Two years ago with the earliest iteration of the Simeon Davis Group, I wrote an arrangement of the iconic holiday tune "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" that featured uncommon instrumentation, and strong Neo-Soul energy, all loosely wrapped in a jazz idiom.
This track features solos by Ken Ballard on keyboard and Simeon Davis on alto sax.
lyrics
INTRO:
Mmm, ah, you're a mean one oh oh
You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You're a mean one -
VERSE ONE:
You're a mean one, Mister Grinch
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel
Mister Grinch
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel
You're a mean one!
VERSE TWO:
You're a monster, Mister Grinch
Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders, you've got garlic in your soul
Mister Grinch
I wouldn't touch you with a thirty nine and a half inch pole!
VERSE THREE:
You're a foul one, Mister Grinch (Oh Mister Grinch!)
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile
Mister Grinch
Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the
Seasick crocodile!
BRIDGE:
Given the choice between the two of you
I reckon the one you're not will surely do
You lie, you cheat, you swindle and steal
You tell young children that Santa's not real.
You're an old rotten monster, the trap and the rat
You're also green and fuzzy - not sure what's up with that.
You are the ghost of Christmas Humbug
Your favorite spirit is misery
Comparatively speaking next to you the Scrooge is
A fine purveyor of philanthropy
You're the superlative adjective to every negative one could ever do
But nobody's just like that it begs the question:
Whatever happened to you?
You're a mean one!
-KEYBOARD SOLO-
-SAXOPHONE SOLO-
VERSE FOUR:
You're a vile one, Mister Grinch
You're a nasty wasty skunk
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk,
Mister Grinch!
The three words that best describe you are
Stink, stank, stunk!
-VAMP you're a mean one TO END-
credits
released December 7, 2020
Kendrick Ballard IV: keyboard, Male vocals, recording and mastering
Simeon Nathanael Davis: Soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, arranger
Kyle Dugger: Drums
Jessica Goodrich: Flute
Alex Hodge: Electric bass
Destin Wernicke: Vibraphone
Callandra Youngleson: Female vocals
Original song composed by Albert Hague and Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel in 1966.
Arranged, performed, and recorded in 2018 by the Simeon Davis Group.
The Simeon Davis Group is a band of eclectic instrumentation and genre blends that is rooted in jazz elements. Led by
saxophonist and composer Simeon Nathanael Davis, the band performs anything from vast through-composed original compositions to quirky arrangements of familiar tunes, drawing on aspects of jazz, neo-soul, western classical, and the bandleader's roots in South African music....more
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