Mah Nà Mah Nà
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Mah Nà Mah Nà" is a well-known pop music song, written by Piero Umiliani. It was a hit in many countries in 1968–1969. "Mah Nà Mah Nà" debuted as part of Umiliani's soundtrack for the Italian softcore pornography movie Svezia, inferno e paradiso (Sweden, Heaven and Hell) (1968), a pseudo-documentary film about wild sexual activity and other behavior in Sweden ("Mah Nà Mah Nà" accompanied a scene set in a sauna). A soundtrack album, "Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso" was released in 1968. The movie was also released under the English title Sweden Heaven and Hell.
In 1969, Henri Salvador recorded a variation titled "Mais Non, Mais Non" ("But No, But No" or "Of Course Not, Of Course Not"), with lyrics he had written in French to Umiliani's tune.
The song became familiar to many from its renditions by the Muppets on national television.
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Debut version
"Mah Nà Mah Nà" debuted as part of Umiliani's soundtrack for the Italian softcore pornography movie Svezia, inferno e paradiso (Sweden: Heaven and Hell) (1968), a pseudo-documentary film about wild sexual activity and other behavior in Sweden ("Mah Nà Mah Nà" accompanied a scene set in a sauna). The lead part was sung by Italian singer/composer Alessandro Alessandroni. A soundtrack album, "Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso" was released in 1968. The movie was also released under the English title Sweden Heaven and Hell.
It was a hit in many countries in 1968–1969. In the U.S. it peaked at #55 in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #44 on the Cash Box magazine chart in October 1969. The song's lyrics contain no actual words, only nonsense words resembling scat singing. The original version interpolates melodies from "Swedish Rhapsody" (Midsummer Vigil) by Hugo Alfvén, "Santa Lucia", "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", the jazz standard "Lullaby of Birdland", and others.
Other early versions
In 1969, Henri Salvador recorded a variation titled "Mais Non, Mais Non" ("But No, But No" or "Of Course Not, Of Course Not"), with lyrics he had written in French to Umiliani's tune.
The song became familiar to many from its renditions by the Muppets on television. On 30 November, 1969, "Mahna Mahna" was performed on the The Ed Sullivan Show by a Muppet also known as Mahna Mahna, and the Snowths. Also in 1969, "Mahna Mahna" was performed on Sesame Street by a character that was later known as Bip Bipadotta, along with two Anything Muppet girls.
During its 1969-70 season, "The Red Skelton Show" used the Umiliani recording as background music for a recurring blackout sketch. The otherwise silent bits featured Red and another performer, dressed as Moon creatures, playing with equipment left behind by the Project Apollo astronauts.
In 1973, a rendition of "Mah Nà Mah Nà" on the Moog synthesizer was released on the album More Hot Butter (Musicor MS 3254) by Hot Butter, best known for the pop tune "Popcorn". It was re-released on CD in 2000.
Versions by the Muppets
In 1976, the first episode of The Muppet Show to be recorded (featuring Juliet Prowse), used "Mahna Mahna" as the first sketch. It was performed by the Muppets "Mahna Mahna and the Snowths". As a result, the original Piero Umiliani recording finally became a hit in the UK, where the Muppet Show soundtrack album featuring the Muppets' version went to number one.
A snippet of the song Lullaby of Birdland is 'hummed' during one of the improvisational moments.
The Muppets' comeback series Muppets Tonight (1996-1998) revisited it as a parody using the word "phenomenon" in place of the title, a reference to the film of the same name that had recently been released. Kermit the Frog and actress Sandra Bullock appeared in place of "Mahna Mahna" to provide the lyric "phenomena". The Muppets filmed a new version of the song in 2005, for a New Zealand charity called CanTeen. In the ad, an updated version of the Mahna Mahna puppet was performed by Bill Barretta, and the lyrics were changed to "Bandanana", supporting CanTeen's "Bandanna Week".
Versions by others
- Giorgio Moroder covered the song in 1968. Irma Records began compiling it in the late 1990s.
- Former Pizzicato Five member K-Taro Takanami covered it as Sweden, Heaven, and Hell, which was compiled in 1996 on Bungalow Records' Sushi 3003 series covering Shibuya-kei.
- The song was sung in Arabic by Samir Ghanem (Egyptian Comedian) saying "ana 3ayez anam" ("I want to sleep"). (1990s)
- A cover was performed in 1996 by the hard rock band Skin.
- A cover of the song was performed by Cake and titled "Mahna Mahna". It was the opening track of the 2002 album For The Kids, a CD whose sales proceeds went to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation. The cover also appears on Cake's 2007 album B-Sides and Rarities.
- A parody by Mr. Devious was released during the Pittsburgh Steelers' NFL playoff run and eventual Super Bowl XL victory. Titled "Puhlamalu" (a reference to Steelers safety Troy Polamalu), it featured the singer mumbling the names of many Steelers.
- In 1994, German house band "Gonzo" had a minor hit based on the song.
- The bonus track at the end of The Smugglers' Rosie includes a version with the chorus changed to "penis", pronounced with a lisp. The "announcer" then proclaims it a "terribly evil song". The song begins at 18:24 of the bonus track.
- The song was used by the Brazilian Pop Band Pato Fu in their song "Made in Japan". The song is almost entirely in Japanese. It was written in Portuguese and translated by a Japanese teacher. Its video clip is a tribute to old Japanese Sci-Fi movies and a satire against Americanization which won a VMB. The song uses Manah Manah, except that it replaces it for the words in English "Made in Japan".
- Another shortened version, titled "Muh Nuh, Muh Nuh," was recorded by members of the cast of Space Ghost Coast to Coast on a CD based on the show called "Space Ghost's Musical Barbecue" Released in September of 1997.
- An instrumental cover of the song was frequently used as background music in segments of The Benny Hill Show. (In this usage, the song was combined with an instrumental version of "Gimme Dat Ding".)
- Geraldine (Played by Peter Kay) dueted with Ricky Wilson from the Kaiser Chiefs on a version of Mah Nà Mah Nà on Peter Kay's Britain's Got The Pop Factor And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice.
Sampling
- It formed the basis for a 1997 UK hit single, "No Way No Way" by Vanilla.
- Pato Fu, a Brazilian pop group used the melody of "Mah Na Mah Na" as a basis for their song "Made in Japan", the chorus uses a vocoded voice singing "Made in Japan" instead of "Mah Na Mah Na".
- That Handsome Devil, a Boston-based punk/alt band, samples "Mah Na Mah Na" in their song "Hey White Boy."
Other Media
- The song is used as the background music for one of the weekly segments on The First Team on Fox radio show. It is used for the Thursday morning segment, "This Might Be a Dumb Question But...".
- In 2004, the German film Sommersturm used a version of this song when the QueerSchlag Team plays a prank on Georg.
- The song was sung by Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), David Brent (Ricky Gervais) and Ben (Ben Bradshaw) in the first episode of the second series of BBC's The Office.
- The song was sung by Jennifer Finnigan in the pilot of the short-lived NBC sitcom Committed in 2005. Later episodes revealed that it was also the ringtone on her cell phone.
- The British late-night comedy programme Jam had a bizarre sketch which featured two elfin figures prancing around and lipsynching to the song, before proceeding to play a bass clarinet using a corpse.
- The Big Breakfast had a slot called "Phenomenon" which used the song with the word phenomenon instead of Mah Nà Mah Nà.
- The song was used from 1999 in advertisements for the BN Biscuit, replacing the usual "Mah Nà Mah Nà" with the brand name twice; "B N B N".
- The song was used in a series of Dr. Pepper commercials in 2004 to promote the Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper line.
