Heard the Bobby Darin tune Mack the Knife on the radio the other day and as the DJ introduced it he asked “Does anyone know how Sukey Tawdry got in there?” I knew the song involved a murderous dude, but I’d never listened closely to all of its lyrics. Sure enough towards the end of the song several folks are mentioned including Sukey. Got me wondering about the song in general and Sukey in particular. Songfacts explained that Sukey was a street walker in the play The Threepenny Opera. I then found out about The Threepenny Opera where the song originated as a last minute appeasement to the play’s star:
Its opening and closing lament, "The Ballad of Mackie Messer", was
written just before the Berlin premiere, when actor Harald Paulsen
(Macheath) threatened to quit if his character did not receive an
introduction; this creative emergency resulted in what would become the
work's most popular song...
You know the Bobby Darin version but check out how Marvin covered it.