Comments on: Mah num ah num - The Muppets' musical debut

Mah num ah num - The Muppets' musical debut

persona non grata — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:33:51 -0800

Mah num ah num (Google Video) - The Muppets debut their first music video in 1976.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:36:24 -0800

boo, rubbish, get off...

By: matt_od

matt_od — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:38:05 -0800

wow... like that hasn't been all over the internet already. and: it's ma nah ma nah. not mah num ah num.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:41:45 -0800

How on earth could you possibly call that the Muppets' first music video? Good lord, they'd been making cool odd videos for years before that.

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:42:12 -0800

Feels like I'm seeing the seasons change For the very first time Like the flesh of a fruit Rotted and left behind

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:43:01 -0800

Awesome.

By: BackwardsCity

BackwardsCity — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:43:47 -0800

Why is everyone so mad about the Muppets? This was good.

By: everichon

everichon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:43:53 -0800

Not new, but a deathless classic anyway.

By: SteelyDuran

SteelyDuran — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:44:41 -0800

It's the best thing ever commited to any medium, in my opinion. Well, okay. Maybe not the best thing, but certainly among them. Meanwhile, the song "Mah Nà Mah Nà"¹, has its own street creds. Written by the recently deceased Piero Umiliani², it is interesting in its own right, as least for it's use in Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso and many other places.

By: maryh

maryh — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:45:01 -0800

Take a breath haters. It's still a great skit, and I haven't seen this version of it since the original Muppet show. Thanks persona non grata.

By: persona non grata

persona non grata — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:45:09 -0800

Ouch, fleetmouse, just... ouch.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:46:49 -0800

Nothing brings out rage like Miss Piggy.

By: maryh

maryh — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:48:18 -0800

From SteelyDuran's link: "Mah Nà Mah Nà" debuted as part of Umiliani's soundtrack for the Italian softcore pornography movie Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Hell and Heaven) (1968), a pseudo-documentary film about wild sexual activity and other behavior in Sweden. ("Mah Nà Mah Nà" played under a portrayal of lesbian BDSM in the film.) Chist, how cool is that? Henson was a mad genius.

By: maryh

maryh — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:49:17 -0800

Chist=Christ, of course. I fully intended to take The Lord's name in vain

By: WaterSprite

WaterSprite — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:49:24 -0800

ROCKS. Majorly.

By: tarantula

tarantula — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:52:01 -0800

ooooooo that makes me so happy. thanks for reminding me to be silly.

By: MonkeySaltedNuts

MonkeySaltedNuts — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:54:33 -0800

I'm sure this wildly popular video has been on MeFi before, but I can't find it. Here is a mefi 2002 post 'Mais Non, Mais Non?' which goes into a lot of the backstory but doesn't seem to link the video. And just since I think this is a dupe, here is a gratutious gif:

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:55:12 -0800

whimsy++

By: fleetmouse

fleetmouse — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:55:21 -0800

Ha ha! I'm sorry, persona non grata, I found that whilst digging around and couldn't help it.

By: SteelyDuran

SteelyDuran — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:55:59 -0800

> Henson was a mad genius. Absolutely. Having an ear for a catchy pop song is one thing, but imagining the action happening this way is pure poetry. It fits perfectly, and adds as much depth and character back to the song as the song added to it. I have never seen Sweden, Heaven and Hell, but if I ever do, I'm fairly sure I'm going to laugh hysterically when the song comes on. Because whatever might be happening on the screen, in my mind I'll be imagining the Snowths, just trying to sing their happy song, and embarrased by an overzealous, fuzzy-headed scat singer.

By: anomie

anomie — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:59:40 -0800

Awesome.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:06:34 -0800

Mahnamahna

By: SteelyDuran

SteelyDuran — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:07:58 -0800

In fact, hell, I'm going to start imagining this during other times, some quite inappropriate. That, and everyone scooting around to "Yakety Sax"¹. Let the good times commence.

