This week, I've decided to go with a set of inter-related sites as my site of the week. On Tuesday, a number of us met at a downtown establishment and the conversation turned to the Muppet Show and the "Mah Na Mah Na" song. Mita--ever a wealth of cool and quirky information-- told us that "Mah Na Mah Na" was not an original Sesame Street/ Muppet Show creation but was, in fact, a real song. I realize that my ignorance about "Mah Na Mah Na" puts me squarely in the Sesame Street Generation and in the same category as those who think Billy Idol ripped off "Rebel L" and the Beatles mangled "Letter B" .Because I have such fond memories of singing this song with my dad when I was a wee lass and because I'm excited about seeing him soon, I set out to find more about "Mah Na Mah Na." So, this week's sites are the best of what I found.
Watch the Muppet's "Mah Na Mah Na" clip
"Mah Na Mah Na" goes back to the late 1960s and was by the uber cool Piero Umiliani
The best part: in May 2006, an album with 11 versions of "Mah Na Mah Na" was released. You can listen to clips of Mah Na Mah Na "the football club mix" or the "tiki mix" or the "Space a Go-Go mix" by going to the iTunes music store and searching for "Piero Umiliani Mah na mah na." You'll need to have iTunes installed; if you don't have iTunes yet, well, you should.
On a side note, Those pink bovine things in the video clip are called "Snowths" and I learned about them on this site which I mention in part because the name is so brilliant: The Kermitage. You can also read about (wrongly) forgotten Muppets like The Salzburg Sauerkraut Singers: "a group of four pigs that sang a mock-German song while throwing sauerkraut." I don't see Pepe the King Prawn though... pity.
1 comment:
Speaking of Pepe, if you've not seen him in the Muppets Wizard of Oz, you should. He's also in Muppet Treasure Island. The kids have been watching those of late.... If I recall correctly, he plays Toto in the Wizard of Oz....
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