What Keeps Mankind Alive? Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Heathcliff Huxtable 

Cover art for What Keeps Mankind Alive? lyrics by Tom Waits

This song is from "The Three Penny Opera," a German musical from the 30s. It was written by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht. It's a great play, incidentally. Some friends of mine put it on a couple years ago. The most popular song from it is "Mack the Knife." "Pirate Jenny" is great, too (listen to Nina Simone's version, though it's nothing like the original). Tom does the song perfectly. Mirah also does a great version of this song.