This version is hitting me just right, today. I'm mad as hell at our country, as a woman, and I FEEL like this right now. Why else does a 55 year old woman start watching EVERY VERSION OF PIRATE JENNY all of a sudden?
Which one became your favourite- I love Marianne Faithfull's but I must say Ute Lemper when she adds her whistling to it- well, it doesn't get much better! I had a fight with my partner and I am ALWAYS annoyed with my government- Canada- I only hope- this is 2021, mid Feb. the world doesn't stand on the edge of darkness again- an American civil war- kind of an oxymoron that one- nothing civil about war, George used Military Intelligence as his fav oxymoron! I also think esp with gas prices rising daily, insanely, Putin and Company may be planning some nastiness in the Ukraine? I hate war- what does it ever solve- oh some say, "it boosts the economy" yes, but at WHAT COST. Funny how the comments here are from women in bad moods- over on Ute Lemper's two guys were arguing gently, over the pros and cons of how she chose to perform the song! Namaste (I like your nick name- Lippy Lulu!)
How wise you were, to have actually seen this, in-person, back then! Memories like these are priceless and alas, unlike you, I missed it. Yes, I agree in re the '76 translation and L. Lenya: Even though she originated the role and am sure both Weill and Brecht liked her rendition (?) from a musical-standpoint level it's a bit coarse on my ears
Great video, good sound quality, and intriguing performance. Wish there were clips of the 1976-77, New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Threepenny..." on TH-cam (with Raul Julia as "Macheath"). I have the LP. I'm sure footage exists somewhere of this production but there's no DVD out. Anybody know for sure or not?
Not realised until today that this was the inspiration for Dylan and "When the ship comes in" back in the sixties. Even little fragments of tune, if you listen carefully.
I too, have that LP, bought it right after seeing that show in a Wednesday matinee. IIRC, the tickets were $10 each. Amazing how prices have changed. The translation they used in '76 is my favorite. Nice performance here. I prefer this (deeper/richer) voice to the definitive Lotte Lenya.
This is indeed a good performance of the song. I wish people would give Marc Blitzstein proper credit for the English version of The Threepenny Opera. He did the adaptation of Brecht's play familiar to English-speaking audiences. Some songs (like this one) stayed close to the originals while others differed greatly (especially when they were "cleaned up" for 1950s theatergoers.) Personally I like both versions for different reasons.
You've got to hear the version in the Donmar Warehouse production available on e-music ...sung with a Glasgow accent, in a new, even harsher translation and scary as hell.
I think, it's a nice performance - but since I'm german I see the weaknesses of the translation. Has any of you ever listened to Bea Arthurs version on her Just between friends CD? I liked that one very much.
Does one need to have had an argument with their partner or with the capitalist system (higher property taxes as an example- hope I didn't jinx us! I love the work of Weill and Brecht- timeless- and THIS song- I've heard it by so many women and it never fails to resonate- good moods too! (I usually put Tom Waits on piano) Namaste
I still love this though, right here and right now. I'm ANGRY at our country and THIS version is doing it for me because of her ACTING. Love Nina Simone too. #FrightMatters.
One of the better version of such a hard song to sing well, getting the balance of the musical aesthetics and the raw anger just right must be very difficult.
Actually, I agree with you 100%: Hildegard Knef was an absolute original; a product of her times; I don't think any of the younger female German performers could approximate the kind of cynical rage that can only have been borne out of all that post-war devastation. Americans don't understand this, never having had to thoroughly rebuild hundreds of years of history the way Germany/Europe, and Japan, for instance, have...*not* to say this is *singularly* Knef's forte, but it figures, somewhat
She does a nice job, as a concert piece, and has a good voice. But her characterization is not gritty enough (the character in the song is a lowly, abused bar maid). It would be interesting to see her in a full production of "The Threepenny Opera." Thanks for posting.
I must disagree...I believe she got exactly what Kurt Weill was going for in this song. Haunting, dark and sinister. To bring that much emotion to a song while just standing there takes great talent.
I like half of this performance, and the other half I'm not so hot about. I like her singing the verses, but for some reason, the chorus annoys me. Maybe it's just because I'm so used to Lotte Lenya's version(s) of this song.
Dan Roy 4 years ago “I love this, even though it's the whitest version ever” You obviously know nothing about this song, or the show it comes from. Nicholas Stix, Uncensored
Nicholas Stix I'm interested in the original source of this song and the show it comes from... Would you please elaborate? I would love to know what you know. Thanks...
