The "Alabama Song"—also known as "Moon of Alabama", "Moon over Alabama", and "Whisky Bar"—is an English version of a song written by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and translated from German by his close collaborator

Elisabeth Hauptmann Elisabeth Hauptmann (20 June 1897, Peckelsheim, Westphalia, German Empire – 20 April 1973, East Berlin) was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year sh ...

in 1925 and set to music by

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

for the 1927 play '' Little Mahagonny''. It was reused for the 1930 opera '' Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' and has been recorded by

the Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Original version

The "Alabama Song" was written as a German poem and translated into

idiosyncratic An idiosyncrasy is a unique feature of something. The term is often used to express peculiarity. Etymology The term "idiosyncrasy" originates from Greek ', "a peculiar temperament, habit of body" (from ', "one's own", ', "with" and ', "blend ...

English for the author

by his close collaborator

in 1925 and published in Brecht's 1927 ''Home Devotions'' ('), a parody of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

's collection of sermons. It was set to music by

for the 1927 play '' Little Mahagonny'' (') and reused for Brecht and Weill's 1930 opera '' Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'' ('), where it is sung by Jenny and her fellow prostitutes in Act I. Although the majority of all three works is in German, the "Alabama Song" retained Hauptmann's English lyrics throughout. Brecht and Weill's version of the song was first performed by the

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

actress and dancer

Lotte Lenya Lotte Lenya (born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer; 18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981) was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is be ...

, Weill's wife, in the role of Jessie at the 1927

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

Festival's performance of ''Little Mahagonny''. The first recording of the song—by Lenya for the Homocord record label—came out in early 1930 under the title "Alabama-Song"; it was rerecorded the same year for the Ultraphon record label for release with the 1930

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

premiere of ''The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'', despite Lenya not being a member of that cast. She continued to perform and record the song throughout her life, including for her 1955 album ''Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill'' ('), released in the United States under the title ''Berlin Theater Songs''..

The Doors version

The song was recorded in 1966 by the rock group

, listed as "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)". According to drummer

John Densmore John Paul Densmore (born December 1, 1944) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the Rock music, rock band the Doors and as such is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He appeared on every recording made by the band, ...

and guitarist

Robby Krieger Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits " Light My Fire", " Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...

, the song was presented by keyboardist

Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. ( Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the rock band the Doors, co-founding the group in 1965 with fellow UCLA School of Theater, Film and Te ...

to the group during their early years, and due to their dissatisfaction with the melody, they radically changed it. The Doors' cover version combines

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

and carnival music influences with psychedelic elements. It was a regular one from their set at the

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed The Whisky) is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boulev ...

, and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

reported that he was surprised when he heard the Doors playing it at the venue. Lead singer

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...

altered the second verse from "Show us the way to the next pretty boy" to "Show me the way to the next little girl". For the Doors' recording, Ray Manzarek also contributed marxophone along with organ and keyboard bass. Manzarek recalled that it was producer Paul Rothchild's idea to provide a marxophone on the track, to which Manzarek ultimately said, "It worked out perfectly, that jingle- jangly sound."

Personnel

Per sources: *

– lead and backing vocals *

– guitar, backing vocals *

– Vox Continental,

keyboard bass Keyboard bass (shortened to keybass and sometimes referred as a synth bass) is the use of a smaller, low-pitched keyboard with fewer notes than a regular keyboard or pedal keyboard to substitute for the deep notes of a bass guitar or double bas ...

, marxophone, backing vocals *

– drums, backing vocals * Paul A. Rothchild – backing vocals

David Bowie version

, a Brecht fan, performed the song throughout his 1978 Isolar II tour. A live version from the tour, recorded in either Philadelphia on 29 April 1978 or in Boston on 6 May, appeared on the 1991, 2005 and 2017 reissues of the

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

Stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

''. On 2 July 1978, a day after the tour's European leg ended, Bowie recorded a studio version at

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

's Good Earth Studios in London with his studio band. Pianist Sean Mayes stated that "it had been such a hit on the tour that David wanted to do it as a single." With unconventional key changes, the track "seemed calculated to disrupt any radio programme on which it was lucky enough to get played", in the words of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' editors

Roy Carr Roy Carr (1945 – 1 July 2018) was an English music journalist, covering pop, rock and jazz. He joined the ''New Musical Express (NME)'' in the late 1960s, and edited ''NME'', '' Vox'' and ''Melody Maker'' magazines. Biography Born in Black ...

and

Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English Music journalism, music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the ''NME, New Musical Express'' (''NME'') and many other magazines and newspapers, and has ...

