Written by prolific Italian jazz composer , the song was originally composed for the 1968 Italian "mondo" documentary Svezia, inferno e paradiso ( Sweden: Heaven and Hell ).

The nonsense scat-singing that makes the track so memorable was performed by and his wife, Giulia . Alessandroni was a legendary session musician known for his whistling and guitar work on Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores. 🐸 Rise to International Fame

Umiliani reportedly improvised the catchy three-note refrain in less than five minutes while finishing the film's score. 🎤 The Vocals

The song accompanied a sequence featuring a group of young women running through the snow and into a sauna.

On this day in 1977, the Muppets single “Mahna ... - Facebook

While it was a minor radio hit in 1968–1969, the song became a global phenomenon through television:

It was first titled "Viva la Sauna Svedese" ("Hooray for the Swedish Sauna").