Alabama Song is a theatrical composition with music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, translated into English by Elisabeth Hauptmann. Brecht originally wrote the text as a poem in 1925, published in his collection Hauspostille (Manual of Piety). Weill set it to music in 1927, replacing an earlier, rudimentary musical setting that Weill dismissed as "completely useless as music." The song premiered at the 1927 Baden-Baden Festival as part of the short opera Mahagonny-Songspiel, sung by Weill's wife Lotte Lenya in the role of prostitute Jessie, and was later incorporated into the full opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in 1930. Also known by the alternate titles Moon of Alabama and Whisky Bar, the piece is a cabaret-style number with a haunting, repetitive melody that evokes alienation and desperation through its chant-like vocal delivery. Its speech-like rhythmic structure derives from Brecht's poetry, and the use of English lyrics within an otherwise German work was deliberately provocative. The composition has traveled far beyond its operatic origins, becoming one of Weill's most widely performed songs across genres. Notable interpreters include Lotte Lenya, who made the first recordings in 1930, jazz musicians such as Eric Dolphy, and rock artists including The Doors, whose 1967 version introduced it to a new audience, and David Bowie, who recorded it in 1978.