. Bowie's studio cut of "Alabama Song" was released by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

as a single on 15 February 1980, with the catalogue number RCA BOW 5. Reaching number 23 in the UK, the single featured a fold-out sleeve and was backed by Bowie's new acoustic rendition of "

Space Oddity "Space Oddity" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was first released on 11 July 1969 by Philips and Mercury Records as a 7-inch single, then as the opening track of his second studio album, ''David Bowie''. Produce ...

", recorded in December 1979 for ''The "Will Kenny Everett Make It to 1980?" Show''. Discussing the track, biographer

Nicholas Pegg Nicholas Pegg is a British actor, director and writer. Education Educated at Nottingham High School and graduating with a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Exeter, Pegg subsequently trained at the Guildford School of ...

calls it "one of the most defiantly uncommercial, discordant and aggressive recordings Bowie ever released". In 2016, ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

'' placed the single at number 84 (out of 119) in a list ranking every Bowie single from worst to best. Bowie later appeared in a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

version of Brecht's ''

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

'' and released an EP of songs from the play. He subsequently performed "Alabama Song" on his 1990 Sound+Vision and 2002 Heathen tours. The song also appeared on the 1992

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

reissue of '' Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)'', as well as the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s '' Rare'' (1982), '' The Singles Collection'' (1993), ''

The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 ''The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987'' is a compilation album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as o ...

'' (2007) and ''Re:Call 3'', part of the '' A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)'' box set, in 2017.

Personnel

According to Chris O'Leary: *

– lead and backing vocal *

Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual approach to the instrument, his ...

– lead guitar, backing vocal *

Carlos Alomar Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician. History The son of a Pentecostal mi ...

– rhythm guitar, backing vocal *Simon House – electric violin *Sean Mayes – piano, backing vocal *Roger Powell – synthesiser * George Murray – bass, backing vocal * Dennis Davis – drums *

– backing vocal Technical *David Bowie – producer *Tony Visconti – producer

References in popular culture

* The Watergate Hotel lobby whisky bar is named after this song. * The political commentator Billmon named his blog ''Whiskey Bar'' quoting the song. When he closed the comments, his followers created another blog named ''Moon of Alabama''.

Selective list of recorded versions

* Jazz musicians

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain ...

and

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

recorded ''Mack the Knife and Other Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill'', an album of Kurt Weill tunes in 1964. "Alabama Song" was performed by a band consisting of Dolphy on

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

, Lewis on piano, Nick Travis on trumpet, Mike Zwerin on trombone, Richard Davis on double bass, and Connie Kay on drums. The solo order is trombone, piano, and bass clarinet. Zwerin asked Dolphy to "play what efelt about Alabama". * Dave Van Ronk recorded an acoustic solo version of "Alabama Song" on his 1966 LP No Dirty Names. *

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

. The song was included in a medley in her 1977 live show and double album '' Live at Last''. *

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

, on her 1987 album '' Live At Ronnie Scott's'', recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London in 1984. * It was covered by Ralph Schuckett with Richard Butler,

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer. He became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''Schoolhouse Rock!'', as well as for his wor ...

, Ellen Shipley and John Petersen on the

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

'' Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill''. * Ute Lemper in 1991: ''Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill'' *

The Young Gods The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985. The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler, sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. For most of their history, the band mainta ...

covered it on their 1991 release '' The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill'', with the lyrics "Show us the way to the next little girl". *

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

performed this song (along with several other Brecht/Weill songs) live on her ''20th Century Blues'' album released in 1996. *

David Johansen David Roger Johansen (January 9, 1950 – February 28, 2025) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor best known as lead singer of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Po ...

covered the song on a compilation of Kurt Weill's music entitled ''

September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill ''September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill'' is a music video of 94 minutes recorded in 1994 for Rhombus Media, ZDF (Germany), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC (Canada) and Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, RTP (Portugal). It was produced a ...

'', released in 1997.

References

Bibliography

* * *

Notes

{{authority control 1927 songs Arias in English Songs about Alabama Songs with music by Kurt Weill The Doors songs Songs about alcohol 1980 singles David Bowie songs Songs with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht Elektra Records singles RCA Records singles

Original version

The Doors version

Personnel

David Bowie version

Personnel

References in popular culture

Selective list of recorded versions

See also

References

Bibliography

Notes