Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
Single by Crash Test Dummies
from the album God Shuffled His Feet
Released	October 1, 1993
Format	CD single
Recorded	1993 (Music Head Recording in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin)
Genre	Alternative rock,[1] folk rock
Length	3:55
Label	BMG/Arista
Writer(s)	Brad Roberts
Producer(s)	Jerry Harrison, Crash Test Dummies
Crash Test Dummies singles chronology
"The First Noel" (1992) “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” (1993) "Swimming in Your Ocean" (1994)
Music sample Crash Test Dummies – "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"

“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” is a song by the Canadian folk rock group Crash Test Dummies, It was released in October 1993 as the first single from their second album God Shuffled His Feet. It was very successful all around the world, peaking at number one in Germany, Australia and on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also became a top five hit in both the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.^[2][3]

Background and writing

Brad Roberts told The Independent that "when I wrote that song, it didn't flow through me, I wasn't inspired. I sat down and I decided I had certain themes that I wanted to make sure I handled in a way that wasn't sentimental but at the same time was powerful and poignant. I wanted to put a funny angle on it without being merely slapstick. It all boils down to careful scrutiny of what you're doing, your rational faculties being brought into play."^[4]

As the VH1 program Pop-Up Video pointed out, Roberts decided to hum the "refrain" rather than to sing it because humming "sounded more resigned" . He never wrote lyrics for the refrain. Roberts himself became one of the few bass-baritones to be featured in popular music in "the rock era."

Content

Each verse describes the isolation and suffering of a child, two of whom have a physical abnormality. In the first verse, a boy is injured in a car accident and misses school for an extended period; when he returns to class, his hair has changed color from black to white. In the second verse, a girl refuses to change clothes in the presence of other girls due to the birthmarks that cover her body. The third child is a boy whose parents make him come directly home after school; during services at their church, they "shake and lurch" across the floor. During a 2010 live performance for the Dutch radio station Kink FM, Brad Roberts whispered "Pentecostal" during the third verse, suggesting this is the denomination of the church.^[5]

An alternative version sometimes performed at live concerts replaced the third verse with one concerning a boy whose mother disposed of his tonsils after a tonsillectomy, thus depriving him of the possibility of bringing them to show and tell.^[6]

Music video

The associated music video sets the song's lyrics as the script for a series of one-act plays performed by school children. Throughout, the scenes of the performance are intercut with scenes of the Crash Test Dummies performing the song at stage side. The video director had nicknames for each of the key characters, as revealed when the selection was featured on Pop-Up Video; these are cited after the respective acts.

The first act, set at a city intersection, tells the story of a young boy who was involved in a car crash. His hair turned white due to the force of the crash.

• The boy appearing in the crash was called "Whitey."

The second act tells the story of a girl who refused to "change with the girls in the change room," until one day the other girls (portrayed in the act as three inquisitive detectives) force her to change with them, only to discover that her body was covered in birthmarks.

• The girl avoiding changing with the others due to her birthmarks was called "Blotchy;" the other girls were called "Bratty Kids," and the director believed they lived up to that nickname.

The final act tells of a boy that lives under the strict discipline of his austere parents and how his family attends a church where church-goers shake and lurch during the services. During the verse, the "boy" nervously looks into the audience at a couple who seem uneasy with the subject, implying that the three are the family being sung about.

• The "boy's" nickname was "Reluctant Boy."

Reception

Although highly successful when it was released, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" has since been frequently included on lists of bad songs. The song was number 15 on VH1's 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever, named by Rolling Stone as the "15th Most Annoying Song",^[7] and ranked at number 31 both on Blender's list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever."^[8] Contrasting, VH1 named "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" as the 31st greatest one-hit wonder of the 1990s in 2011.^[9]

In a 1994 essay in which he makes the case that modern life is better than life in the past, humorist P.J. O'Rourke writes, "Even the bad things are better than they used to be. Bad music, for instance, has gotten much briefer. Wagner's Ring Cycle takes four days to perform while 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' by the Crash Test Dummies lasts little more than three minutes."^[10]

The track received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, which it lost to "I Swear" by All-4-One.^[11]

Uses in the media

• "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song with "Headline News," which described three major news stories of 1993 and 1994. As had become his custom, he directed its video himself.
• Chris Morris parodied the song in his 1994 radio series The Chris Morris Music Show. It also appears in his later television programme Jam.
• The song appears in the European release of the PlayStation 2 video game SingStar 90s.
• The song was featured in the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber.
• The song was also featured in episodes of I Love the 90s, Cold Case, and How I Met Your Mother.
• The German band Erdmöbel covered the song with German lyrics, titled "Da war einmal ein Junge", meaning "Once there was a boy," released on No. 1 Hits.^[12]
• Amateur Transplants also parodied the song and depicts the story of a man who has a stroke.
• In a humorous Norwegian commercial from 2011 for cooked ham from the company Gilde we learn that the band named this song after tasting and liking Gilde's cooked ham.
• On episode 28 of season 3 of Tosh.0, Daniel Tosh made a reference to the song when describing a video. He even had the audience respond by singing the chorus, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm."
• In the TV show The Venture Bros., it is covered with concertina accompaniment by the Pirate Captain (voiced by Christopher McCulloch) at the funeral of Jonas Venture Jr. The character refers to it as "a real pirate dirge."
• An altered version is played during the episode of How I Met Your Mother titled "Rehearsal Dinner." The song is performed by Canadian personality Alan Thicke and comedian Wayne Brady.
• The song was featured (uncredited) in the episode, "See Ya," of season one of New Girl.

Track listings

CD maxi

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
2. "Here I Stand Before Me" – 3:07
3. "Superman's Song" (live from the U.S. public radio program Mountain Stage)

7" single

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
2. "Here I Stand Before Me" – 3:07

U.S. single

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
2. "Superman's Song" (album version) – 4:31
3. "How Does a Duck Know?" – 3:42

Cassette single

Features cardboard picture liner

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
2. "Here I Stand Before Me"

Charts and sales

Outside their home country of Canada, the single became the band's most successful song, reaching number 4 in the U.S. and number 2 in the UK – the group's biggest hit in both countries. It also reached number 1 on the Modern Rock Chart in the U.S. and in Australia.

In Canada, the song was a comparative flop. While the Crash Test Dummies had 6 singles reach the Canadian top ten, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was not one of them. In Canada, the single stalled at number 14.

Chart successions

References

External links

• Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm at MusicBrainz
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics