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by BRG on January 2nd, 2010

BRG

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'The Little Drummer Boy" sung by a 10'yr old boy back in the 1950's...I cannot locate this anywhere; anyone else ever hear of it?

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  • by iwnit on January 5th, 2010

    iwnit

    ""The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song, with words and music by Katherine K. Davis. Henry Onorati and Harry Simeone have been credited with writing the song, even though they were only the arrangers for their recordings of it. The version that made the song popular was the one sung and recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale. It is also known as the "Carol of the Drum".

    Davis first composed the words and music for "Carol of the Drum" (ostensibly transcribed from a traditional Czech carol) in 1941. In 1957 Onorati arranged the song for a recording by the Jack Halloran Singers on Dot Records, but this version was not released in time for Christmas. The following year Simeone re-arranged the song yet again and retitled it for his Chorale's hit single version, which was issued on 20th Fox Records' 45-121 with a 45rpm picture sleeve, then on their LP called Sing We Now of Christmas, which became an enormous bestseller. In 1963 the company, now known as 20th Century Fox Records, retitled and reissued their album. It was now called The Little Drummer Boy: A Christmas Festival, in order to boost sales even higher, as the 45-rpm single had continued to be a seasonal hit. The LP record jacket, presumably misleadingly, boasted the credit Original Version in reference to the song. The album was first issued only in mono, then in stereo a year later."

    "The popularity of this song is to be seen by the quantity of cover versions of The Little Drummer Boy - a total of over 220 versions in seven languages are known, in all kinds of music genres. The song has been performed by classical orchestras, choral groups (both classical and popular), easy-listening stylists, rappers, rock groups and more.
    Rosemary Clooney recorded a version of the song.

    The Trapp Family Singers, whose life story provided some inspiration for Rodgers and Hammerstein in their musical The Sound of Music, recorded a song titled "Carol of the Drum" (identified on the Decca record jacket as a "Czech carol") prior to their 1955 retirement. This song has the same melody as "The Little Drummer Boy", and the text is the same as that given in the main article except for the line "The ox and lamb kept time". The Trapp Family Singers recording has "The ox and ass kept time", instead.

    In 1958, the Harry Simeone recording rose to #13 on the pop charts, despite its late issue date in November. Jim Jensen and John Cahill of KCRG in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, made it their pick-of-the-week as soon as they heard it, becoming the first deejays in this country to promote the recording as a pop hit."
    Source and further information:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Drummer_Boy

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