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Youre A Mean One MR Grinch
Youre A Mean One MR Grinch
Andrea Morris
Mr. Flores
English Composition II
8 July 2020
Many people have probably watched “The Grinch” movie around Christmas time and
heard the song “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” which was written by Theodor Geisel, better
known as Dr. Seuss. The song being about the Grinch who tries to steel Christmas and is being
described as a person that is not particularly liked. The classic version from 1966, which was
sung by Thurl Ravenscroft, could be more entertaining to an older group of people, versus the
new 2018 version, sung by Tyler, the Creator, which could be more entertaining to a younger age
group.
If you have seen the Grinch, you know it is about a “man” named Grinch, who is all
green and furry and does not like the town of Whoville. When Christmas comes, he thinks if he
steals all of the Whoville’s presents that they won’t want to celebrate Christmas anymore. This
explains the title for the song “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch”. Someone willing to steal an
entire town’s Christmas presents can’t be described simply. The song does a great job on making
it fun but yet still describing the Grinch as a mean character. Some examples from the lyrics are
“as charming as an eel” and “You’ve got garlic in your soul” and the best part “I wouldn’t touch
The original 1966 version of this song is played by Thurl Ravenscroft. Ravenscroft has a
very deep voice and the melody is fitting for the time period. Growing up and watching TV you
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might have heard the cereal commercial “Tony The Tiger” where the cartoon tiger lets out a
great big “Theyy’reee Greeeaatttt!”. If you can picture this, this was also the voice of
Ravenscroft. The deep voice of Ravenscroft and the mysterious text surrounding the story of the
Grinch fits the classical version perfectly. It has a simple melody that sounds almost classical and
mysterious. During the classical video, it shows the Grinch preparing his outfit, with the help
from Max the dog, to play the part as Santa Clause. He then uses the outfit and sneaks into the
town’s homes to steal Christmas presents and decorations. This version is child friendly, but
from the style of melody that adults might enjoy this version better. The art used to make this
video is drawn by hand which is fitting for the time period that it originally came out. The 1966
version uses more of a Pathos appeal to the video and song because it emotionally is trying to
draw the listener into the story and make you understand that the Grinch is the bad guy. With
words such as “cuddly as a cactus”, or “Your brain is full of spiders” has to be a song that has a
little spooky mystery to it. This helps show a picture of what the Grinch looks like which helps
This 2018 version is different than the classical 1966 version. This version is played by
Tyler the Creator, who is a somewhat well-known hip-hop rapper, which has an upbeat tone to it.
The song has been remade with a melody that makes your body want to dance. The video has
been updated to fit the new age and time period of viewers listening. This video version of the
song shows the Grinch getting ready for the day and Max, the dog, helping him get ready by
making his Coffee with a fancy homemade gadget and picking out his outfit. During this version,
the lyrics have words such as “Ayo”, “Homie”, and even references Halloween. The grinch in
this version treats Max a little better than the 1966 version. This version I think is more designed
for younger children with its catchy music tone and fun computer graphics but could also be
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entertaining to adults. The 1966 version could be for children but probably more children from
that generation, which are now adults who probably enjoy the original version more. Like stated
before, Tyler the Creator is a known hip-hop rapper, which could be more exciting for a young
adult age group. Again, the 2018 version is using a pathos appeal but in a little different way
than the 1966 version. The Video of this new version of the song hasn’t made the grinch look
like the bad guy just yet, but it still can draw you in and make you invested in the character and
In different ways, the classical version by Ravenscroft and the new version by Tyler the
Creator explains the same story but in different ways. The classical version by Ravenscroft the
music’s tone is more mysterious and sets more of the tone for what the Grinch is about to do.
Comparing that to the new version by Tyler the Creator, the new version has more of a “bop” to
it and isn’t as mysterious sounding as the classical version. The art skills used to make the
classical version are hand-drawn and are not as technical as the new version, which is
understandable for both the time periods that the videos where released. The soft, simple melody
and hand drawn graphics might be why the Classical 1966 version could be more interesting to
an older audience. The new version could be more interesting and appealing to a younger
generation again because of its upbeat music and computer-animated graphics. Some remade
versions of things such as songs or movies can be just as good as the original or even better, and
sometimes they can be worse, and people might like the original version better. This new version
of the grinch I think turned out to be pretty good and think it was well-fitting for the time period.
Personally, as a young adult I enjoy the new version, which could be from the new “bop” style
music. I also really enjoy the older version because growing up it was a classical Christmas
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tradition to watch “The Grinch”. This song “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” I think is a song
Works Cited
Ravenscroft, Thurl. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” YouTube, uploaded by HolidayFavorites,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6bqbPdGOZk
Tyler the Creator, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” YouTube, uploaded by Stark Productions,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Eg-odlhJQE
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