Tom Waits - What Keeps Mankind Alive Lyrics






You gentlemen who think you have a mission
To purge us of the seven deadly sins
Should first sort out the basic food position
Then start your preaching, that's where it begins

You lot who preach restraint and watch your waist as well
Should learn, for once, the way the world is run
However much you twist or whatever lies that you tell
Food is the first thing, morals follow on

So first make sure that those who are now starving
Get proper helpings when we all start carving
What keeps mankind alive?

What keeps mankind alive?
The fact that millions are daily tortured
Stifled, punished, silenced and oppressed
Mankind can keep alive thanks to its brilliance
In keeping its humanity repressed
And for once you must try not to shriek the facts
Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts





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Tom Waits What Keeps Mankind Alive Comments
  1. W.... C....

    Tom Waits' voice is perfect for this song, but this version is still my favorite:https://youtu.be/zivr__LnHkM

  2. R.... D....

    Tom Waits is the working man's voice made flesh.

  3. T.... B....

    For me it's Tasty Burgers, Snacks and the obscure movies of Don Dohler like Fiend. And Music by artists that has cost me a few friends.

  4. m.... e....

    Just now reading the Eric Bentley translation of "Threepenny Opera". I prefer the translation in Waits' version. But here is the Bentley translation:
    SECOND THREEPENNY-FINALE
    MACHEATH:
    Now all you gentlemen who wish to lead us
    Who teach us to desist from mortal sin
    Your prior obligation is to feed us:
    When we've had lunch, your preaching can begin.
    All you who love your paunch and our propriety
    Take note of this one thing (for it is late) :
    You may proclaim, good sirs, your fine philosophy
    But till you feed us, right and wrong can wait!
    Or is it only those who have the money
    Can enter in the land. of milk and honey?
    VOICE OFF:
    What does a man live by?
    MACHEATH:
    What does a man live by? By resolutely
    Ill-treating, beating, cheating, eating some
    other bloke!
    A man can only live by absolutely
    Forgetting he's a man like other folk!
    CHORUS OFF:
    So, gentlemen, do not be taken in:
    Men live exclusively by mortal sin.
    GINNY JENNY:
    All you who say what neckline is decreed us
    And who decide when ogling is a sin
    Your prior obligation is to feed us
    When we've had lunch, your preaching can begin.
    You who insist upon your pleasure and our shame
    Take note of this one thing (for it is late) :
    Your fine philosophy, good sirs, you may proclaim
    But till you feed us, right and wrong can wait!
    Or is it only those who have the money
    Can enter in the land of milk and honey?
    VOICE OFF:
    What does a man live by?

  5. f.... ....

    The word is shirk, not shrink, Tom.

  6. K.... F....

    I respect Waits' artistry, and I like the Pet Shop Boys approach, but they're hampered by this translation. I prefer the Donmar Warehouse version. And nothing surpasses Marc Blitzstein's English lyrics--renamed "How to Survive"--as recorded in the famous Theatre de Lys staging.

  7. I.... 4....

    The opening kind of reminds me of Underground from Swordfishtrombones.

  8. L.... A....

    Pet Shop Boys

  9. C.... Z....

    I sang this at an antiwar concert after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. I have performed in many Brecht/Weill pieces and this is one of my favorite songs. Tom Waits gets it.

  10. 3.... ....

    "mankind is kept alive by bestial acts" -- can't argue with that

  11. k.... d....

    Food is the first thing... but do morals really follow after that? Hmm... I am not so sure. Usually it's bank accounts.

  12. k.... d....

    This is just tru... _w0rD

  13. G.... E....

    Pet Shop Boys version is awesome

  14. 8.... ....

    Heh, interesting version, I've always loved the Pet Shop Boys one.

  15. A.... H....

    Anyone who has read "The Brothers Karamazov," by Fyodor Dostoyevsky will reminded of The Grand Inquisitor from the lyrics to this.

    A.... H....

    Anyone who has seen The Threepenny Opera will know this song.

  16. Z.... ....

    I have performed this song. It's one of my favorites. I did a different translation, though. The one from the Donmar Warehouse production.

  17. R.... M....

    The SUN....

  18. P.... M....

    Food is the first thing, morals follow on

  19. k.... ....

    the answer to this question is great artists like Tom 

  20. G.... ....

    It is not a song of Tom Waits, it is a song/aria of "The treepenny opera" of Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht.

  21. J.... B....

    it came to me out of the blue that Waits had Brecht's sensibility. Then I found this and I am blown away.

  22. n.... ....

    Kurt Weill, hm... thanks!

  23. M.... C....

    McHeath seems too slick for Waits - Peacham is more of a rough sort who would, IMHO, suit Waits voice much better.

  24. Y.... M....

    No, not peachum, let him play macheath, he would suite him much better^^

  25. M.... C....

    Can you just see Tom Waits playing Peacham in Threepenny? That ALONE would be worth the price of a ticket.

  26. L.... H....

    Back when I was 16 years old, I love my rock and metal (don't get me wrong I still do) But I was set in my ways, I wouldnt listen to any other genre, I would have called this music shit back then, thankfully I have evolved since then, it's a shame some people never evolve past the Beyonces, Beibers and Backstreet boys of this world

    L.... H....

