"The World's Greatest Criminal Mind" is a song featured in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. It is sung by Ratigan and his thugs. This song also includes a special appearance by Bill the Lizard from Alice in Wonderland.
This song was included on the VHS, Disney Sing Along Songs: Be Our Guest.
The song begins with Ratigan mentioning his earlier crimes, and that his current plan will be even more wicked than before. It then changes to his henchmen singing their admiration of their evil leader before switching to Ratigan lamenting over Basil's constant interference with his plans, before wickedly claiming that not even Basil can stand in his way this time. The henchmen sing their praises again, but the song is interrupted when Bartholomew, a mouse who had made himself extremely drunk throughout the song, loudly calls Ratigan the 'world's greatest rat'. Enraged, Ratigan flings the henchman out his lair and has him devoured by Felicia. Once Bartholomew has been consumed, the henchmen resume their singing (mostly out of fear due to Ratigan giving the implied threat of feeding them to Felicia next if they didn't), and the song ends with them smashing their wine glasses together as Ratigan displays his signature grin.
Lyrics
Ratigan: From the brain that brought you the Big Ben Caper
The head that made headlines in every newspaper
And wondrous things like the Tower Bridge Job
That cunning display that made Londoners sob
Now comes the real Tour de Force
Tricky and wicked of course
My earlier crimes were fine for their times
But now that I'm at it again
An even grimmer plot has been simmering
In my great criminal brain
Chorus: Even meaner? You mean it?
Worse than the widows and orphans you drowned?
You're the best of the worst around
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
The rest fall behind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world's greatest criminal mind!
(Song temporarily stops)
Chorus: Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You're tops and that's that
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
Bartholomew: To Ratigan the world's greatest rat!
(Song temporarily stops)
Chorus: Even louder
We'll shout it!
No one can doubt what we know you can do
You're more evil than even you
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You're one of a kind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world's greatest criminal mind!!!
Ratigan:
From the brain that brought you the Big Ben Caper
The head that made headlines in every newspaper
By scampering up and tampering with
And hampering time and becoming a myth
Now comes the real Tour de Force
Tricky and wicked of course
The Big Ben crime was fine for its time
But now that I'm back again,
An even grimmer plot has been simmering
In my great criminal brain
Chorus: Even meaner? You mean it?
Worse than the widows and orphans you drowned?
You're the best of the worst around
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
The rest fall behind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world's greatest criminal mind
Ratigan:
When these dark and devilish urges guide me
This cruel and unusual gift that's inside me
Does wondrous things like the Tower Bridge Job
The cunning display that made Londoners sob
Picking them off one by one
Picking them off just for fun
Such privilege, my view from the bridge
As all of them bobbed and sank
But now this matchless plot I've been hatching's
A much more unnatural prank
Chorus: Even louder
We'll shout it!
No one can doubt what we know you can do
You're more evil than even you
Oh, Ratigan
Oh, Ratigan
You're one of a kind
To Ratigan
To Ratigan
The world's greatest criminal mind!
Trivia
- There was a deleted lyric that expanded a bit on the London Bridge Job: Ratigan had thrown several civilian Mice into the Thames River, and shot any that attempted to surface. It was presumably cut because of the dark and family-unfriendly nature of the lyric.
- Interestingly, the part that says "The widows and orphans you drowned" may be the same crime.
- Coincidentally, the name of the song was previously used with the character Egghead in the 1960s Batman show, who was portrayed by Ratigan's voice actor, Vincent Price.
Gallery
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