By: SteelyDuran

SteelyDuran — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:11:07 -0800

> Mahnamahna If the links are old and busted, does it still count?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:12:09 -0800

Mahna Mahna Filter

By: Stauf

Stauf — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:13:34 -0800

MetaFilter: Mad about Muppets

By: heydanno

heydanno — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:15:49 -0800

OK, Does anyone remember an offshoot of this song, but Star Trek themed? Instead of mahna mahna, the chorus was "phenomena". "Captain... we seem to have encountered an unusual phenomena... phenomena... phenomena [and so on into the chorus]" It was awesome, it was an MP3 (or .au or .wav or some old school format) and the last time I saw it was on some FirstClass server in about '98. Anyone?

By: maryh

maryh — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:24:36 -0800

SteelyDuran- Henson did an early version of the skit on Sesame Street this is the version I remember from my toddler days. And it's from 1969, right around the same time Sweden, Heaven & Hell was released. He wasted no time finding new ways to interpret the song!

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:28:19 -0800

The Muppets have not been very successful or funny since Jim Henson died. Fran Leibowitz is still great even though Andy Warhol died. Is there a connection?

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:38:51 -0800

I grew up with the Muppets but I don't remember this song at all. Now I get the scene in The Office (U.K.) where they were singing this.

By: scodger

scodger — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:39:40 -0800

In related news, here are the yip yip aliens and a telephone.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:40:11 -0800

Sweden; Heven or Hell is more properly an exploitation documentary, in the manner of Mondo Cane or Mondo Baladoro or Mondo Freudo or Mondo ...

By: jlkr

jlkr — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:41:19 -0800

Heh. At least one of my friends has mahna mahna as a ring tone on his phone. That was good! (forallmankind: are you channelling Statler or Waldorf?)

By: angrycandy

angrycandy — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:49:49 -0800

yip yip yip yip yip.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:56:52 -0800

zardoz: you can find that clip here, entitled The Sing-a-long.

By: Kickstart70

Kickstart70 — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:57:01 -0800

Phenomenon. (hate me all you want. I like that version better)

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 20:59:58 -0800

scodger and angrycandy beat me to the best thing on the internet

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:04:18 -0800

Have y'all not explored the 'muppets' tag on YouTube before? Not hating, honest (although calling Mahnamahna the "Muppets' musical debut" *is* pretty silly, given that "It's not easy being green" showed up on Sesame Street years earlier), just surprised that there are folks who didn't make Muppet videos a priority after discovering YouTube in the first place. :) I mean, it's hard to beat an amazing African chant gem like "Turn the world around."

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:14:50 -0800

Oh my God, thank you for this. I'm home sick, recovering from being in the hospital, and generally feeling bleccchhhhh. I just smiled for ten straight minutes. Thank you!

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:25:20 -0800

Fans of this song (without the video) can download a crazy upbeat sixties version of it here, and it's totally worth it.

By: fillsthepews

fillsthepews — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:29:00 -0800

Seriously. Im stuck in Palm Springs dogsitting and that just cheered me the fuck up.

By: sourwookie

sourwookie — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:40:29 -0800

WALDORF: That was wonderful! STATLER: Bravo! WALDORF: I loved that! STATLER: Ah, that was great! WALDORF: Neh–it was pretty good. STATLER: Well, it wasn't bad... WALDORF: There were parts of it that weren't very good, though. STATLER: It could've been a lot better. WALDORF: I didn't really like it. STATLER: It was pretty terrible. WALDORF: It was bad. STATLER: It was awful! STATLER & WALDORF: Terrible! Take 'em away! Bah, BOO!!!

By: MrLint

MrLint — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:51:02 -0800

I remember seeing that on tv. loved it then love it now, in fact we should make it every post on the site one day :) manamana!

By: turbodog

turbodog — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:58:35 -0800

Statler & Waldorf would fit in just fine 'round here.

By: nobody

nobody — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:03:57 -0800

I was thinking the same thing. [Marked as favorite].

By: cortex

cortex — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:28:59 -0800

Holy shit. YouTube is down!

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:58:44 -0800

*mefi dies*

By: pkingdesign

pkingdesign — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:09:50 -0800

My boss used to work with Jim Henson on the Muppet Show. One of the most memorable stories she's told about her time there was when Henson came up behind her with a naked Kermit and made some dirty jokes. Kind of funny to think about muppets on their days off.

