As much as they’d like to convince you otherwise, spending
all that time in the tub didn’t leave Bert and Ernie squeaky
clean.
Everyone remembers Jim Henson’s lovable Muppets as the
stars of “The Muppet Show,” “Fraggle Rock,”
and of course, “Sesame Street,” but the contributions
of Big Bird and Kermit the Frog go far beyond comic hijinks and
teaching the alphabet.
While the furry characters have been part of the cultural
consciousness of children throughout the world thanks to the
popularity of “Sesame Street,” a big part of the
Muppets’ impact has been musical ““ and subversive.
Even though “The Muppet Movie” came out in 1979, the
adventure of a small-time frog trying to make it in Hollywood was
full of ’60s hippie idealism. Kermit opens the film with a
James Taylor-esque performance of “The Rainbow
Connection,” which stayed in the Billboard top 40 for seven
weeks and received an Oscar nomination ““ not bad for a
talking frog.
Animal, the unintelligible Keith Moon analogue, provided the
film’s nod to rock ‘n’ roll, along with the
presumably drug-addled Gonzo.
The shows themselves have always been very music-based. The
theme song of “Fraggle Rock” foreshadowed the fuzzy
aesthetic of modern indie-poppers like The Boy Least Likely To and
Islands, with its handclaps and simple lyrics, and the show
incorporated original songs in nearly every episode.
“Sesame Street” was and remains the most
influential, with appearances over the years by the likes of Ray
Charles and John Denver, not to mention the timeless classics
“C is for Cookie” and “Rubber Ducky.”
Of all the music made by Henson’s characters over the
years, though, the most irritatingly catchy song by far is
“Mahna Mahna.” It’s a gibberish tune that
appeared on the first season of “The Muppet Show” in
the 1970s, with Mahna Mahna and his two pink backing singers, the
Snowths.
It consists of a few very simple lyrics, which, after reading
them here, will be stuck in your head all day: “Mahna mahna /
do doo be-do do / mahna mahna / do do do do.”
The song made a reappearance in the Muppetverse on the
short-lived “Muppets Tonight” in a sketch involving
Kermit and Sandra Bullock, so it’s basically impossible to be
unaware of it. But what few realize is the dark secret lurking
behind the nonsensical melody and the pink Snowths.
“Mahna Mahna” wasn’t an original song. In
fact, its initial libido-drenched lounge incarnation was written
and recorded by Italian soundtrack composer Piero Umiliani in 1968.
The song was featured in the film “Sweden: Heaven or
Hell,” a surreal, hedonistic look at swinging Sweden that
included a scene at a lesbian dance club and extensive drug
use.
“Mahna Mahna” scored a sequence with girls in towels
running out of a sauna.
And here I thought the sleaziest the Muppets ever got was
parodying Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” as a
song about math called “Born to Add,” starring a
dubious, leather-jacketed singer.
Sexual undertones of “Mahna Mahna” aside, though,
the Muppets have always provided family fare, and maybe
that’s what’s holding them back.
In an era where 50 Cent and Lindsay Lohan are more cartoon than
character, it’s time for Kermit and Cookie Monster reclaim
their rightful place in pop culture.
Really, the only thing preventing the Muppets from taking over
the charts is their wholesome image. Imagine Animal on VH1’s
“Behind the Music,” shakily describing his bout with
heroin. Or Gonzo, strung out on speed and mescaline, cruising
through Las Vegas, scribbling notes furiously. Miss Piggy, the
Jennifer Lopez of “The Muppet Show,” easily matches up
with pop divas like Britney Spears, who’s well on her way to
porkiness herself.
It’s not like the Muppets don’t have experience
holding their own with the real world. Miss Piggy and Kermit
appeared on “The Tonight Show” back in 1979 to promote
“The Muppet Movie,” and Miss Piggy spent her appearance
on that year’s Oscars skewering Johnny Cash and lambasting
the Academy for not nominating her performance.
The Muppets, like the Goonies before them, never say die.
“Fraggle Rock: The Movie” is due next year and should
blow comparable stuff like Cam’ron’s “Killa
Season” out of the water.
Until then, maybe Kermit will make a guest appearance in the
next installment of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the
Closet.”
This column was brought to you by the letter M and the number
4.
E-mail Greenwald at dgreenwald@media.ucla.edu.