The fourth song in my blog series is called Pirate Jenny from the musical The Threepenny Opera written by Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weill. (English Lyrics by Marc Blitzstein) It is a song about the ultimate revenge when a bar maid imagines herself as a Pirate Queen that takes over the city she resides in by first having cannons fire from the pirate ship flattening out all the buildings except the hotel where she resides. She then has her pirate band sneak in and capture all the people and them bring them to her. She orders them to be killed on the spot. In the original production the character of Polly sings the song in Act I at her wedding banquet and it expresses her anger towards her overly controlling parents. In later productions the song is moved to Act II and is sung by Jenny, a former lover of Mackie (the leading man and notorious criminal. Mack the Knife is a very popular song from the play that describes him). When she sings the song it is a reflection of her jealousy towards Mackie taking a new bride and the thrill of having Mackie's fate in her own hands as she has just turned him into the police who will surely execute him. I was introduced to this song in college and decided to revisit it because it is vocally challenging and a great acting piece. Of course I don't condone anything the song has to say, I am playing a villain pure and simple...
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