Sesame Street: "Mana Mana" -- WAS THIS ORIGINALLY A LATIN SONG?!

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"Mana Mana" remains my favorite song from Sesame Street. I just heard an Ismael River version of what was essentially the same song. Is it possible he was covering Sesame Street? It seems more likely that they were slipping in some rootsy Puerto Rican music. Or does this come from some other source that they were both drawing from?

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

I dont know if thats the right to write the lyrics.

― Fat Anarchy on Airtube (ex machina), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:10 (twenty years ago)

I thought it was originally a roleplaying song.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

theres a piero umiliani version somewhere or other too i think

― ilkley lido (gareth), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:11 (twenty years ago)

oh wait, umilianis is the original!

― ilkley lido (gareth), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

ihttp://www.italiansoundtracks.com/images/400/omicronsvezia.gif

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I think I found a reference to that. Maybe it was originally Italaian. I could see Rivera covering an Italian pop hit of some sort more easily than I could see him covering a Sesame Street song.

x-post

That was fast. Where did you find it? I Googled for it, but it brought up so many random leads that I gave up temporarily.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

another x-post

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

i have a couple of umiliani cds, i just went for the discography

― ilkley lido (gareth), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

i once researched this. i don't have the details handy as i'm at work and it was a long time agop, but the original may have been french "Mais non, mais non". This song was picked up in italy, either for a porn flick or a geography program, and the title became "mana mana" (there may have been some intermediate steps). the song became famous by way of the muppets show.

― xenografia, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

One of my most (pathetically) satisfying discoveries when I first went online back in '00 was FINALLY ascertaining the name of that tune, 30+ yrs after first hearing it (on, yep, "Sesame Street) Kinda amazing that it actually took me that long, considering how ubiquitous the song's been over the years. Aside from "Yakkety Sax" it was probably the most-used piece of music on those Benny Hill shows (at least in North America.) Not to mention "The Muppet Show", various TV adverts, etc. Were there actual lyrics in the original Italian, or just nonsense-scatting?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 16:09 (twenty years ago)

Search Results -- Singles

Position Artist Title Date Details
8 Piero Umiliani Mah Na Mah Na Apr 1977

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

that album cover PWNS

― christo and jeanne-claude (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

Porn flick or geography program I have no idea, but I used to own the original 45 which stated, "From the original motion picture soundtrack Sweden, Heaven and Hell."

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

yea, thats the one with the picture i linked! thats the original, i believe

― ilkley lido (gareth), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

I have the Mah-na Mah-na album. I'd go more into detail and look for it if I didn't have a job/tech phone screen interview in an hour.. so I'll come back here around noonish or so, and supply the details of the record I have. Not saying what I have is THE source, but it might help.

― donut debonair (donut), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

It was a small piece composed for the documentary "Svezia: Inferno e Paradiso", which I think came out in 1968. The strange nasal voice must belong to Alessandro Alessandroni. Piero Umiliani composed it -he was a prolific composer, arranger and jazz pianist who started playing with bands sometime in the 40's, with earliest recordings appearing, I think, from the early-mid 50's. He had some kind of health problems - stroke-related, perhaps(?), in around 1980 or so, and worked much, much less after that (there was a CD called "Umiliani Jazz Family" that I think was from the late 90's - his daughter sang on it, which contained a lovely, elaborate arrangement of this song). He passed away not so many years ago. The CD "Svezia: Inferno e Paradiso" contains the original arrangement and recording - I'm not sure whether the version used on The Muppet Show is the same one or not. I don't know of a version by Mr. Umiliani recorded in the late 70's, but it's possible.

― Pangolino again, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

Its a porn flick, lol

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 23:51 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=877313000481&ITM=1

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 02:31 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7nUazmAQQc&search=%22mana%20mana%22

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 02:35 (nineteen years ago)

Doo doo dee doo doo

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 03:48 (nineteen years ago)

OMG, I think I just found my new favorite Muppets. Those things are like a cross between Trumpy from Pod People and the bad guys from Demon Attack. Totally awesome.

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 05:50 (nineteen years ago)

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