======================================================================
=                       The Little Drummer Boy                       =
======================================================================

                             Introduction                             
======================================================================
"The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is
a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine
Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Austrian Trapp
Family, 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's mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He
smiled at me". Despite the song's popularity, the story of the drummer
boy is not biblically accurate.


                         Origins and history                          
======================================================================
The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum". While speculation
has been made that the song is very loosely based on the Czech carol
"Hajej, nynej", the chair of the music department at Davis's alma
mater Wellesley College claims otherwise. In an interview with Music
Department Chair Claire Fontijn, the College writes:



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 crossed out and replaced with "C.R.W. Robinson", a name
under which Davis sometimes published.

"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 the label. Their
version was credited solely to Davis and published by Belwin-Mills.

In 1957, the song was recorded with an 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 record a Christmas album, Simeone hired many of the
same singers who 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', later retitled 'The Little Drummer Boy'. The only
difference between Simeone's and Halloran's versions, was that
Simeone's contained finger cymbals, and the song's title had been
changed to "The Little Drummer Boy". Simeone and Onorati claimed and
received joint composition credits with Davis, although the two did
not actually compose or arrange it. Halloran never received a joint
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 (3:18 play time) 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 (3:08 play
time), for an album, again titled 'The Little Drummer Boy', on the
budget Holiday Records label.


                              Renditions                              
======================================================================
"The Little Drummer Boy" has been recorded by many artists:

* Ray Conniff as the lead song on his 1962 album We Wish You a Merry
Christmas.

* Bert Kaempfert as the lead song on his 1963 album Christmas
Wonderland.
* Frank Sinatra covered the song on the 1964 album 12 Songs of
Christmas.

* In Spain, the song () is associated with Raphael, who sang it for
the first time in 1965 for a TVE Christmas special.
* Vince Guaraldi as the 3rd track, titled “My Little Drum”, on his
1965 album A Charlie Brown Christmas (soundtrack).
* Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, whose version got to No. 13 in the UK
charts at Christmas 1972
* Jazz/funk musician Stix Hooper, drummer and percussionist for the
group The Crusaders, who recorded the song in 1979 as the final track
on 'The World Within,' his first album as a lead artist.
* Pop group Boney M., who recorded a version of the song for their
1981 'Christmas Album'. The single peaked at No. 20 in Germany.
* Also in 1981, a pop punk/hard rock version served as the final track
on Joan Jett and the Blackhearts's album 'I Love Rock 'n Roll'. Jett's
version includes a modification of the traditional lyrics of "Ox and
lamb" to "Ass and lamb" and another line, traditionally "Mary nodded,"
is rendered in apparent nonsense words. Besides these and a climactic
electric guitar breakdown, the song is otherwise performed fairly
earnestly.
* A duet by the unusual pairing of Bing Crosby and David Bowie on
Crosby's final holiday TV special ('Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde
Christmas', 1977) as a medley titled "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer
Boy". In 1982 it reached No. 3 on the UK chart.
* Bob Seger did a version of the song in 1987 as part of the holiday
compilation album 'A Very Special Christmas'.
* The Dandy Warhols released their psychedelic rock version in 1994 as
a double single.
* Jars of Clay included a version of the song on its 1995 'Drummer Boy
EP'. The band recorded another version of the song on its 2007 album
'Christmas Songs'.
* Ringo Starr included a version of the song on his 1999 holiday album
'I Wanna Be Santa Claus.'
* Terry Wogan and Aled Jones recorded a cover of the 1977 David
Bowie/Bing Crosby duet, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"; after a
brief campaign amongst listeners of BBC Radio 2 instigated by Chris
Evans to get the song released in support of the Children In Need
charity, it was released as a single on 8 December 2008, reaching No.
3 in the UK Top 40 singles chart.
* Norwegian electronic musician Hans-Peter Lindstrøm recorded a
42-minute version of the song in 2009. In 2019, The Guardian placed it
at number 20 on their list of the 50 greatest Christmas songs.
* Justin Bieber released a version of the song, simply named "Drummer
Boy", with Busta Rhymes on his 2011 Christmas album, 'Under the
Mistletoe', adding rap verses. The song is listed among the Greatest
of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart by 'Billboard'.
* The cast of 'Glee' recorded a version that rose to number 31 on
'Billboard' Holiday Digital Songs chart in 2011.
* Pentatonix released it as a digital single, in 2013, which both
debuted and peaked at No. 13 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 chart.
* The band For King & Country recorded a popular version of the
song in which they featured on their 2017 live album 'Christmas: Live
from Phoenix', as well as a studio version of the song off their 2020
album 'A Drummer Boy Christmas,' which was nominated and won a GMA
Dove Award for Christmas / Special Event Album of the Year.


                               See also                               
======================================================================
* List of Christmas carols


 License 
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Drummer_Boy