47 plays
december 26
Thurl Ravenscroft – You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
Today’s track is curated by Todd Denis / @JawboneTV
I prefer non-denominational, non-jingle-belled tunes, but my unshakable soft spot remains the Christmas specials from my childhood. I’m talking about A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the cruddy, spindly tree that helped kids understand the true meaning of the season, the stop-motion oddity of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snowman, ‘cmon man, are you kidding?), and of course, the Chuck Jones/Dr. Seuss mastery of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Although the entire Peanuts soundtrack is, as Rick Liebling puts it, “music with emotional resonance,” the Grinch certainly has the more iconic anthem (sung by Thurl Ravenscroft, aka Tony the Tiger, not narrator Boris Karloff as most people think).
From the first note, there’s a rush of nostalgic adrenaline that brings me right back to childhood. To this day, it’s the oddly effective blend of morality and commercialism in Seuss’ Grinch that makes me feel like it’s okay to love Christmas without being a total douche about it, and it’s the song that anchors that feeling.
Best to everyone in 2010, and Viva la Grinch!
