One of the most pivitol figures in the American folk music revival of the 1960s, Dave Van Ronk was a fixture of the Greenwich Village folk scene, gaining the nickname "the mayor of MacDougal Street." Born in Brooklyn, Van Ronk was a relative rarity in the New York folk scene, in that he was actually from New York. He was known as a welcoming presence to new arrivals, and had connections with many up-and-coming and established folk music figures, including Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Tom Paxton. Like many of his contemporaries, Van Ronk's politics were firmly left-wing, and he was a member of the Libertarian League, an anarcho-syndicalist collective. He also performed at a concert protesting the coup in Chile against the socialist government of Salvador Allende. Van Ronk was also one of 13 people arrested during the original Stonewall riot; while Van Ronk was straight, he had been eating in a neighboring establishment, and when he saw what was going on, declared that "they can't have a riot without me!" He died in 2002.
Discovered Dave Van Ronk’s cover of “Mack the Knife” yesterday. Last night I went on TubiTV’s MST3k channel—they were showing The Creeping Terror and referenced Van Ronk. It’s just one of those funny coincidences.
Anyway, I’ve decided to see where this wave takes me and am now rewatching GW Pabst’s The Threepenny Opera. Why not? “Mack the Knife” (in nearly all its incarnations) has always been a favorite of mine. It has some of the most descriptive, lurid lyrics ever and has a pretty interesting history in itself (I like songs that take on lives of their own, like “Stagger Lee” and Resző Seress’ “Gloomy Sunday.”)
Pabst’s film isn’t perfect (it scrambles Kurt Weill’s score for reasons I’ve never learned) but I like German films from the 20s and 30s that wallow in the seedy underbellies of metropolitan cities. (See also: Fritz Lang’s M and Dr. Mabuse movies, Pabst’s Pandora’s Box), Even if Weill’s songs are out of order, they’re still great songs, and it’s always fun to watch Lotte Lenya in anything.