Mr Bassman/Mah-na Mah-na Medley

This medley of two songs famously performed by the Muppets is frivolous showpiece asking for fun. It is a demanding sing, with rangy parts and needs both nimbleness and stamina, but is a guaranteed audience-pleaser.

Here it is sung at its premiere by The Mix:

Original performance notes:

The central drama of 'Mr Bassman' lies in the sense of identity implied by the different roles in the musical texture. The relationship between lead and bass is specified in both music and lyrics, and thus plays out pretty much as in the original Johnny Cymbal version in all later cover versions (Andrews Sisters, the Muppets, the Deltones).

The Muppets' interpretation of 'Mahna Mahna' takes an originally instrumental tune and turns it into a similar kind of drama. However, this narrative is both more abstract (it is played out entirely in the music rather than the lyric), and more contentious in character (the 'Mahna-mahna' motif repeatedly grabs control of the musical narrative, forcing the 'doot-doos' into response, but every time it attempts to exploit this power with freer musical content, they close it down).

The medley takes these two dramatic narratives and weaves them together. It starts with a straightforward rendition of 'Mr Bassman' as a love-fest between lead and bass. Then at bar 41, the baritone decides that they are getting just too indulgent and interrupts. When she has their attention she takes them into 'Mahna-Mahna', which plays out initially as the Muppets' version does.

At bar 57, though, the bass tries to wrest control back by introducing riffs from 'Mr Bassman', and after a bit of pulling back-and-forth, brings us back into a reprise of the first song. The bari is still trying to get control back through this section, but only ever manages to derail the reprise momentarily at bars 72-3.

The love-fest between lead and bass continues without further interruption until bar 84, when the bari tries the new tactic of stealing one of their riffs (and the tenor, who has mostly stayed aloof from the power struggles thus far, also grabs a moment of glory).

This time the bari succeeds, and brings the medley to a close with 'Mahna-Mahna'. They all briefly get stuck in a repeating loop, and are just starting to panic when the lead manages to break the cycle and bring the song to a close.