Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Beyond the sea

Little known fact: Bobby Darin's two best known songs were foreign hits first. "Mack The Knife" is from Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill's Three Penny Opera.

And his most popular (arguably) hit "Beyond The Sea", is an English lyric by Jack Lawrence (wikipedia entry) of a song originally written by French singer/songwriter Charles Trenet, in the '40s.

Recorded over 400 times, Darin's is the most popular. But in an effort to find obscure music and promote it, here's English pop legend Cliff Richard singing "La Mer":



Here's Darin singing "Beyond The Sea" Live, toward the end of his short career. Don't be a snob, there's nothing uncool about this. This song swings, dammit!



Here's a version much closer to the original "Mackie Messer" by Italian singer Mina, from '74:



And for those who made it this far, the real treat: German band SLUT doing their version. (They have recorded 5 songs from the Three Penny Opera)



Let it be said, I got your freakin' obscure YouTube right here.

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