THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

460-Lotte Lenya-Alabama-Song.

1930-It has never charted in the UK, there was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 2.09. It is to be hoped that the whisky is of a certain vintage, like the little boy, at least 16 years old.

The lyrics for ‘Alabama-Song,’ which is also known as ‘Moon of Alabama,’ ‘Moon over Alabama,’ and ‘Whisky Bar,’ were written in 1925 by the German playwright, theatre director, and poet Bertolt Brecht, (1898-1956) (see also best songs 43) and translated from the original German in to English by his close collaborator, the German writer Elisabeth Hauptmann, (1897-1973) then in 1927 the lyrics were set to music by the American, German born composer Kurt Weill (1900-1950) (see also best songs 43) for the play ‘Little Mahagonny.’ In 1930 ‘Alabama-Song’ was re-used as one of the 11 songs all composed by Brecht and Weill for the opera ‘Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.’

Lotte Lenya was born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer on October 18, 1898, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, she died of cancer in 1981, at the age of 83. Lotte Lenya re-recorded and performed ‘Alabama-Song’ on many occasions during her life time, she first performed the song in the role of ‘Jessie’ at the 1927 ‘Baden-Baden Festival’ performance of ‘Little Mahagonny.’ In 1930 she recorded her first vinyl version of the song, and in 1955 a re-recorded take appears on her ‘Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill’ Album, Lotte Lenya had been married to Kurt Weill until his death in 1950. Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill were also the composers of ‘Mack the Knife,’ (see also best songs 43) and in the 1959 hit version by Bobby Darin, he name checks Lotte Lenya in the songs lyrics. As an actress Lotte Lenya appeared in eight films between 1931-1980, including ‘The Threepenny Opera, (1931) and ‘The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone,’ (1961) but she is probably best remembered for her role as ‘Rosa Klebb’ in the 1963 James Bond film ‘From Russia With Love.’

Lotte Lenya was married to Kurt Weill from 1926 until 1933, when they divorced. Kurt Weill was a German Jew, and with the rise of ‘Nazism’ in the early 1930’s in Germany he decided to leave the country, feeling it wasn’t safe to stay, and emigrated to Paris, France in 1933, and then relocated to New York, United States, in 1935. Although not married anymore Lotte Lenya went with him, and continued to perform in stage productions in Paris, and then in America. In 1937, Lenya and Weill remarried, and stayed together until Weill’s death in 1950. After his death, Lenya founded the ‘Kurt Weill Foundation for Music’ in 1962, to administer incomes and issues regarding rights, and to spread knowledge about Weill’s work. Lotte Lenya was present in the recording studio when Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) (see also best songs 1039-767-286-231 and 100) recorded Brecht-Weill’s ‘Mack the Knife.’ Armstrong improvised the line ‘Look out for Miss Lotte Lenya,’ and added her name to the list of Mack’s female conquests in the song.

Kurt Julian Weill was born on March 2nd, 1900, in the ‘Sandvorstadt,’ which was the the Jewish quarter in Dessau, in Saxony, Germany, he died on April 3rd, 1950, having suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday. Kurt Weill was a leading composer for the stage who was known for his collaborations with Bertolt Brecht, their best-known work together is ‘The Threepenny Opera,’ (1928) which included the ballad ‘Mack the Knife.’ Kurt Weill’s body of work includes composing seven ‘Cantatas,’ including ‘Das Berliner Requiem,’ (1928) with Bertolt Brecht. He also composed ‘Chamber Music,’ Piano Music, ‘Orchestral Music,’ and ‘Film Music,’ prolifically from 1918 until his death.

‘Alabama-Song’ was first performed by Lotte Lenya, in the role of ‘Jessie’ at the 1927 ‘Baden-Baden Festival’s’ performance of ‘Little Mahagonny,’ she first recorded the song under the title ‘Alabama-Song’ in 1930. ‘Alabama-Song’ has been recorded by many other artists down the years, most notably by the American Rock group the ‘Doors’ (see also best songs 235 and 133) for their self titled debut Album in 1967. The bands lead singer Jim Morrison changed the songs lyrics in the second verse from ‘Show us the way to the next pretty boy’ to, ‘Show me the way to the next little girl,’ and also for the third and final verse as well, ‘Show me the way to the next little dollar’ is omitted completely. Another notable recording was made by David Bowie (1948-2016) (see also best songs 807-440-334-302-209-186-118-47 and 5) in 1980, who had always been a fan of Bertolt Brecht, his version reached Number 23 in the UK.

”Alabama-Song’ has three themes, materialism, despair, and illicit pleasures.

‘Oh moon of Alabama it’s time to say goodbye, we’ve lost our good old mama and must have whiskey or you know why.’