THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

43-Bobby Darin-Mack the Knife.

1959-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 2.01. By 1959 Bobby Darin had become a teen idol and was very reluctant to release this song as a single for fear of losing his teenage fan base, as this song originates from a 1928 Opera, and it’s subject matter is murder and rape.

Bobby Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14th, 1936, in New York City, New York, United States. Darin had suffered with heart problems all of his life, and on December 11, 1973, he checked himself in to ‘Cedars of Lebanon Hospital’ in Los Angeles for another round of open-heart surgery to repair the two artificial heart valves he had received in January 1971. On the evening of December 19, a four-person surgical team worked for over six hours to repair his damaged heart. Shortly after the surgery ended in the early morning hours of December 20, 1973, Darin died in the recovery room without regaining consciousness, he was 37 years old. Bobby Darin started his musical career as a songwriter in 1955, and was responsible for co-writing his first million selling hit ‘Splish Splash’ in 1958, Darin also wrote his 1959 American Number 1 single ‘Dream Lover.’ He took his stage name ‘Darin,’ having adapted it from the first name of the actor Darren McGavin, (1922-2006)

The discography of Bobby Darin includes 27 studio Albums issued between 1958-1972, and 70 singles released between 1956-1973. There are also two unreleased Albums, one from 1964 on ‘Capitol Records,’ and one from 1972, on the ‘Motown’ label. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, 22 of his tracks have reached the top 40, with ‘Mack the Knife’ giving him his only Number 1. While in the UK, 15 of his songs have made top 40, with ‘Dream Lover,’ and ‘Mack the Knife’ both reaching Number 1 in 1959. Bobby Darin was also an actor, appearing in 13 films between 1961-1973, and in 1962, he won the ‘Golden Globe Award’ for ‘New Star of the Year – Actor’ for his role in ‘Come September.’

‘Mack the Knife’ was composed by Kurt Weill, (1900-1950) with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, (1898-1956) (see also best songs 460) for their 1928 music drama ‘Die Dreigroschenoper,’ or as it is known in English ‘The Threepenny Opera.’ The dramas main character ‘Mack the Knife’ is based on the highwayman ‘Macheath’ from the 1728 Ballad Opera ‘The Beggars Opera,’ by John Gay (1685-1732.) After the second World War productions of ‘The Three Penny Opera’ opened in America, with the lyrics translated into English from the German original by Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964.) It was the American musician Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) (see also best songs 1039-767-286-231 and 100) who recorded the first ‘Jazz’ version of ‘Mack the Knife’ in 1956, having been encouraged by a ‘Columbia Records’ executive who thought that it would make a good ‘Swing’ song. The Bobby Darin version was heavily influenced by the Louie Armstrong recording.

‘Mack the Knife’ has been recorded on dozens of occasions down the decades, and has been a Billboard top 40 hit eight times for differing artists. The first hit version was an instrumental by ‘The Dick Hyman Trio,’ which made Number 8 in 1956, while the Louis Armstrong recording (the first vocal hit version) reached Number 20, also in 1956, while in the UK, the only top 40 hit version is this one by Bobby Darin. I would also highly recommend the 1994 recording by Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) (see also best songs 877-567-469-120 and 73) and Jimmy Buffet, from Sinatra’s ‘Duets 2’ Album.

‘Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear, and it shows them pearly white. Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe, and he keeps it, ah, out of sight. You know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe,scarlet billows start to spread.’