"Mack the Knife (Prostate Cancer - Facts of Life)" by The Marsh Family with Prostate Cancer UK

We’ve been working with Prostate Cancer UK and are so proud to reveal our first ever "not in our house’’ music video titled "Mack the Knife (Prostate Cancer - Facts of life)". We got dressed up and everything! Thank you so much to Ellie and the team for helping us to feel comfortable with the project and make it so collaborative and enjoyable, while letting us be us. We have loved working with Prostate Cancer UK and their incredible staff, specialist nurses, and volunteers.
Please share the song as far as you can - it's available here to download and all profits will be donated by us to Prostate Cancer UK: orcd.co/marshf...
Whilst most of our songs have tongue-in-cheek tendencies, this song has extra meaning to the family, after Danielle’s dad (John) was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018. We felt it only right to raise awareness of the disease - the most common cancer in men - and spread the message further, with our approved lyric adaptation of the swing classic. Our favourite versions were Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Bobby Darin, and only a message as important as this would have inspired us to take on such an iconic song.
It’s so easy to push worries and concerns to one side with a busy life and a pandemic overshadowing everything. But if we can encourage people to make that GP appointment and gain peace of mind or an early diagnosis, then that would be amazing. We hope the lyrics will make people smile, but also realise how many of us have been touched by the disease and want to address it (Ben's grampa actually died with it too).
To find out more about prostate cancer and Prostate Cancer UK:
Check your risk in 30 seconds: bit.ly/3pl5tDd
Speak to a Specialist Nurse: bit.ly/3oeeVcc
Donate: bit.ly/3da9nJF
Social: @prostatecanceruk @ProstateUK prostatecanceruk
#MenWeAreWithYou
Thank you to all those involved in creating creating Mack the Knife (prostate cancer - facts of life):
Mixing:
Jez Larder - Skyline Studios
Katie Tavini - Mastering
Video:
Client: Prostate Cancer UK
Production Company: MOREVER
Directed by Dan Mellor
DoP: Bruce Jackson
Executive Producer: Mark Allin
Producer: Aiyana Gane
Client Relations: Abi Mellor
Camera Ops: Sam Cordell & Vasil Dzhagalov
Sound Recordist: David Briggs
Hair/Makeup: Kit Beaumont
Publicity:
Prostate Cancer UK
ImpressivePR
Distribution:
Nova Sales and Distribution via The Orchard
Licensing:
With permission of Universal Edition AG, Vienna, www.universaledition.com
Tency Music
Rights:
Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"
English translation “Mack the Knife” by Marc Blitzstein
© Copyright 1928 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien
English adaptation by Ben Marsh
© Copyright 2021 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien
LYRICS (Ben Marsh):
Oh the prostate, it’s a gland, dear
And it’s hidden deep inside
Has a shelf life that’s hard to pre-date
Cos we keep it, ah, out of sight
Like a walnut, kind of D shaped
Near the bladder, and rectum
Fancy gloves, oh, wears the doctor
If they check it, sticking fingers up your [doobee wapsie]
It’s a man thing, (it’s occasionally a trans-thing)
Helps make semen, really flow
Wrapped around your old urethra
If it’s working - you can go!
But the prostate can inflate, mate
Little walnut’s supersized!
More than shark bites: 1 in 8 men
Contract cancer, prostate cancer, in their lives
Someone’s Daddy. Someone’s Grandpa.
Someone’s husband. Someone’s son.
Some misfortune’s, round the corner.
But there’s something - yes there’s something that could be done
Now we got lucky, three years ago with our Grandad
They caught it early, and cut that bad boy out
He was generally fit. Had tried to ignore it.
Saved by a Geordie, a Geordie prostatectomy!
So in this last verse that we’re swinging hard
Trying to smash a masculine subject (taboo-m)
So spread the news round
Get your kecks down
Seek a doctor,
To Assess Ya,
Maybe Test Ya,
Get that old prostate checked
__________________________________________________
"Mack the Knife (Prostate Cancer - Facts of Life)" is part of a double A side Christmas 2021 release - our first ever foray into the world of proper music...
...and while you're at it, you can have a listen to the other single on the release, Bring Us A Candle, which is a different kind of Christmas song that we wrote in 2021, reflecting that although the pandemic has changed how we see things, we are determined that it's not going to take hope away from us all.
#themarshfamily
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