Little Drummer Boy: A Song History

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"The Little Drummer Boy" began in 1941 as "Carol of the Drum," a choral piece by Katherine K. Davis, a Wellesley-trained composer and music teacher who by the 1940s was living in Concord, Massachusetts.[1][2] According to a Wellesley music professor, the melody came to Davis while she was attempting to nap.[3] The carol has been described as based on a Czech carol, but sources differ on where the tune came from.[4][5] AllMusic calls its origin unknown and only presumes Czech and Spanish roots, while the Wellesley professor Claire Fontijn says it was reportedly inspired by the French carol "Patapan."[6][1]

Earthenware figure of a boy in a hat holding a snare drum

Ralph Wood the Younger, Boy with snare drum, lead-glazed earthenware, ca. 1770–80. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the song.

The Trapp Family Singers recorded the carol in the early 1950s, with sources giving 1951 or 1952.[1][4][5] In 1957 the Jack Halloran Singers recorded it in an arrangement by Henry Onorati, through whom the bandleader Harry Simeone came to know the song.[6] Simeone's chorale recorded it in 1958 under the new title "The Little Drummer Boy," and that version made the song widely popular.[1][6][7] The song has since been credited jointly to Davis, Onorati and Simeone.[6][7]

More than 200 artists have recorded it.[1] The best-known pairing came on 11 September 1977, when Bing Crosby and David Bowie sang it against a newly written counterpoint, "Peace on Earth," for Crosby's television special Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas.[8] RCA issued that duet as a single in 1982, and it reached number three on the UK singles chart.[8][9] Davis left her royalties to Wellesley's music department, which uses them partly to fund free music lessons for students who are not music majors.[3]

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Sources

  1. GBH News: "The Massachusetts Stories Behind Two of the World's Most Enduring Christmas Carols".
  2. Concord Free Public Library: "Katherine K. Davis Papers, 1908–1981".
  3. Wellesley College: "Wellesley Faculty Experts Provide Historical Context for Christmas Carols for WGBH, U.S. Postal Service".
  4. Concord Free Public Library: "Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine K. Davis information sheet).
  5. SecondHandSongs: "Carol of the Drum" (work page).
  6. AllMusic: "Harry Simeone Biography".
  7. The Concord Bridge: "The Little Drummer Boy and His Concord Connection".
  8. Smooth Radio: "The Story of... 'Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy' by David Bowie and Bing Crosby".
  9. Official Charts: "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy – David Bowie and Bing Crosby".