"Mah Nà Mah Nà" is a well-known pop music song, written by Piero Umiliani. It was a hit in many countries, including the USA, in 1968–1969. The song's lyrics contain no actual words, only nonsense words resembling scat singing. The original version interpolates melodies from "Swedish Rhapsody" ("Midsommarvaka" ("Midsummer Vigil")) by Hugo Alfvén, "Santa Lucia", "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", the jazz standard "Lullaby of Birdland", and others.

"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.) (In a coincidental third link to Sweden, songs based on "Santa Lucia" (the well-known Neapolitan song) are traditionally sung in Sweden every year on St. Lucia Day.) A soundtrack album, "Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso" was released in 1968. The movie was also released under the English title Sweden Hell and Heaven.

In 1969, Henri Salvador recorded a variation titled "Mais Non, Mais Non" ("But No, But No"), 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. On November 30, 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 Bip Bipadotta and two Anything Muppet girls.

In 1973, a rendition of "Mah-na-Mah-na" on the Moog synthesizer was released on the album "Hot Butter" (Musicor MS 3254), best known for the pop tune "Popcorn". It was re-released on CD in 2005.

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.

The original, the Muppets', and other versions of the song are available on various collections and recordings.

Cultural references

• The song was used many times in the 1970s and early 1980s in The Benny Hill Show. It usually formed part of an instrumental medley, which also contained the 1970s UK hit Gimme Dat Ding and (of course) Yakety Sax.
• The song was used for the backing music for the BN biscuit adverts in the UK during the 1990s.
• The song was sung in Arabic by Samir Ghanem (Egyptian Comedian) saying "ana 3ayez anam" ("I want to sleep"). (1990s)
• The Muppets' comeback series Muppets Tonight (1996-1998) revisited it as a parody using the word phenomena in place of the title. Kermit the Frog and actress Sandra Bullock appeared in place of "Mahna Mahna" to provide the lyric phenomena.
• A cover was performed in 1996 by the hard rock band Skin.
• It formed the basis for a 1997 UK hit single, "No Way No Way" by Vanilla.
• It was featured in the pilot of the sitcom Committed, in which Marni attempted to get her date to sing a duet with her in a restaurant, and has continued to appear in the background as her ringtone.
• A cover of the song was performed by Cake as the opening track of the 2002 album For The Kids, a CD whose sales proceeds went to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.
• 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".
• The Muppet version of the song was used in a 2005 advertisement for Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. A couple are on a date in a restaurant; as the girl is poured a Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, all she can hear is "Mahna Mahna" with everyone including her date appearing to sing along.
• In 2004 a children's music radio show on WEFT 90.1fm (a community radio station in Champaign, IL) called "Mah Na Mah Na" began. The show features the song as its theme song.
• The song appeared in a 2005 series of Irn Bru advertisements with the tagline "It's Phenomenal".
• The song was featured in 2005 on Tuesday 8th March during a Comic Relief in Da Bungalow! special.
• At the end of one episode of the Australian comedy show "The Micallef Programme", host Shaun Micallef ended his remarks with the word phenomenon. The rest of the crew immediately sang "do doo, do do do", as per "Mah Na Mah Na". He then repeated "phenomenon", looking puzzled. The crew continued to sing the song. They alternated for the rest of one verse. At the end, Micallef looked relieved and says, "Oh, I get it."
• The song was parodied on an ad for Banana Boat sunscreen.
• The song was sung by Tim's arch nemesis Gareth and David Brent in the first episode of the second series of BBC's The Office.
• Jamster re-recorded the song and animated it with 2 orange monsters and 1 purple monster in garbage cans. Titled Manah Manah or Mah-Na Mah-Na, by Monsters or Les Gentils Monstres, the performance is offered as Video Ringtimes, Animated Screensavers, Polyphonic Ringtone, Real Music Sound and Colour Wallpapers.
• David Baddiel made fun of Steve McManaman's name by calling him Steve Mahnamahna on British television.
• 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.
• In 2005, the comedian Jim Norton of the Opie & Anthony Show on XM Satellite Radio nervously overused the word "Phenomenal" when referring to Black Sabbath's music during an interview with one of the band members. A listener used the clips and inserted them into "Mah Na Mah Na."
• The Weird Al song "Couch Potato" (a parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself") references the Muppet Show rendition of the song.
• 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".

Alternate spellings

The lyrics of Mah Na Mah Na are exclusively nonsensical words. The words are easy to say, but it is hard to guess the "right" spellings of most of them. Are there four words, two words, or just one word?

Here are some of the more common variations, of the "Mah Nà Mah Nà" words only, with the counts from Google (May 2006).

(Note: Most punctuations and accent variations are consolidated in these search results. For example, "Mah Na Mah Na" includes "Mah Nà Mah Nà", "Mah-Na-Mah-Na", "Mah-Na Mah-Na", etc.)

• original style, "h" on "Mah" only:
  • "Mah Na Mah Na" 60,800 (#5 most popular spelling) (the original spelling)
  • "Mahna Mahna" 160,000 (#3 most popular spelling) (the Muppets' spelling)
  • "Mahnamahna" 69,000 (#4 most popular spelling)
• opposite way, "h" on "Nah" only:
  • "Ma Nah Ma Nah" 1,170
  • "Manah Manah" 31,800
  • "Manahmanah" 674
• no "h" at all:
  • "Ma Na Ma Na" 12,100
  • "Mana Mana" 995,000 (the most popular spelling)
  • "Manamana" 255,000 (#2 most popular spelling)
• "h" on both "Mah" and "Nah":
  • "Mah Nah Mah Nah" 4,190
  • "Mahnah Mahnah" 1,450
  • "Mahnahmahnah" 2,810
• no "h"; first word is "Man":
  • "Man na man na" 46
  • "Manna manna" 15,400
  • "Mannamanna" 622
• no "h"; no first "a":
  • "M na m na" 770
  • "Mna Mna" 13,700
  • "MnaMna" 698
• inconsistent "h" use:
  • "Manamanah" 11,700
  • "Manahmana" 634
• no first "a", final "h":
  • "Mnah Mnah" 1000
  • "MnahMnah" 569
• other vowels
  • "Munnah Munnah" 30

External links

• http://www.geocities.com/pieroumiliani/
• rec.music.rock-pop-r+b.1960s discussion
• Mahna Mahna (song) on Muppet Wiki

1968 songs | Muppets songs | Novelty songs

Máh-Ná-Máh-Ná | Mah Na Mah Na