By: persona non grata

persona non grata — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:21:43 -0800

*mediareport has no sense of humour or history*

By: Cranberry

Cranberry — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:22:31 -0800

The singing of the Muppet chicken chorus affects me about the way the Monty Python knights on stick horses do. Sorry you are ailing dirtynumbangelboy, but laughter IS the best medicine. Rx: The Muppet Show videos.

By: persona non grata

persona non grata — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:28:32 -0800

Say it aint so, cortext: I wouldn't get my Vincent fix.

By: antifuse

antifuse — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:00:55 -0800

That was brilliant. If for no other reason than it led to the posting of the Yep Yep Yep link. I laughed out loud. Now I'm off to spend a few hours browsing the Muppet tag on YouTube.

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:20:32 -0800

FOZZIE: Heya Heya it's Fozzie Bear, telling you jokes both old and rare! STADLER: What does he mean by rare? WALDORF: He means they're not well done! Manamanah makes a great ringtone. I've gotten lots of smiles and a few singalongs walking through airports when the phone rings. One of the most memorable stories she's told about her time there was when Henson came up behind her with a naked Kermit and made some dirty jokes. If only we had that on Youtube.

By: Menomena

Menomena — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 05:54:54 -0800

OMG! (btw i took my nickname from the indie rock band, not the muppets/swedish porn).

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:01:13 -0800

Anyone have a good quality mp3 version (so I can copy the others who have it on their cell phones)?

By: mediareport

mediareport — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:04:30 -0800

*mediareport has no sense of humour or history* Dude, it was a joke. I love web videos and adjusted to the surge in YouTube links just fine, thanks. Plus, I can watch clips of cats flushing toilets all day.

By: substrate

substrate — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 06:49:33 -0800

When this video fails to make me laugh it's time to join the choir invisible.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:46:42 -0800

I couldn't get this song out of my head for 22 years and now it's back.

By: AuntLisa

AuntLisa — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 08:24:30 -0800

The song of course has been hardwired into my head for about 30 years, but I had no memory of the visuals at all ! Personally - I don't care if it is a re-post from 5 years ago - I loved it ! Thanks Persona Non Grata. You are very grata around here.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:44:37 -0800

STATLER: It could've been a lot better. I always loved the Yip Yip guys -- surely some of the most inventive and lovable of the Muppets...

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:44:52 -0800

OMG FRAGGLE ROCK

By: obloquy

obloquy — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:12:56 -0800

Well, one might consider it the first music video from "The Muppet Show", as it was the first skit of the first episode shown on (American) TV (the show was filmed in the UK, and played there a few years earlier, and in different order). dirtynumbangelboy: look for newly packaged Fraggle DVDs in the stores soon.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 11:42:43 -0800

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

By: ericbop

ericbop — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:07:34 -0800

This Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper (yuck!!) commercial must have been made by a fellow muppetaholic. Weirder still than mahna mahna and the yip yips (btw, any leads on finding a dl source for the "yip yip radio" sketch would be greatly appreciated) was this sesame sketch (also on youtube) with the same wild-haired guy busting in on three nerdy rhyming muppets ("well the fat cat sat on hat....".

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:47:12 -0800

Not quite the same character, the Muppet show version got eyes to match the mouth on those pink singing things with the vestigial arms. A good choice because the eye expression is key to the character. I was just thinking that you probably couldn't do the Muppet Show format these days now with the death of the varety show. Saturday Night Live is perhaps the lone holdout from that era.

By: mrzer0

mrzer0 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 13:16:24 -0800

Frankly I'm a fan of the K & U / Zwerverstyle. But that's just me. Mnamana!

By: Sparx

Sparx — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:20:36 -0800

naked Kermit Um...what? He didn't have that collar thing on?

By: malaprohibita

malaprohibita — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:35:29 -0800

Dudes, this is one of the greatest muppet threads out there. I'm glad it popped up.

By: jonson

jonson — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:10:11 -0800

And alright, even though I shouldn't do this, here's alterna-rock band Cake's funky horn powered version of MahnaMahna.

By: cortex

cortex — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:20:19 -0800

Never heard that, jonson, and I love the Cake. Thanks.

By: jonson

jonson — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 23:57:24 -0800

No problem. It's from an album of alternative rockers covering children's songs.