"Mahna Mahna", originally titled "Mah-Na Mah-Na," was written by Italian composer Piero Umiliani for an Italian documentary about life in Sweden, titled Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Heaven and Hell). It is a nonsense song that achieved widespread fame when the Muppets performed it.
Which might explain why one of the YouTube videos of the performance has Swedish subtitles? Wheels within wheels. Here's a better version:
OMG, that still makes me laugh. The pink things are called Snowths! And you get the two old guys in the balcony at the end! I love The Muppet Show So. Much.
It turned into a running gag on the show, every time Kermit said "phenomena," which led to this:
So. Freaking. Good. Is The Muppet Show our generations' vaudeville? Discuss.
4 comments:
YES! I totally forgot about Mah-na Mah-na. And those balcony guys, too! And I always loved the star appearances. I used to think Sesame Street was SNL for kids and parents. So in that way, it is our generation's vaudeville. As young parents we used to compare notes on which kids preferred Sesame Street and which preferred Mr. Rogers. Some kids just couldn't take all the popular culture and wacky skits of SS and gravitated more towards the gentler sweater guy who talked real slow. . . .
Glorious. Thanks for that, MC.
And happy new year!
-cK
That was always my favorite Muppet Show bit.
Did you see that they're finally releasing full Muppet Show episodes on DVD? I think only season 1 & 2 are out, but they're a ton of fun to watch.
So funny! Thanks for sharing.
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