Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol is notable for being the first animated Christmas television special…ever. As far as I’m aware, it hasn’t been shown on television for years, despite being aired annually for a long period of time. For many, however, Magoo remains a classic, and while it’s certainly appreciated by a good number of people, it’s weird to say that its probably reached the point where its become underrated. Let’s be real, there are so many adaptations of A Christmas Carol out there vying for our attention that it’s easy to skip a lot of them, but Magoo is worth a watch, with stylish animation and great Broadway-style songs (heck, the framing device for the whole thing is that it is a play being performed on Broadway).

But the one song that’s always stood out to me the most, despite technically being completely disposable, is “We’re Despicable!” (sometimes referred to as “The Plunderer’s March”), which weirdly enough is the cartoon’s only musical number that is played strictly for comedy. And it comes at a place where narratively there is no reason for a song. You know that part in the future where Scrooge is taken by Christmas Future to meet a sleazy character known only as “Old Joe”? Yeah, they gave that guy a song. And he and his cronies just love being rotten. It’s kind of their whole deal.

Interestingly enough, if this song seems to come completely out of nowhere, it’s because it kind of did. When the first cut of Magoo was finished, it was two minutes short of the required runtime for broadcasting at the time (where programs have to have a precise timeline in order to fit in commercials). So a song was added at the last minute, one that was intentionally meant to be unimportant in case the network decided to cut it for future airings. Even more notable is that the entire song was animated by just one person over the course of two weeks!

Anyway, this is my favorite song from Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. I’m honestly not sure what that says about me. Have a DESPICABLE day, y’all!