Little Drums of Winter (Little Drummer Boy)

Little Drums of Winter (Little Drummer Boy) 

‘The Little Drummer Boy’ was written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was first published with the title ‘Carol of the Drum’, and described as a ‘Czech carol freely transcribed by C.R.W. Robertson’ (C.R.W. Robertson being a name Davis published under). It’s likely to have been based on a Czech melody, although the US musicologist Claire Fontijn wrote that Kennicott Davis was inspired by the old French Christmas carol, ‘Patapan’. Classicfm.com 


Come, they told me 
Pa rum pum pum pum 

New fallen snow to see 
Pa rum pum pum pum 
Our finest songs we bring 
Pa rum pum pum pum 
A serenade to sing 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

Rum pum pum pum, 

Rum pum pum pum 

To honor winter here 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

We and our drums 
  


Little rhythms 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

Dampened by the snow 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

The crunch under our feet 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

Familiar sounds so sweet 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

Rum pum pum pum, 

Rum pum pum pum 

Shall we dance in snow 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

To the sound of the drums 

  

 

Long we played 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

The falling snow kept time 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

The very caverns sang 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

The echoes long they rang 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

Rum pum pum pum, 

Rum pum pum pum 

Then we headed home 

Pa rum pum pum pum 

We and our drums 

 

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