The Threepenny Opera: Overture / Ballad of Mac the Knife Songtext
von Roy Brocksmith, Tony Azito, Robert Schlee & Jack Eric WIlliams

See the shark has teeth like razors,
All can read his open face,
And Macheath has got a knife, but
Not in such an obvious place.

See the shark, how red his fins are,
As he slashes at his prey.
Mack the Knife wears white kid gloves, which
Give the minimum away.

By the Thames is turbid waters,
Men abruptly tumble down.
Is it plague, or is it cholera?
Or a sign Macheath′s in town?

On a beautiful blue Sunday,
See a corpse stretched on the strand.
See a man dodge 'round the corner,
Mackie′s friends will understand.


And Schmul Meier, who is missing,
Like so many wealthy men,
Mack the Knife acquired his cash box,
God alone knows how or when.

Jenny Towler turned up lately,
With a knife stuck through her breast,
While Macheath walks the embankment,
Nonchalantly, unimpressed.

Where is Alfred Gleet the Cabman,
Who can get that story clear?
All the world may know the answer,
Just Macheath has no idea.

And the ghastly fire in Soho,
Seven children at a go.
In the crowd stands Mack the Knife, but
He's not asked and doesn't know.

And the child bride in her nightie,
Whose assailant′s still at large,
Violated in her slumbers,
Mackie, how much did you charge?

Violated in her slumbers,
Mackie, how much did you charge?