Looking forward into 2024, ‘no grinching’ allowed!

Before Christmas 2023 arrives, here’s one more song to sing….

Can you put the name of Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft with his popular holiday tune? Here’s a hint: Go low...deep into the bass range. Great name. Great voice.

 

Ravenscroft was the bass soloist who performed the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” The tune was composed by Albert Hague and recorded in 1966 for the animated television special “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”

 The project was based on the popular children’s book of the same name written in 1957 by the legendary Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel).

 

The magically distinctive, deep-throated voice of Ravenscroft was perfect to define the persona of that dastardly and vile scumbag Mr. Grinch. Here are a few snippets from the song:

 

You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch

You really are a heel

You’re as cuddly as a cactus, you’re as charming as an eel…

You’re a bad banana with a greasy black peel.

 

You’re a nasty-wasty skunk

Your soul is full of gunk…

 

Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots

 

You’re a three-decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich

…with arsenic sauce.

 

Keith Scott, an animation historian based in Sydney, Australia, told Kim Carpenter of Omaha (Neb.) Magazine: “The Grinch is ‘spooky yet humorous.’”

 

“It was Ravenscroft’s most distinctive role,” Scott said. “Thurl’s bass voice was not only meant to be creepy, but it also had to have a subtle comedic twinkle in it.” 

In the story, the Grinch is annoyed by the sounds of Christmas merriment that waft up from the village of Whoville to “pollute the air” around his chateau on the peak of Mount Crumpit, towering about 3,000 feet above the valley. 

The Grinch schemes to spoil Christmas by stealing gifts, food and decorations from people’s homes in Whoville on Christmas Eve, while disguised as Santa Claus. While the families are sleeping, the Grinch loads all the stuff on his sleigh, which is pulled up the mountain by his super-strong dog Max.

 

When morning arrives, the Grinch expects to hear the Whos’ bitter and sorrowful cries, but instead he realizes that they are joining together in a joyous Christmas song…despite the fact that their homes have been robbed and their gifts are all gone. 

The Grinch is shocked and puzzled. A jolt to his system gets him thinking:

 Maybe Christmas…doesn’t come from a store.

And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say

That the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day!

Feeling a twinge of remorse, the Grinch returns all the things he stole and arrives just in time to participate in the Whos’ Christmas feast. 

Thanks to Dr. Seuss, the word “grinch” has entered the popular lexicon, first as an informal noun, defined as a “killjoy” or a “spoilsport.” In other words a “grumpy person who spoils the pleasure of others – especially during Christmastime.” 

Writing for the Grammarist, a unit of Found First Marketing, based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Danielle Mcleod tells us more about the word “grinch.”

First of all, she says it is perfectly OK to use “grinch” to describe a “reprehensible, crabby, holiday-hating fiend.” Mcleod says she knows about a “Grinchmas gathering every year where family isn’t invited; only non-grinchy old friends can show up.” 

As a verb, “grinch” can describe an action of being cranky. You could also say somebody is behaving ‘grinchily.” Or they have a “grinchy” attitude.

A great New Year’s Resolution for all of us would be: “No grinching allowed in 2024.” Let our hearts grow three sizes.