Mah Nà Mah Nà
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Let me know you how much I love NPR. I subscribe to all their podcasts, and there is one show that I look forward to every week: Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! This "quiz show" makes me laugh so much every Monday!
This week's show, they were on a roll with a weird reference to that Piero Umiliani's "Mah Nà Mah Nà" song.
What you probably didn't know about this song was that it started life as a soundtrack to a porno softcore/exploitation film (see comment below) called Svezia, inferno e paradiso (Sweden: Heaven and Hell) (1968). The movie was eventually banned in Sweden, according to imdb.
With this knowledge, it's easy to suddenly see this as a Benny Hills soundtrack, doesn't it?
By late 1976, the song was long disassociated with its roots when the Muppets known as Mahna Mahna and the Snowths appeared on the The Muppet Show. This song was a big hit, probably due to the nonsense lyrics ("mah na mah na") and catchy Caribbean-sounding music.
Links:
npr.org/programs/waitwait
| Soup wrote: Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 9:12 PM |
Actually, it's apparently an exploitation film version of a documentary about porno films and other related topics. From IMDB:
"Edmund Purdom narrates a pseudo-documentary about sexuality in Sweden. It shows contraceptives for teen girls, lesbian nightclubs, wife swapping, porno movies, biker gangs, and Walpurgis Night celebrations. It also examines Sweden's purported drug, drinking and suicide problems. It features the original appearance of the Piero Umiliani's nonsense song "Mah Nà Mah Nà" which was later popularized by "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show"."
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Comments
Because the thought of this song backing up two people doin' it on camera is hilarious.
"Edmund Purdom narrates a pseudo-documentary about sexuality in Sweden. It shows contraceptives for teen girls, lesbian nightclubs, wife swapping, porno movies, biker gangs, and Walpurgis Night celebrations. It also examines Sweden's purported drug, drinking and suicide problems. It features the original appearance of the Piero Umiliani's nonsense song "Mah Nà Mah Nà" which was later popularized by "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show"."
I haven't seen the film/documentary, I just knew it was a sinister film that was banned in Sweden. Still it may be worth checking out on netflix if they offer it.