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"Mah Na Mah Na" was written by composer Piero Umiliani for an Italian "mondo" film (exploitative pseudo-documentaries) about life (mostly sex-related) in Sweden, titled Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Heaven and Hell). It is a nonsense song that achieved widespread fame as a classic Muppet sketch.
Although it was first performed in a Henson production on Sesame Street by the character who would become Bip Bippadotta and two Anything Muppet girls, the most famous Muppet rendition of the song debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, where it was performed by Mahna Mahna and his back-up singers, the Snowths. This version of the skit was restaged many times on a number of variety shows before being featured as the opening number in the premiere episode of The Muppet Show.
Regardless of who is singing, the basics of the performance remain the same: a central character starts out conforming to the structure of the song, but falls into improvisational scat passages whenever possible. Although the back-up singers attempt to bring order back to the number, their effort is ultimately futile.
The number became popular enough that it was spoofed by the Muppets themselves in a sketch on Muppets Tonight, in which Kermit the Frog complained to his psychiatrist that the Snowths would appear every time he said the word "phenomena."
Audio
version •The Muppet Show (1977) •Mahna Mahna/Mr. Bassman (single, 1977) •Mahna Mahna/Sax and Violence (single, 1977) •Favorite Songs From Jim Henson's Muppets (1986) •Muppet Hits (1993) •Music, Mayhem and More! (2002) •Best of the Muppets (2005) •The Muppets: Original Soundtrack (2011) Sesame Street version •Jim Henson: A Sesame Street Celebration (1991) •Platinum Too (1997) •Songs from the Street (2003) •All-Time Favorites 1 (2018) •Sing Silly Songs! (2019) Cover versions •Songs from
Video
version •Muppets Magic from the Ed Sullivan Show (2003) version •The Muppet Revue (1985) •It's the Muppets: Meet the Muppets! (1993) •The Muppet Show: Season One (2005) version •Shalom Sesame: Show 7: Sing Around the Seasons (1990, brief portion of the song only)
Specials & Compilations
Sesame Street version ••A&E Biography: •The Street We Live On (introduction edited) version •••
While, the song's origins pre-date any Muppet performances, its popularity is in some part due to its Henson association. Its usage in material outside of Muppet/Henson productions do not necessarily equate a reference to the Muppets, unless one of the Muppet versions is directly sampled or referenced in the source material.
•A line in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2003 song "Couch Potato" mentions "The Muppet Show where they go 'Mahna Mahna!'"
•The song was sung in the style of the Muppets by Gareth, David, and Ben in the first episode of the second series of BBC's The Office. After they finish singing the tune, David sighs "ah, Muppets".
•A 2005 television advertisement for Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper featured the recording of "Mahna Mahna" by Jim Henson and Frank Oz.
•A clip of the song and video was used in an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
•Issue #2 of The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson features Mahna Mahna and the Snowths at Machu Picchu, singing the name of the Incan ruin to the tune of "Mahna Mahna."
•According to his wife Debbie, Caroll Spinney was responsible for introducing Jim Henson to the song.
1.Facebook comment by Debra Spinney
Wikipedia has an article related to:
Mah Nà Mah Nà (Cat No.: GRT 20003) The song is the title track of a 1970 LP on GRT Records (Cat No.: GRT 20003), released after the initial success of Sesame Street; it is purportedly sung by a fuzzy Muppet lookalike, who is pictured on the sleeve.
Nov 27, 2019 · Most people know Mahna Mahna as a Muppets sketch, but the song — titled Mah Nà Mah Nà — is actually by Italian composer Piero Umiliani. The Tuscan musician composed scores for exploitation ...
Dec 8, 2019 · On Nov. 27, 1969, a goofy sketch featuring Jim Henson's Muppets singing a very catchy song appeared on Sesame Street. Writer and CBC radio producer Jennifer Van Evra looked into the surprising...