Wow I'm the odd one out. This version is horrible to me. The Donmar Warehouse version is so much better. She's not even trying to sing it like it's meant to be sung. It's not suppose to be pretty. She's trying to change the whole rhythm of the song.
Anne Ford At Europe it's custom to 'perform' classic songs at recitals, at USA lot of singers like to 'interprete' (even sense becomes wrong like at above clip) meaning they are more important than what they singing. A manner similar to Vienna Throats at time period of Mozart and his operas. Therefore this is a bad performance.
Maybe that's why, when I performed it with WDR's Big Band in Germany at the Philharmonic Hall for Weill's centenary, I got a rave review. I find it flattering that I am so controversial! Thank you!
Anne Ford I see. I know like many other Big Bands at Germany WDR's one prefers jazz like American piano bar style since re-founding single broadcast stations after WW2. I've to correct my statement above about Europe custom in general which I have to restrict to theatre stages e.g. Dreigroschenoper at Berliner Ensemble. At there I heard my all-time favorite performance sung by Franziska Troeger: daydream-like, self-confident without shouting, and with little surprise at her voice at "Alle." when she is asked who should be killed. Nevertheless I whish you all the best for the future to get your audience. :)
pega17pl Actually, all artists interpret art. Directors, singers, actors, music players. Performing art isn't stagnant, it's vibrant and it changes with every performance and every audience in every time and every place it's recreated. A new point of view, a new way of performance does not indicate lack of respect to the original piece nor it is "wrong". Whether Anne Ford's voice and performance is to your liking, that's absolutely up to you, but to judge it as "bad" because of the differences with the original? When did art become a fixed shape in time and space? Besides, have a look at this very interesting article. It might enlighten you. ;) theconversation.com/were-playing-classical-music-all-wrong-composers-wanted-us-to-improvise-36090 (For the record, I found the performance deeply emotional and theatrical, if a click more dramatic than I would prefer it. The articulation shattered me to bits and pieces, such beautiful consonants!)
This lady (A.K. Ford) does a great job, but she just doesn't seem as loony as a criminally-vindicative "Pirate Jenny" ought to be! :-D Or, maybe, it's just Knef chopping off with the hard Teutonic tongue that makes one feel so adequately convinced. Given the level of über-feminism in modern German Kultur, though, it's only a matter of time before H. K. is surpassed...? Yikes---batten down the hatches!
She an amazing singer, but I don't like her version of this song at all, just not the vibe, something got lost in the way and don't sound like it should (in my very humble opinion)
yes a strong expression, but actually it is overperformed. In reality Jenny is a *suppressed* quiet shy personality - with of course some hidden, quiet hate *inside* (!) not outside ! It is actually a quiet dream of here. So this is - sorry - despite the great expression, a wrong interpretation of the piece. As mostly unfortunately.
This version is hitting me just right, today. I'm mad as hell at our country, as a woman, and I FEEL like this right now. Why else does a 55 year old woman start watching EVERY VERSION OF PIRATE JENNY all of a sudden?
Which one became your favourite- I love Marianne Faithfull's but I must say Ute Lemper when she adds her whistling to it- well, it doesn't get much better! I had a fight with my partner and I am ALWAYS annoyed with my government- Canada- I only hope- this is 2021, mid Feb. the world doesn't stand on the edge of darkness again- an American civil war- kind of an oxymoron that one- nothing civil about war, George used Military Intelligence as his fav oxymoron! I also think esp with gas prices rising daily, insanely, Putin and Company may be planning some nastiness in the Ukraine? I hate war- what does it ever solve- oh some say, "it boosts the economy" yes, but at WHAT COST. Funny how the comments here are from women in bad moods- over on Ute Lemper's two guys were arguing gently, over the pros and cons of how she chose to perform the song! Namaste (I like your nick name- Lippy Lulu!)
😂😂😂😂😂😂❤🔥 There’s gonna be rEvolution soon! ✨🌎✨
Wonderful controlled madness brooded over in one of the most chilling songs Weill/Brecht ever wrote. Three cheers for Anne Kerry Ford. Hoopla!
Hoppla
WOW! FANTASTIC VOICE! This musical has some AWESOME DARK and SKANKY songs. I don't know why people aren't more head over heels about it.
She does this the best of all I've heard.
Thank you!
Great interpretation of this great song.
By far my favorite take on this song!
Excellent rendition of this song!!! I love the expressions she gave as she sang.
I saw Ellen Greene perform this in a NYC production decades ago. I loved it, and her performance became my standard. Ford does a creditable job.
