In 1941 Katherine Davis took a traditional Czech Christmas carol and set words to it. The story was derived from the title of the source material… and now everyone seems to know it by her title “The Little Drummer Boy”.
“Come”, they told me – Pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see – Pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring – Pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the king – Pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum
So to honor Him – Pa rum pum pum pum
When we come.
Little baby – pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too – Pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring – Pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give our King – Pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum
Shall I play for you – Pa rum pum pum pum
On my drum.
Mary nodded – Pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time – Pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him – Pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him – Pa rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum
Then He smiled at me – Pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.
Church Calendar: Christmas
The Carol of the Drum for eight handbells is now available from Sheet Music Direct!
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2 comments
Hi Larry. I purchased the Surprisingly Easy Third set today and the standard copy of Carol of the Drum. When we were playing through them tonight, I found a small mistake. In the bells used chart for the easy version, the F#6 is listed when it really should be the F natural. I compared the bells used chart on the standard version and that lists the F natural 6. Just thought I’d let you know. I’m looking forward to working on the pieces.
Author
Hi Laura!
You’re absolutely right. Somehow the F#6 in the chart slipped through, and needed to be corrected. So… it’s an F-natural now, and we’ve added a courtesy accidental to all three versions of the song in our e-store (standard, “surprisingly easy”™, and Christmas collection) so that it’s clearer that F6 is the actual note played even though there’s an F# in the key signature (it’s a Mixolydian-modal tune, of course!).
Have fun with our music, and let us know how they go!