Darius Rucker released Home for the Holidays, his first Christmas album, in 2014, and it included several classic songs and even a couple of originals. One of them he recorded “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” was the first song he just knew he was going to put on the album.
“It was because I love it. For me, the Grinch cartoon, and even the movie now, but the Grinch cartoon growing up, before we had 152,000 channels, we had three channels and they showed all these cartoons once a year and the Grinch was one of those things,” says Darius. “I think we only bought the TV Guide in December, so we can know when the Grinch was coming on. It was in prime time and the whole family was sitting there watching it, and that song was always so cool.”
Darius also wanted to record, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” with Sheryl Crow, but it was because of the movie Elf. “I decided to do that for one reason, for Elf, for that movie and how great they did it when she’s taking a shower in the bathroom, and he comes and sits on the counter and he’s singing along with her. I thought it was just a great song,” he says.
Audio / Darius Rucker explains why he wanted to record “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”
DownloadDarius Rucker (The Grinch) OC: …love that tune. :46
“‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,’ that was the first song I knew I was going to do, and it was because I love it. For me, the Grinch cartoon, and even the movie now, but the Grinch cartoon growing up, before we had 152,000 channels, we had three channels and they showed all these cartoons once a year and the Grinch was one of those things. I think we only bought the TV Guide in December, so we can know when the Grinch was coming on. It was in prime time and the whole family was sitting there watching it, and that song was always so cool. As a kid, you used to think it was James Earl Jones singing it and it wasn’t, but you thought it was because of that low voice and the way the guy sings it, and I just thought it was such a great song. And I thought it would be a cool song to put my kids on too, and so we cut it and we did put them on it. I love that tune.”
Audio / Darius Rucker says he recorded “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” because of the movie, Elf.
DownloadDarius Rucker (Baby, It’s Cold Outside) OC: …great choice. :29
“‘Baby It’s Cold Outside,’ I decided to do that for one reason, for Elf, for that movie and how great they did it when she’s taking a shower in the bathroom, and he comes and sits on the counter and he’s singing along with her. I thought it was just a great song. And we wanted to have another voice on the record somewhere and that was a great song to do it on. And then when we got Sheryl [Crow] to come and do it and after sitting there with her in the studio right next to each other singing it over and over and laughing and having a great time, I knew it was a great choice.”
