Hipsters and Squares
Part 7: Phenomenon
I can’t talk about the Sesame Street hipsters without acknowledging the greatest, longest-running Muppet hipster of all time: Mahna Mahna. Through the years, he has always been with us; sometimes educating, sometimes entertaining, he is the very essence of Muppetdom. There are people who walk this earth who claim that they don’t like the Muppets — but start singing a few bars of “Mahna Mahna,” and the world will sing with you. Here, then, is my brief tribute to this great hepcat.
As far as I know, this is the earliest version of Mahna Mahna, but what would I know. This is what he looked like in 1969, when he performed his hit theme song “Mahna Mahna” on Sesame Street. This song — available for purchase on the Muppets 25th Anniversary CD — is another good example of the Hipsters vs Squares dynamic, with the passionate Mahna Mahna annoying the square girl singers by busting out with unrehearsed freeform jazz riffs.
In the 70’s, Mahna Mahna also performed his hit on the Ed Sullivan Show, backed by the Snowths.
And it was, in fact, such a solid hit, that it was performed as the first song on the first episode of The Muppet Show in 1976.
Back on Sesame Street, we saw a few different versions of Mahna Mahna appear. There are apparently different names for these different versions — one of them is Bop Bippidatta, or something like that — but as a hipster myself, I can’t be bothered to keep up with those kinds of details. I’m too relaxed, man. Anyway, the picture above is from the “Fat Cat Scat” sequence.
Yet another version performed a song about air…
and another song about opposites.
And for another great example of Henson’s fascination with the Hipsters vs Squares battle, check out “The Wild String Quartet” on the Muppets Magic DVD. In this 1971 sketch from The Ed Sullivan Show, Mahna Mahna shows up as the replacement for one of the members of a string quartet. Mahna Mahna’s got a noisy drum set, and the snobby musicians try to silence him so they can play their Beethoven suite. And, in classic Muppet hipster style, by the end of the sketch Mahna Mahna has taught them all how to swing.
Mahna Mahna’s last public appearance was at the Muppet Show Live show in 2001, still performing his classic hit. I’d suspect that isn’t the last we see of this cat. He’s always out there, man. Just listen.
by Danny Horn