Soooo Goooood.....
Great performance.....
BRAVO
i also like Lotte Lenya's B/W youtube video of the opera
Brilliant! Marvellously scary. Best English version of this song I knew.
This is a really brilliant performance.
How wise you were, to have actually seen this, in-person, back then! Memories like these are priceless and alas, unlike you, I missed it.
Yes, I agree in re the '76 translation and L. Lenya: Even though she originated the role and am sure both Weill and Brecht liked her rendition (?) from a musical-standpoint level it's a bit coarse on my ears
a master at work!
Thank you.
SO VERY MUCH!!!
Anne Kerry Ford sings beautifully. =)~
WOW!!!! it's f good
I must agree. I really enjoyed Bea's voice with this song even though she didn't even play that role.
Great video, good sound quality, and intriguing performance. Wish there were clips of the 1976-77, New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Threepenny..." on TH-cam (with Raul Julia as "Macheath"). I have the LP. I'm sure footage exists somewhere of this production but there's no DVD out. Anybody know for sure or not?
Not realised until today that this was the inspiration for Dylan and "When the ship comes in" back in the sixties. Even little fragments of tune, if you listen carefully.
Un bel notte vedremo! The arrival of the ship, the distant cannon in the harbor, and what happens this time as her man approaches her abode.
Absolutely love this version. Some versions try to camp it up. I prefer it sung with poison.
You should try Betty Buckley's version from her Carnegie Hall concert CD( from 1996 or so). Dark, chilly and dramatic.
I too, have that LP, bought it right after seeing that show in a Wednesday matinee. IIRC, the tickets were $10 each. Amazing how prices have changed.
The translation they used in '76 is my favorite.
Nice performance here. I prefer this (deeper/richer) voice to the definitive Lotte Lenya.
just the right amount of crazy
A huge influence on Dylan when he heard this song in '61...according to Dylan himself!
it's here. Keep looking.
This is indeed a good performance of the song. I wish people would give Marc Blitzstein proper credit for the English version of The Threepenny Opera. He did the adaptation of Brecht's play familiar to English-speaking audiences. Some songs (like this one) stayed close to the originals while others differed greatly (especially when they were "cleaned up" for 1950s theatergoers.) Personally I like both versions for different reasons.
Indeed, the translation is marvellous.
does anyone know where you can get this song in the same key but in an instramental version?
You've got to hear the version in the Donmar Warehouse production available on e-music ...sung with a Glasgow accent, in a new, even harsher translation and scary as hell.
Super :P
I think, it's a nice performance - but since I'm german I see the weaknesses of the translation. Has any of you ever listened to Bea Arthurs version on her Just between friends CD? I liked that one very much.
Further thought---might be rude to say this on someone else's video post, but the 1960s Hildegard Knef rendition "auf Deutsch" is the best
Haha, Knef had a unique way of "singing". But I also love it.
Does one need to have had an argument with their partner or with the capitalist system (higher property taxes as an example- hope I didn't jinx us! I love the work of Weill and Brecht- timeless- and THIS song- I've heard it by so many women and it never fails to resonate- good moods too! (I usually put Tom Waits on piano) Namaste
Late comment, I know. But Judy Collins for exact intonation and Nina Simone for fright. Unbeatable by any nouveau bint.
+James Burton Yes, the Judy Collins version is definitely the best.
Agreed.
I still love this though, right here and right now. I'm ANGRY at our country and THIS version is doing it for me because of her ACTING. Love Nina Simone too. #FrightMatters.
Judy's is my favorite !
WHOA
Judy Collins' gives me the shivers and scares my kids. It's sooooo evil.
She performed this how it was meant to be done, and nina's is also good, but kerry hear does this like a pro
One of the better version of such a hard song to sing well, getting the balance of the musical aesthetics and the raw anger just right must be very difficult.
Actually, I agree with you 100%: Hildegard Knef was an absolute original; a product of her times; I don't think any of the younger female German performers could approximate the kind of cynical rage that can only have been borne out of all that post-war devastation. Americans don't understand this, never having had to thoroughly rebuild hundreds of years of history the way Germany/Europe, and Japan, for instance, have...*not* to say this is *singularly* Knef's forte, but it figures, somewhat
She reminds me of Gloria Swanson a bit. Great performance.
i like the dresden dolls / amanda palmers version
Wonderful - will look at Nina Simone's version. Love Judy Collins rendition
she scares me like she has a gremlin in her
She does a nice job, as a concert piece, and has a good voice. But her characterization is not gritty enough (the character in the song is a lowly, abused bar maid). It would be interesting to see her in a full production of "The Threepenny Opera." Thanks for posting.
