Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" is a single by the Canadian folk-rock group Crash Test Dummies, featured on their 1993 album God Shuffled His Feet.

Each verse describes the isolation and suffering of a child, each of which have wild-sounding stories: a boy whose hair has prematurely whitened from shock, a girl covered in birthmarks, and a boy whose family belongs to a peculiar religious sect. An alternate version sometimes performed at live concerts replaced the third verse with one concerning a boy whose mother disposed of his tonsils after a tonsilectomy, thus depriving him of the possibility of bringing them to show and tell.

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 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 second act tells the story of a girl that never used 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 final act tells of a boy that lives under the strict discipline of his austere parents and how his family attends a church, where "shaking" and "lurching" happens during the services.

Released: 1993 (U.S.)
Format: CD single
Recorded: Music Head Recording in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Genre: folk-rock
Label: BMG/Arista
Writer(s): Brad Roberts
Producer: Jerry Harrison, Crash Test Dummies

Once there was a kid who
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed him so hard

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Once there was this girl who
Wouldn't go and change with the girls in the change room
But when they finally made her
They saw birthmarks all over her body
She couldn't quite explain it
They'd always just been there

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

But both the girl and boy were glad
'Cause one kid had it worse than that

'Cause then there was this boy whose
Parents made him come directly home right after school
And when they went to their church
They shook and lurched all over the church floor
He couldn't quite explain
They'd always just gone there

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm