“Mah nà mah nà” of the Muppets is taken from an Italian softcore movie

Although most people associated “Mah nà mah nà” to the Muppetsthis iconic song, sung by children from all over the world for almost half a century, actually originates from a bold Italian softcore documentary of 1968 entitled ‘Sweden: Heaven and Hell’ narrated by the actor Enrico Maria Salerno.

The film includes scenes of party for swingers, nudist beaches, porn movies and lesbian night clubs used the song in the context of a camera that framed several blondes wrapped in a towel that have fun in a sauna, giving the scene a comic and sly tone when some of them let the towels fall and decide to have fun in the snow.

‘Sweden: Heaven and Hell’
directed by
Luigi Scattini
he was one of those pseudo-documentary films that pretended to instruct, but who mostly provided the public an excuse without guilt to browse. Sweden, with its reputation of permissiveness, was the perfect background.

The original soundtrack of the composer
Piero Umiliani
– or at least a song,
“Mah nà mah nà”
– he took on a life in his own right when he became a success, reaching the number 55 in the ranking of Billboard’s singles in October 1969. He would then reached eighth place in the British individual ranking in 1977. It was reinterpreted by artists of the caliber of

Tom Jones, Giorgio Moroder, Goldie Hawn, Nancy Sinatra
And there is even a version with the moog.

Umbilians perhaps thought he had only written a filler for a spicy movie. Instead, this melody took hold alone. First he appeared on American radios as a successful novelty, then a few years later she came back in vogue in Great Britain.

The magic of
“Mah nà mah nà”
He lies in his absolute absurdity, in his being without any sense, but at the same time being fun, bringing out a smile and having a melody that enters the head at first listening.

The Beatnik character of
Muppet
who would become known how
“Mahna Mahna”
made his debut on November 30, 1969 at
And Sullivan Show
.
Mahna Mahna
reached his full potential in 1976, in the very first episode of
Muppet Show
. The Muppets pushed the light -heartedness of
“Mah nà mah nà”
until it is sublime. Watch
Mahna Mahna
improvise and digress while the
Snowths
They echo him is a perfect miniature comic sketch. It is jazz transformed into farce, a masterpiece on how to transform repetition into pure chaos.

Thus a pop miracle was made, a melody born in a softcore documentary on the most excited Scandinavians ended up becoming one of the most loved children’s songs in the world. From the squalid sauna scene to the puppets in the early evening,
“Mah nà mah nà”
It shows that sometimes the stupid and less likely things have a very long life.