UC grad Al Hague composes 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'

UC alumnus Albert Hague, CCM ’42, composed "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" as an audition piece to win the job scoring the 1966 TV movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” His agent cautioned him against using a quirky audition concept he had, but the composer said he knew best, and he was right. He nabbed the job within minutes.

In the '60s, Hague was enormously famous on Broadway, having won a Tony Award in 1959 for his score for the musical "Redhead," directed by Bob Fosse. Hollywood, however, was a new environment for him. "I had a young agent," he recalled, "who called to ask if I would like to work with Dr. Seuss. I saw an audition coming on, so I said, 'Absolutely. I'd love to.'"

When Jim Carrey made the story into a full-length feature film in 2000, Hague's song and much of his score accompanied the movie, and he was listed in the credits. Hague was also well known for playing the role of Mr. Shorofsky, the music teacher, in the TV series "Fame" from 1982-87. In addition, his musical "Plain and Fancy," a story set among the Amish of Pennsylvania, is performed all year long, and has been for decades, in Nappanee, Ind. In November 2001, Hague died at age 81. 

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.

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 words that best describe you are,
and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You're the king of sinful sots.
Your heart's a dead tomato splot
With 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.

Lyrics by Dr. Seuss, 1957. Article content (originally written by Deborah Rieselman) republished with permission of UC Magazine.