# Why all the misplaced hatred for The Little Drummer Boy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2019, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807 "2019-11-22T03:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/41 "2019-11-22T18:20:49Z")
Also I am not aware of any evidence angels were actually singing at the stable itself. The drummer boy was the only music reported there of any kind. Someone correct me if I am wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/42 "2019-11-22T18:22:58Z")
> [@Eclipse\_Chaser](#): > > You wonder why people hate this song? I guess they are mostly women and I’ll tell you why. > > Here is poor Mary. Heavily pregnant, she has been bumped about on a donkey all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Arriving at Bethlehem, she goes into labour. With nowhere to stay, they finally find refuge in a stable. She gives birth, all on her own (can’t imagine Joseph would be much help!) > > So she gets herself cleaned up, gets the baby cleaned up, feeds him (presumably) and gets him off to sleep. Totally exhausted, she tries to rest herself. Then what happens? > > A choir of angels start singing! The baby wakes up. Mary tries to be gracious, thanks them. Eventually they leave. Mary gets the baby back to sleep. > > A bunch of shepherds arrive, claiming they have been told to come and look at the baby. Baby wakes up. Mary tries to be gracious, welcomes them, shows them the baby, they leave. Mary gets the baby back to sleep. > > Then another bunch of complete strangers arrive, claiming they have followed a star a long way to see the baby. Baby wakes up. Mary tries to be gracious, welcomes them, shows them the baby, they leave. Mary gets the baby back to sleep. > > And then … a snotty little kid arrives and starts BANGING A DRUM …. You’ll enjoy [this Fowl Language comic,](https://www.gocomics.com/fowl-language/2015/12/24) I think. 😃 Anyway, I’ve always liked this one. Maybe because we had the Harry Simeone album (the one with the doll on the cover) and played it as a kid, and then I bought it on cassette as a teenager. The Chorale’s version of “What Child Is This” and “Carol of the Bells” are nice too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/43 "2019-11-22T18:52:02Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > But why? That’s what I am trying to understand. Simplistic lyrics, lousy rhythm, but most of all because it is a Christmas song. I fucking **hate** Christmas songs. There are maybe 5 I can stand hearing at all, and none I can tolerate on an endless loop of “Holiday Cheer.” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/44 "2019-11-22T18:53:46Z")
See post #22 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/45 "2019-11-22T19:08:35Z")
I hate all modern Christmas songs. Carols and hymns written before WW2 are generally tolerable. Drummer Boy is loathsome but it floats in a sea of vomitous companions. When will they die? When, Jesus, when? ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/46 "2019-11-22T19:15:51Z")
The best version: [Joan Jett and the Blackhearts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5_gk-1OGXU). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/47 "2019-11-22T20:23:31Z")
Personally, I think that the fact that Mary was able to nod at the percussive kid is proof positive that she’s a saint. And hey, at least it’s better than “Do You Hear what I Hear”. Said the King to the people everywhere, Listen to what I say, a child, a child, shivering in the cold. Let us kill all boys under three years old. Let us kill all boys under three years old. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/48 "2019-11-22T20:27:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Simplistic lyrics, lousy rhythm, but most of all because it is a Christmas song. I fucking **hate** Christmas songs. There are maybe 5 I can stand hearing at all, and none I can tolerate on an endless loop of “Holiday Cheer.” Indeed. I have always disliked it because as a child I realized how unlikely it would be for a child to be playing a drum at the Nativity. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/49 "2019-11-22T22:49:50Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Indeed. > > I have always disliked it because as a child I realized how unlikely it would be for a child to be playing a drum at the Nativity. If it was a common event there would be no reason to sing about it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/50 "2019-11-22T23:36:42Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [Because he’s annoying](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcvHUQ56ai0). Heh. On the same theme, I rewrote the final verse a couple of years after my wife gave birth: \*Mary nodded (pa-rum-pa-pum pum) It was a secret sign (pa-rum-pa-pum pum) