Mama Mia Farrow, NewsRevue Lyric, 18 August 1992

This lyric ran and ran in NewsRevue in the second half of 1992 and was also recorded by Ben Murphy the following year (recording below).

It was still early in my NewsRevue “career” so I have a few very clear memories about the writing and initial performing of it.

The first memory is that the Woody and Mia rift story broke early in the week and the song popped into my head very quickly. I recall jumping in the car and dropping a lyric sheet and cassette at the Canal Cafe Theatre, probably on that very (Tuesday) morning.

I also recall Jonny Hurst confronting me on the Thursday evening, when the song was first performed, because he had also used the rhyme “Manhattan…shat on” (in a lyric that resembled Maria from West Side Story); Jonny found it hard to believe that I might independently have had the same thought. Fortunately I had a good evidence trail that my lyric had been submitted independently and indeed earlier than his; Jonny not only went on to become the chant laureate but he is also a lawyer!

Here is my lyric:

MAMA MIA FARROW

(A Song for Mia Farrow, Woody Allen and Sprogs To the Tune of “Mama Mia”)

 

VERSE 1

 

MIA:Woody’s cheated on me since I don’t know when,

WOODY:I like Mia’s daughters once they’re nine or ten;

MIA:Look at him pry at them lustily,

WOODY:I’m goanna try to get custody,

I have thought,

I might fancy a ward of court;

MIA:God you look a bit like Bernard Levin,

WOODY:Sling your hook go back to Andre Previn.

 

CHORUS 1

 

SPROGS:Wo oh oh oh, Mama Mia, here they go again,

My my, listen how they bicker;

Mama Mia, hear them blow again,

My my, like one of his flickers.

WOODY:Central Park came between us,

MIA:He has a massive – genius,

SPROGS:Why why, do they have to argue so?

Mama Mia, now we really know,

Why you’re name is still Mia Farrow.

 

VERSE 2

 

WOODY:I’ve been dating Soon-Yi and we’re both having fun,

MIA:You’re an aging loony and she’s just twenty-one;

WOODY:I’m sorry I’ve broken etiquette,

MIA:You’ll go to gaol in Connecticut,

Yankee States,

Won’t allow you to have young mates;

WOODY:Our love tryst should have been in Tennessee,

MIA:Analyst is who you should go and see.

 

CHORUS 2

 

SPROGS:Wo oh oh oh, Mama Mia, here they go again,

My my, like the film Manhattan,

Mama Mia, hear them blow again,

Mia, thinks she has been shat on;

WOODY:We both shunned matrimony,

MIA:But still found acrimony,

SPROGS:Why why does this have to carry on?

Mama Mia now he has done wrong,

Shove him up his own Orgasmatron.

Here is Ben Murphy’s recording of the lyric:

And just in case you want to see Abba singing Mamma Mia, here is a vid:

Or if you’d sooner see the Abba lyrics:

Postscript: I have subsequently noticed that my creative process is captured on my diary page for 18 August 1992: