Overture / Ballad of Mack the Knife

[BALLAD SINGER]
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's turbid waters
Men abruptly tumble down
Is it plague or is it cholera?
Or a sign Macheath's in town?

[BALLAD SINGER & MEN]
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 Meiеr, who is missing
Like so many wealthy men
Mack thе 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

[BALLAD SINGER]
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?