Song of the Day Apr 28

April 28, 2024

This month I’m focusing on One Hit Wonders of the 90s.

Today our song is:  Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm 

Wikipedia tells us this about the song:

Each of the three verses describes the isolation and suffering of a different 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 bright 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 require that he 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, Roberts whispered "Pentecostal" during the third verse, suggesting this is the denomination of the church.

Most of the lyrics are based on childhood experiences of Roberts. For example, he was in a few serious car crashes as a child, which inspired the first verse; he has a birthmark at the base of his spine which made him a bullying target as a child, inspiring the second verse; and he knew a girl who went to a Pentecostal church, where members were known to speak in tongues, inspiring the third. He got the idea of a boy's hair turning from black into bright white from stories he had heard about this phenomenon - Canities subita - happening to survivors of perilous experiences, including a man who almost went over the Niagara Falls, and his great uncle who fought in Pacific Theater of World War II and heard Japanese soldiers yelling threats in broken English.

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.

Enjoy!