Where Did We Get the Story of “The Little Drummer Boy”?
The song was written in 1941 by a woman named Katherine K. Davis, an American composer and music teacher. Out of her 600+ compositions she is known today only for this one piece. When first published, the heading included the words “Czech Carol freely transcribed by K.K.D.” However, the original carol has never been found, although there is apparently a Czech traditional lullaby that is sometimes listed as the source even though it doesn’t really resemble the carol.
The song was first brought to prominence by the Trapp Family Singers, who recorded it for Decca Records in 1955.
... [T]he standard sheet music lists two composers/arrangers in addition to Davis: Henry Onorati and Harry Simeone. There’s a whole backstory about these two people, who worked at Dot Records along with someone named Jack Halloran. The song was included in an album called “Christmas Is A-Comin'” in 1957 performed by the Jack Halloran Singers, with Halloran as the arranger and Onorati as the producer. But somehow when the single of the song was released using the same singers, Onorati was listed along with Simeone as the arranger, and Halloran was nowhere on the label. There were finger cymbals included and a small cut, but those were the only changes from Halloran’s version. That single went on to be a huge hit. I don’t know how much royalty money Davis ever got from all this, but Halloran apparently didn’t get any. Halloran’s daughter Dawn said, “Simeone succeeded in getting composing credit (along with Henry Onorati and Davis) for a piece he had nothing to do with.”
