wie Rechen!
Wollt ihr, dass seine Marter ewig waehrt?

Did someone say they wanted it in ENGLISH? Here is the translation from the
CBS Masterworks recording:

CALL FROM THE GRAVE

Now hear the voice which pleads for pity.
Macheath isn't bedded here beneath a hawthorn tree,
Nor under birches, no, he's in a grave!
He was driven here by wrathful fates.
May God grant that his last words you still hear!
The thickest walls now close him in!
Oh friends, don't you inquire at all, where he might be?
When he is dead, go mix yourself an eggnog.
But as long as he's alive, come to his aid!

Do you want his torture eternally to last?
Now come and look, how deep he's in a mess!
Now he is really what you'd call down and out.
You, who as ultimate authority,
Acknowledge nothing but your filthy cash,
Looks out that he does not go to his grave!
You ought to run now to the Queen, and this in droves,
And you ought to say a word to her about him
And run to her like pigs in single file:
Oh, his teeth are already sticking out a mile!
Do you want his torture eternally to last?

I suppose there may be some who would prefer Blitzstein's bowdlerized version
for the Theatre de Lys . . . but only if you want to sacrifice fidelity to
Brecht's text and spirit.

[Norman S. Soley]

In article <4388251...@gtephx.UUCP> shep...@gtephx.UUCP (Scott Sheppard) writes:
>Does anybody know where I can get a copy of the lyrics to the
>song "Call to the Grave" from Kurt Weill's _Three Penny Opera?
>I have combed the libraries of Phoenix and can only find words
>to "Mac the Knife" of the same play. I believe Bertolt Brecht
>collaborated with Kurt on this one. I looked under his name too
>to no avail.

If you do find a book it will be under Brecht's name as he wrote the
play and the lyrics. They were of course written in German but there
are several translations. The one I have is:

The Threepenny Opera
by Bertolt Brecht
English book by Desmond Vesey
English lyrics by Eric Bently
Author's notes and foreward by Lotte Lenya (Weill's wife)
Black Cat Paperback
Grove Press Inc.
196 West Houston Street
New York, N.Y. 10014
ISBN: 0-394-17472-0
Library of Congress catalog number: 64-8478

This is not the most common translation and the lyrics are not quite what
we are used to. There is no "Call to the Grave" but there is a "Passage
to the Gallows" that sounds about right.

--
Norman Soley - The Communications Guy - Ontario Ministry of the Environment
so...@moegate.UUCP or if you roll your own: uunet!attcan!ncrcan!moegate!soley
The Minister speaks for the Ministry, I speak for myself. Got that! Good.
Stay smart, go cool, be happy, it's the only way to get what you want

[harvey...@gmail.com]

I think the first word of the title is "Ruf" [call].

I recall on a long-ago trip touring Germany stopping a friend who should have known better [he was a practicing Jew familiar with the Yiddish term "aufruf", the calling-up of congregants to participate in the service] from pressing the elevator button marked "Notruf" [emergency call]. He said he thought it meant "ground floor".