The Little Drummer Boy


"The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.
In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus' mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He smiled at me".

Origins

The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum" and was published by Davis based upon a traditional Czech song. Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: Her manuscript is set as a chorale, in which the tune is in the soprano melody with alto harmony, tenor and bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment "for rehearsal only". It is headed "Czech Carol freely transcribed by K.K.D.", these initials then deleted and replaced with "C.R.W. Robinson", a name under which Davis sometimes published. The Czech original of the carol has never been identified.
"Carol of the Drum" appealed to the Austrian Trapp Family Singers, who first brought the song to wider prominence when they recorded it for Decca Records in 1951 on their first album for Decca. Their version was credited solely to Davis and published by Belwin-Mills.
In 1957 it was recorded, with a slightly altered arrangement by Jack Halloran for his Jack Halloran Singers on their Dot Records album Christmas Is A-Comin'. This arrangement is the one commonly sung today. However, the recording was not released as a single that year. In response to this, Dot producer Henry Onorati, who left Dot to become the new head of 20th Century Fox Records in 1958, introduced the song to Harry Simeone. When 20th Century Fox Records contracted with Simeone to make a Christmas album, Simeone hired many of the same singers that had sung in Halloran's version and made a near-identical recording with his newly created Harry Simeone Chorale. It was released as a single in 1958, and later on the album, Sing We Now of Christmas. The only difference between Simeone's version and Halloran's version, was that Simeone's contained finger cymbals, and had been retitled The Little Drummer Boy. Simeone and Onorati claimed and received joint composition credits with Davis, although the two did not actually compose, write, or arrange it. Halloran never received a writing credit for the song, something his family disagrees with.
The album and the song were an enormous success, with the single scoring in the top 40 of the U.S. music charts from 1958 to 1962. In 1965, Simeone, who had signed with Kapp Records in 1964, re-recorded a new version of the song for his album O' Bambino: The Little Drummer Boy. This version was recorded in stereo, had a slightly slower tempo, and contained different-sounding cymbals. Simeone recorded the song a third and final time in 1981, for an album, again titled, The Little Drummer Boy, on the budget Holiday Records label.

Other versions

The popularity of "The Little Drummer Boy" can be seen by the number of cover versions and live performances in all kinds of music genres:

1950s

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  • Apocalyptica covered the song and released it as a single
  • Kitaro covered the song and released it in his album Peace on Earth
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  • The Dandy Warhols recorded the second of two versions of the song, which was released by Capitol Records
  • The Toasters covered the song on the Moon Ska Records Christmas compilation album, Christma-Ska
  • Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson did a version for the guitar Christmas album, Merry Axemas
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  • Boyz II Men released their rendition of the song on their second Christmas album, Winter/Reflections
  • Bryan Duncan and the NehoSoul Band recorded the song on their Christmas album, A NehoSoul Christmas
  • Dwight Schrute briefly performed the song in the pilot episode of The Office
  • MercyMe recorded the song for their Christmas album, The Christmas Sessions
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