Raging Grannies International Disorganization · Est. 1987
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Profiling Opera

Sung to
Mack The Knife
Written by
Monica Zucker
Gaggle
Seattle
No recording on file

Know the tune Mack The Knife? You're ready.

Record your gaggle singing it and we'll feature it here.

How to read the marks
Bold word Strong beat
Italic word Inflection / stress
[Chorus] Section label

Tips from the gaggle
  • Read the lyrics through once silently before singing.
  • If the original tune is unfamiliar, look it up first.
  • Modify freely. Every gaggle adapts songs to local issues.
SING IT to the tune of Mack The Knife

Oh, police have perfect vision
To distinguish wrong from right.
Their decisions are made easy—
It’s like telling black from white.

Oh, the drug war gives incentive
For a thousand stops a day.
First they cuff you, then they search you.
You’re not guilty, but you pay.

Don’t go driving in the evening
In a white suburban block
With your shiny new red auto
Or they’ll put you in the dock.

Totem carver, deaf in one ear,
The Policeman called out “STOP!”
He didn’t hear him, just kept walking,
Do you think he heard the shots?

If they stop you on suspicion,
Don’t talk back or try to run.
You could end up on a morgue slab—
“We were sure he had a gun.”

Oh, police have perfect vision
To distinguish wrong from right.
Their decisions are made easy –
It’s like telling black from white.

♦ ♦ ♦
Written by
Monica Zucker
For the
Seattle Gaggle