Less dramatic than Ute Lemper but did a good job on her softly voice, my choice's still Nina Simone.
Und fragen, "Welchen sollen wir tötennnnnn?"
I wish I could find a version of Nina Simone singing this.
@blackbird107 no, it's supposed to show frustration and rage. just listen to te lyrics, there is nothing pretty and singable about them.
I must disagree...I believe she got exactly what Kurt Weill was going for in this song. Haunting, dark and sinister. To bring that much emotion to a song while just standing there takes great talent.
I love this, even though it's the whitest version ever
I like half of this performance, and the other half I'm not so hot about. I like her singing the verses, but for some reason, the chorus annoys me. Maybe it's just because I'm so used to Lotte Lenya's version(s) of this song.
Dan Roy 4 years ago
“I love this, even though it's the whitest version ever”
You obviously know nothing about this song, or the show it comes from.
Nicholas Stix, Uncensored
Your racist opinions are not appreciated.
Nicholas Stix I'm interested in the original source of this song and the show it comes from... Would you please elaborate? I would love to know what you know. Thanks...
SiaFulani: The OP already gave the information you seek.
Nicholas Stix, Uncensored
Yeah, Weill's woefully neglected in general, think the tide is turning though.
Wow I'm the odd one out. This version is horrible to me. The Donmar Warehouse version is so much better. She's not even trying to sing it like it's meant to be sung. It's not suppose to be pretty. She's trying to change the whole rhythm of the song.
Nina Simone owns this!!
***** Totally agree! This 'interpretation' with extended tremoli and other trumpery is simply terrible.
wow, it's great to have haters!
Anne Ford At Europe it's custom to 'perform' classic songs at recitals, at USA lot of singers like to 'interprete' (even sense becomes wrong like at above clip) meaning they are more important than what they singing. A manner similar to Vienna Throats at time period of Mozart and his operas. Therefore this is a bad performance.
Maybe that's why, when I performed it with WDR's Big Band in Germany at the Philharmonic Hall for Weill's centenary, I got a rave review.
I find it flattering that I am so controversial! Thank you!
Anne Ford I see. I know like many other Big Bands at Germany WDR's one prefers jazz like American piano bar style since re-founding single broadcast stations after WW2. I've to correct my statement above about Europe custom in general which I have to restrict to theatre stages e.g. Dreigroschenoper at Berliner Ensemble. At there I heard my all-time favorite performance sung by Franziska Troeger: daydream-like, self-confident without shouting, and with little surprise at her voice at "Alle." when she is asked who should be killed.
Nevertheless I whish you all the best for the future to get your audience. :)
pega17pl Actually, all artists interpret art. Directors, singers, actors, music players. Performing art isn't stagnant, it's vibrant and it changes with every performance and every audience in every time and every place it's recreated. A new point of view, a new way of performance does not indicate lack of respect to the original piece nor it is "wrong". Whether Anne Ford's voice and performance is to your liking, that's absolutely up to you, but to judge it as "bad" because of the differences with the original? When did art become a fixed shape in time and space?
Besides, have a look at this very interesting article. It might enlighten you. ;)
theconversation.com/were-playing-classical-music-all-wrong-composers-wanted-us-to-improvise-36090
(For the record, I found the performance deeply emotional and theatrical, if a click more dramatic than I would prefer it. The articulation shattered me to bits and pieces, such beautiful consonants!)
Und sie wissen NICHT mit wem sie reden^^
This lady (A.K. Ford) does a great job, but she just doesn't seem as loony as a criminally-vindicative "Pirate Jenny" ought to be! :-D Or, maybe, it's just Knef chopping off with the hard Teutonic tongue that makes one feel so adequately convinced. Given the level of über-feminism in modern German Kultur, though, it's only a matter of time before H. K. is surpassed...? Yikes---batten down the hatches!
She an amazing singer, but I don't like her version of this song at all, just not the vibe, something got lost in the way and don't sound like it should (in my very humble opinion)
This version seems embarrassing compared to Nina Simone's
yes a strong expression, but actually it is overperformed. In reality Jenny is a *suppressed* quiet shy personality - with of course some hidden, quiet hate *inside* (!) not outside ! It is actually a quiet dream of here.
So this is - sorry - despite the great expression, a wrong interpretation of the piece. As mostly unfortunately.