I've never understood that stupid song, and today's Argyle Sweater points out why.
Some things you don't understand as a kid, but then, as you grow older, you realize what it's all about. Having had the experience of a newborn in the house twice now, however, I understand this one even less. If Joseph were the mensch that the Gospel of Matthew makes him out to be, he'd have intercepted this kid at the stable door, thanked him kindly and then suggested he go play his drum for the innkeeper who stuck them out there in the first place.
I just looked it up and apparently my feelings about the song put me in the minority, since, according to Wikipedia, it's been covered 220 times and in several languages since it was first released in 1958. I also note that the Wikipedia entry for "The Little Drummer Boy" starts with a note redirecting anyone who came there looking for "The Tin Drum."
If anyone wants to adapt that as a Christmas crossover, I'll buy the first copy.
It may well be that the number of covers explains my feelings about the song. It's not that I don't like Christmas. But, if all the stores and radio stations decided to all play the same music continuously for three weeks each year, I think it would grate on me no matter what the particular music was. Imagine if, from the last week of July through the third week of August, everywhere you went, you'd hear Lerner and Lowe over the loudspeakers. They wrote some good music together, but, after a while, I still think you'd get a little sick of it.
There's a lot of Christmas music that doesn't come up to their standards, and the number of covers of this bit of sentimental piffle means that it seems to pop up in the rotation much more often than it needs to.
And, lest anyone think I'm being too much of a Grinch, let me be clear that I don't object to all sentimental music about little boys who appear at mangerside. But I certainly object to having too much Little Drummer Boy and not any of this fellow:
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