“And the shark he has his teeth and
There they are for all to see
And Macheath he has his knife but
No one knows where it may be.”

— Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera

"The Moritat of Mackie the Knife" in Prologue, p. 3
Translation note: A "moritat" (a word meaning both "muderous deed" and "ballad") is a street song telling of murderous crimes.
Lotte Lenya, "Foreword", p. xii
Variant translation: Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear,
And he shows them pearly white
Just a jack-knife has Macheath dear
And he keeps it out of sight.
Marc Blitzstein translation; largely used for Louis Armstrong's and Bobby Darin's pop renditions of "The Ballad of Mack the Knife"
The Threepenny Opera (1928)

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Bertolt Brecht102

German poet, playwright, theatre director 1898–1956

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