    Laura H R Durrant what a scary thought!

  27. H.... ....

    PSB made their cover in 1 minute, faster than the song. They clearly rushed it.

  28. D.... ....

    Tom needs to play the villain in a Disney Movie.

    D.... ....

    Doomitume funny you mention that. I was led here from a comment on another video saying how the tune in this song matches "Be Prepared" from the Lion King

    D.... ....

    A little drop of poison is in the candy apple bar scene in shrek

  29. B.... O....

    NEED CHORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  30. W.... ....

    I feel like this came off some Disney film that never made it to theaters. I'd watch an animated film with Tom Waits voicing the villain.

  31. E.... ....

    PSB version is much better. This singer seem a man with tuberculosis.

    E.... ....

    @Richard T seems not everyone gets Tom...

  32. M.... ....

    @lofod I'd imagine it counts as a concept album, but great nonetheless!

  33. l.... ....

    @TheInnovativeSam

    Did Black Ryder counts as a musical?

  34. N.... ....

    @andrewwhitney i give u a thumbs up

  35. N.... ....

    @andrewwhitney LOL very funny

  36. M.... T....

    Dang, his voice scares the hell out of me....but I love it so much!

  37. A.... ....

    Can not express how F**k'n awesome this song is!!!! UNF!

  38. M.... ....

    Why on earth hasn't he wrote a musical!?!?!?!?

    M.... ....

    You've probably looked this up by now, but he did write a musical back in the 80s called Franks Wild Years (the apostrophe is left out on purpose), which he later made into an album of the same name. He's written music for other musicals since then, he just hasn't written any musicals of his own.

  39. J.... J....

    @anangryorc
    The cabaret atmosphere and many of Waits instrumentations put him squarely in genre with Weill & Brecht. When the vanDruten/Isherwood/Kander/Ebb "Cabaret" is re-done, I can see any number of Waits' pieces fitting (too) well.
    Meanwhile .. love the brief glimpse we get, above, of Tom in his High School Yearbook

  40. K.... B....

    am I the only one who thinks James Hettfield looks like Tom Waits

  41. C.... G....

    Holy shit Brecht!

  42. d.... ....

    2 people didn't get proper helpings.

  43. d.... ....

    2 people didn't get proper helpings.

  44. d.... s....

    I like to swallow them whole!
    MMMMM . . . .men!
    Women . . . .MMMMMM
    Mankind: Delicious!

  45. U.... R....

    @anangryorc

    you're completely right...
    AMEN!

  46. W.... ....

    He is simply brilliant. More artists like Tom please.

  47. P.... P....

    Tom is a re bom.....

  48. G.... M....

    I love you Tom Waits!

  49. W.... V....

    @jcpelly Idk Burroughs wasn't as convincing when I heard him recite this.

  50. s.... ....

    The Mirah & the Black Cat Orchestra version is amazing. As is this one, of course. <3

  51. J.... ....

    I really like the version with William S Burroughs, but Tom Waits is always insanely amazing.

  52. R.... ....

    Mankind is kept alive by bestial acts

  53. A.... ....

    @andrewwhitney They made completely different song to this lyrics.

  54. Z.... ....

    @dococksmother Judging by his youtube name, he probably hasn't.

  55. D.... ....

    Great song! What keeps mankind alive was the motto of the 2009 modern art bienalley in Istanbul. That's where I first heard of Tom Waits

  56. 3.... ....

    Actually, Yes. It's a Sin, but how can you expect to be taken seriously where the streets have no name? It must be obvious that hit music deserves one more chance, for your own good.

  57. L.... P....

    tom waits rules.

  58. R.... H....

    Tom is great, good job and very interesting choice of music lol

  59. F.... S....

    I prefer Ernst Busch´s version, but it´s also really fine

  60. J.... L....

    Seriously? You think?

  61. m.... ....

    only Tom Waits could make an oompah band sound sinister

  62. s.... ....

    'Mankind survives thanks to his brilliance at keeping his humanity repressed...'

  63. s.... ....

    The famous Louis Armstrong-Bobby Darren song, 'Mac the Knife' is also from the same play. His full name is Mackie Messer. In the original 'Beggars Opera' written by John Gay in the 1700s, the anti-hero is Captain MacHeath, the notorious highwayman. Brecht preferred 'honest' crooks to politicians - the expert sneak thieves of modern times. Even the brutal Mackie Messer was preferable to Hitler...

  64. s.... ....

    Bertolt Brecht who wrote the words to this masterpiece (in German - this is a translation) is the person who truly deserves the accolades 4 telling the truth about mankind. Tom Waits is a superb performer with the impeccable good taste to see the brilliance of Weill and Brechts collaboration to present it to a more modern audience - and the central statement is still true - mankind survives by bestial acts. This song is from the 'Threepenny Opera' an anti-fascist play from 1933 - Hitler time.

  65. 2.... ....

    Mr. Hyde

  66. J.... L....

    This is true