CAROL OF THE DRUM

Music and text: Katherine K. Davis
Arrangement: Mack Wilberg

Katherine Davis’s 1941 Christmas song, “Carol of the Drum” was based largely on a traditional Czech carol. Her version was recorded by the famed Trapp Family Singers in 1955, and was later arranged in 1957 by Jack Halloran, a noted American composer and choral director. When the Harry Simeone Chorale recorded Halloran’s arrangement, it became an immediate hit, selling enough copies to appear on the pop singles charts.

In 1963 it was retitled “Little Drummer Boy,” and remains to this day a much-loved seasonal classic. Arranged here by Mack Wilberg as a processional, the carol arises from hushed reverence, then arches into an exuberant chorus of praise before retreating back into whispered awe.