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Stranger Songs
Tuesday May 30th, 2023 with Mike Regenstreif
Songs of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

The theme for this edition of Stranger Songs is "Songs of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)." Brecht, who died in 1956 at age 58, was a German playwright and poet who believed in the power of the arts to advance progressive causes. One of his most famous quotations is, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” Brecht collaborated with a number of composers – including Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and others – to put his words to music. Click on LISTEN NOW to hear this show. Click on LISTEN to hear the current CKCU broadcast.
fragment of The Stranger Song
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen - Columbia/Legacy Canadian
Songs from "The Threepenny Opera" (1928). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill.
Mack the Knife
Dave Van Ronk - Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht - Flying Fish
Pirate Jenny
Judy Collins - Forever: An Anthology - Elektra
Cannon Song
The Fowler Brothers & Stan Ridgway - Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill - A&M
Barbara Song
Beatrice Arthur - The Threepenny Opera – 1954 Off Broadway Cast Recording - Decca
What Keeps Mankind Alive?
William S. Burroughs - September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill - Sony Classical
Solomon Song
Lotte Lenya - The Threepenny Opera – 1954 Off Broadway Cast Recording - Decca
Tango Ballad
Dave Van Ronk & Frankie Armstrong - Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht - Flying Fish
Moritat von Mackie Messer (Mack the Knife)
Bertolt Brecht - September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill - Sony Classical
fragment of The Stranger Song
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen - Columbia/Legacy Canadian
Songs from "Happy End" (1929). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill.
The Bilbao Song
Martha Schlamme - A Kurt Weill Cabaret - MGM
Sailor's Tango
Lotte Lenya - Lotte Lenya Singt Kurt Weill - Philips
Mandalay Song
Will Holt - A Kurt Weill Cabaret - MGM
Surabaya Johnny
Bette Midler - Bette Midler - Atlantic
Songs from "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" (1944). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht. The songs from "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" have been set to music by many composers – with many productions of the play commissioning unique settings. These settings were composed by Dave Holt for a production by The Camp Meeker Players in Sonoma County, California in the 1970s and were recorded at a cast reunion seven or eight years ago. Special thanks to Mitch Greenhill for sending these unreleased recordings and securing permission to use them on this program.
Song of the Adoption
Carol Burleson, Mitch Greenhill & Dave Holt - The Caucasian Chalk Circle - unreleased recording – used with permission
Song of the Child
Carol Burleson, Mitch Greenhill & Dave Holt - The Caucasian Chalk Circle - unreleased recording – used with permission
Song of the Return
Carol Burleson, Mitch Greenhill & Dave Holt - The Caucasian Chalk Circle - unreleased recording – used with permission
Songs from "The Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny" (1927). Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, music by Kurt Weill.
We All Make the Bed That We Lie In
Dave Van Ronk - Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht - Flying Fish
Alabama Song
Marianne Faithfull - 20th Century Blues - RCA
Oh Heavenly Salvation
The Persuasions - September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill - Sony Classical
Songs with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and music by Hans Eisler.
To the Little Radio
Pirate Jenny Trio - Cabaret Blues - Pirate Jenny Trio Canadian
The Love Market
Frankie Armstrong - Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht - Flying Fish
Ballad of the Soldier’s Wife
Pirate Jenny Trio - Cabaret Blues - Pirate Jenny Trio Canadian
The Song of the Little Wind
Frankie Armstrong - Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht - Flying Fish
Song of a German Mother
Pirate Jenny Trio - Cabaret Blues - Pirate Jenny Trio Canadian
The show ends with an instrumental version of the song that began it.
Mack the Knife
Oscar Peterson & Itzhak Pearlman - Side By Side - Telarc Canadian
Interactive CKCU
Elsa
Brilliant songs, brilliant playwright, brilliant radio show. I'll be listening to this again, and again.

4:13 PM, May 30th, 2023
Mike Regenstreif (host)
Thanks Elsa.

4:14 PM, May 30th, 2023
Terri Thal
Excellent selection. I've listened to Brecht's songs since I saw Threepenny Opera at the Theater de Lys in the mid-1950s. Each of these shows the irony Brecht injected in his play. Thanks. (Additional note: The man I lived with from 2000 until he died six years ago had been a neighbor and friend of Lotte Lenya, and was a friend of the Kurt Weill Foundation. He said Dave's recording of Mack the Knife is the best rendition of that song he'd ever heard.)

9:19 PM, May 30th, 2023
Mike Regenstreif (host)
Thanks Terri. As I mentioned on the show, I owe my interest in Brecht to late-night conversations with Dave many decades ago.

10:57 PM, May 30th, 2023