"Cruella De Vil" is the theme song of the villainess featured in the 1961 Disney animated feature film One Hundred and One Dalmatians and its 1996 live-action remake. In the original animated film, it is written by Roger Radcliffe who had just finished the melody for the song and was inspired by Cruella's name to write a jazz song about her.
It was first performed by Bill Lee as the singing voice of Roger Radcliffe, a character from the movie. It has been re-recorded by Dr. John (which was used in the closing credits for the 1996 live-action remake), Lalaine, Skye Sweetnam, Hayden Panettiere, and Selena Gomez for various releases in the DisneyMania album series. Additionally, the Mad Hatter sang the song in a game of musical chairs at Disneyland, but instead changed a number of the "Cruella De Vil's" to "Alice De Vil" to criticize his friend.
"Cruella De Vil" is the only song from the original film to be featured in the Animated StoryBook adaptation.
The song was re-imagined with new lyrics by Jack Feldman for 102 Dalmatians, as a song about Cruella's supposed "change of heart." It is sung by Camara Kambon.
An instrumental version of the song can also be heard in the Once Upon a Time episode "Sympathy for the De Vil". When Cruella hears the song, she exclaims how much she loves it and persuades Isaac Heller to dance to it with her.
The original version is briefly heard during the mid-credits scene in Cruella where Roger begins composing the song for it.
Lyrics[]
Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella, Cruella
She's like a spider waiting for the kill
Look out for Cruella De Vil
At first you think Cruella is a devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from underneath a rock!
This vampire bat, this inhuman beast
She ought to be locked up and never released
The world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
(In some of them, the last two verses are repeated)
Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
Cruella, her lips, the ice in her stare
All innocent children had better beware
She's like a spider waiting for the kill
Look out for Cruella De Vil
At first, you'd think Cruella is a devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You've come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from underneath a rock
This vampire bat, this inhuman beast
She oughta be locked up and never released
The world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
(♪♪ Instrumental Jazz Solo)
Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella De Vil
Cruella, her lips, the ice in her stare
All innocent children had better beware
She's like a spider waiting for the kill
Look out for Cruella De Vil
At first you think Cruella is a devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You've come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from under a rock
This vampire bat, inhuman beast
She ought to be locked up and never released
This world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella De Vil
(♪♪ Trumpet solo)
So evil even her hair's two-faced
(♪♪ Trumpet solo)
Ain't like nothin' you've ever seen, she's the dean of mean
(♪♪ Trumpet solo)
I need to message she's got some doggone bad intentions
(♪♪ Trumpet solo)
(spoken) I mean, let's face it. A person like her could really ruin your whole day.
(Trumpet solo as the song closes, in the film version, we hear Cruella's laugh)
Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil
Just hearing her name used to make you feel ill
Now suddenly she's drippin' with good will
Can this be Cruella De Vil?
A heartwarmin' laugh, instead of a scream
She's practically human or so it would seem
As playful as a puppy in the snow
That's not the Cruella we know
Oh, remember when she lived just to be rotten
How she loved to frighten the little tots
Who thought she could be kind,
respectful and refined
Has the lady really changed her spots?
She gave up her bark but will she still bite
What's wrong with this picture? It doesn't look right
Unfortunately only time will tell
if Cruella, I mean, Ella
is from heaven or hell
Ooh yeah
Oooh, ooh oh oh, oooh oh
Look out for Cruella De Vil
Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
The curl of her lips, the ice in her stare
All innocent children had better beware
She's like a spider waiting for the kill
Look out for Cruella De Vil
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella De Vil
Oooh, ooh oh oh, oooh oh
This vampire bat, this inhuman beast
She 'outta be locked up and never released
This world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
Yeah!
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella De Vil
Oooh, ooh oh oh, oooh oh
(Oooh oh, oooh oh. oooh oh. oooh oh)
At first you think Cruella is a devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from underneath a rock!
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella De Vil
Oooh, ooh oh oh, oooh oh (Cruella De Vil!)
Oooh, ooh oh oh, oooh oh (Cruella De Vil!)
Oooh, ooh oh oh, oooh oh
Look out for Cruella De Vil
Cruella De Vil, Cruella De Vil
If she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will
To see her is to take a sudden chill
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
The curl of her lips, the ice in her stare
All innocent children had better beware
She's like a spider waitin' for the kill
Look out for Cruella De Vil
At first you think Cruella is a devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from underneath a rock
This vampire bat, this inhuman beast
She ought to be locked up but never released
The world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
Oh, Cruella
Cruella, Cruella De Vil
Trivia[]
- "Cruella De Vil" and "The Phony King of England" are one of the few songs about a villain that are made by the protagonist characters to mock the villain.
- In 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, the song can briefly be heard when Cruella turns on her car, but she destroys the radio in annoyance. This shows that Cruella simply hated Roger's song about her.
- In 101 Dalmatians Animated Storybook, the song was featured along with other sing along songs. In page 2, the song instrumentally plays in different orders along on each picture of Cruella wearing different outfits as it scrolls off when you click on it, and in page 3, if you click on the church in the background, the bell rings to the tune of song. Also in page 11, after you clicked on Cruella's car enough times when the pieces come apart, the horn toots to the song of it as you click again.
- The lyrics "She ought to be locked up and never released" reflects on how Cruella was arrested for her crimes for animal cruelty in the films and sequels of both the animated and live-action.
- A snippet of the song is heard in the theme song of 101 Dalmatians: The Series.
- The song can be heard twice in 101 Dalmatian Street:
- In "London, We Have a Problem", an instrumental version of the song was heard at the end.
- In "The De Vil Wears Puppies", the song is heard as Hunter's ringtone.
- In the original film, Roger continues to play the melody of the song on piano, trumpet and trombone during Cruella's visit to the house, coming downstairs and resuming singing the song to Anita after Cruella has left.
- The lyrics "all innocent children had better beware" that is not featured in the movie, but other artists' covers of the song makes a strong implication that Cruella hates children.
- An arrangement of this song was listed among the set pieces of ABRSM Grade 6 Piano for 2017 and 2018.
Videos[]
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