Stories Behind the Christmas Songs: The Little Drummer Boy

The Little Drummer Boy is a timeless classic that has been recorded by countless artists.  It has been one of my favorites for many years.  Let’s see where this song came from.

The original title of the song was Carol of the Drum and was written by Katherine Kennicott David.  Although some have speculated the song is based on the Czech carol Hajej, nynjej, the chair of the music department, Claire Fontijin, says this isn’t true.  According to Wikipedia, Claire said in an interview:

Inspiration for "The Little Drummer Boy" came to Davis in 1941. "[One day], when she was trying to take a nap, she was obsessed with this song that came into her head and it was supposed to have been inspired by a French song, ‘Patapan,’" explained Fontijn. "And then ‘patapan’ translated in her mind to ‘pa-rum-pum-pum,’ and it took on a rhythm." The result was "The Little Drummer Boy."

Katherine had an interest in producing material for amateur and girls’ choirs.  The manuscript was a chorale where the melody was for a soprano and the harmony for an alto.  The tenor and bass parts produced the rhythm of the drum, and the accompaniment, written for a keyboard, was for practices only.  

The Trapp Family Singers, who were Austrian, liked the song so much they recorded it in 1951 on their very first album released by Decca Records.

The Jack Halloran Singers recorded an altered arrangement of the song in 1957 on their album Christmas Is A-Comin’ released by Dot Records.  It was not released as a single that year, so in response to this, former producer of Dot Records Henry Onorati introduced it to Harry Simeone.     Henry went to work for 20th Century and contracted Harry to record a Christmas album.  Harry hired the majority of the singers from the Jack Halloran singers and recorded the song which was almost identical to the one made by the Halloran singers’ version.

There were two main differences between the two recordings.  First, Harry used finger cymbals.  Second, and more importantly, he changed the title of the song to The Little Drummer Boy.  The album’s original title was Sing We Now of Christmas, but was later changed to The Little Drummer Boy.  The album was released in 1958, and the song was released the same year.  Harry and Henry claimed and received joint composition credits with Ketherine even though neither had anything to do with the writing of it.  Jack never received any credit for it, and his family, even today, disagrees with that.

Both the album and the song were a hit.  The single was in the top 40 on the music charts from 1958 to 1962.  

In 1965, Harry recorded the song again under Kapp Records on the album O’ Bambino: The Little Drummer Boy.  This time, the album, as well as the song, were recorded in stereo.  He recorded it a final time in 1981 under Holiday Records.

The Little Drummer Boy is a timeless classic that has been recorded by countless artists.  It has been one of my favorites for many years.  Let’s see where this song came from.

The original title of the song was Carol of the Drum and was written by Katherine Kennicott David.  Although some have speculated the song is based on the Czech carol Hajej, nynjej, the chair of the music department, Claire Fontijin, says this isn’t true.  According to Wikipedia, Claire said in an interview:

Inspiration for "The Little Drummer Boy" came to Davis in 1941. "[One day], when she was trying to take a nap, she was obsessed with this song that came into her head and it was supposed to have been inspired by a French song, ‘Patapan,’" explained Fontijn. "And then ‘patapan’ translated in her mind to ‘pa-rum-pum-pum,’ and it took on a rhythm." The result was "The Little Drummer Boy."

Katherine had an interest in producing material for amateur and girls’ choirs.  The manuscript was a chorale where the melody was for a soprano and the harmony for an alto.  The tenor and bass parts produced the rhythm of the drum, and the accompaniment, written for a keyboard, was for practices only.  

The Trapp Family Singers, who were Austrian, liked the song so much they recorded it in 1951 on their very first album released by Decca Records.

The Jack Halloran Singers recorded an altered arrangement of the song in 1957 on their album Christmas Is A-Comin’ released by Dot Records.  It was not released as a single that year, so in response to this, former producer of Dot Records Henry Onorati introduced it to Harry Simeone.     Henry went to work for 20th Century and contracted Harry to record a Christmas album.  Harry hired the majority of the singers from the Jack Halloran singers and recorded the song which was almost identical to the one made by the Halloran singers’ version.

There were two main differences between the two recordings.  First, Harry used finger cymbals.  Second, and more importantly, he changed the title of the song to The Little Drummer Boy.  The album’s original title was Sing We Now of Christmas, but was later changed to The Little Drummer Boy.  The album was released in 1958, and the song was released the same year.  Harry and Henry claimed and received joint composition credits with Ketherine even though neither had anything to do with the writing of it.  Jack never received any credit for it, and his family, even today, disagrees with that.

Both the album and the song were a hit.  The single was in the top 40 on the music charts from 1958 to 1962.  

In 1965, Harry recorded the song again under Kapp Records on the album O’ Bambino: The Little Drummer Boy.  This time, the album, as well as the song, were recorded in stereo.  He recorded it a final time in 1981 under Holiday Records. While Harry’s version remains the most famous version, for King and Country has an awesome version of the song.  Here’s a link to the official video and a live version.