"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" is a Christmas song that was originally written and composed for the 1966 cartoon special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!".
The lyrics were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, the music was composed by Albert Hague, and the song was performed by Thurl Ravenscroft, best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger and numerous voices throughout Disney films and theme park attractions such as The Haunted Mansion. The song's lyrics describe the Grinch as being foul, bad-mannered and sinister using increasingly creative put-downs, metaphors and synonyms, beginning with the opening line "you're a mean one, Mister Grinch".
The song has six verses difficult to memorize for live performances prompting nearly all live performances to use a teleprompter just in case.
Lyrics
You're a mean one Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as slippery as an eel,
Mr. Grinch!
You're a bad banana,
With a, greasy black peel!
You're a monster, Mr. Grinch!
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders.
You've got garlic in your soul,
Mr. Grinch!
I wouldn't touch you with a,
Thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!
You're a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile,
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile,
Mr Grinch.
Given the choice between the two of you,
I'd take the seasick crocodile.
You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You're a nasty wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks.
Your soul is full of gunk,
Mr Grinch.
The three best words that best describe you, are as follows, and I quote"
Stink! Stank! Stunk!
You're a rotter, Mr Grinch
You're the king of sinful sots
Your heart's a squashed tomato full of moldy purple spots Mr Grinch
Your soul is an appalling dump heap
Overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up, in tangled up knots.
You nauseate me, Mr Grinch
With a nauseous super naus
You're a crooked jerky jockey and,
You drive a crooked horse
Mr Grinch!
You're a three-decker sauerkraut
And toadstool sandwich,
With arsenic sauce!