"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" is a song by Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies, and written by its singer Brad Roberts. It was released in October 1993 by Arista and BMG as the band's lead single from their second album, God Shuffled His Feet (1993). The song received positive critical reviews upon its release, though retrospective reviews have been more negative. The song reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the national charts of Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden. In the band's native Canada, it stalled at number 14 on the RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart. The accompanying music video was directed by Dale Heslip.

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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

Outside their home country of Canada, the single became the band's most successful song, reaching number four in the United States and number two in the United Kingdom—the group's biggest hit in both countries. It also reached number one on the Modern Rock Chart in the United States and in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. While the Crash Test Dummies had six singles reach the Canadian top 10, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was not one of them, instead stalling at number 14.

The accompanying music video for "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was directed by Dale Heslip and premiered in October 1993.^[23] It sets the song's lyrics as the script for a series of one-act plays performed by schoolchildren. Throughout, the scenes of the performance are intercut with scenes of the Crash Test Dummies performing the song at stage side.

All three one-act plays included nicknames for their lead characters, to provide Heslip with easy references:

1. The first featured a kid nicknamed "Whitey"
2. The second pitted "Blotchy" against "Bratty Kids", who Heslip thought lived up to their nickname; Blotchy's marks are covered with a long cape she wears throughout, whereas the "Bratty Kids" wear deerstalker hats and carry magnifying glasses
3. The third had, as its focus, a "Reluctant Boy"

These nicknames were all revealed in an installment of Pop-Up Video.^{[episode needed]} The same installment also revealed that Brad Roberts had decided to hum, rather than actually sing, the refrain of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" because humming the refrain sounded more resigned to him and that he never wrote lyrics for it.

The music video for "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was later made available by Vevo on YouTube in 2018, and had amassed over 40 million views as of January 2024.^[24]

• CD maxi

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
2. "Here I Stand Before Me" – 3:07
3. "Superman's Song" (live from the US public radio program Mountain Stage)

• 7-inch single

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
2. "Here I Stand Before Me" – 3:07

• US single

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
2. "Superman's Song" (album version) – 4:31
3. "How Does a Duck Know?" – 3:42

• Cassette single

Features cardboard picture liner

1. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
2. "Here I Stand Before Me"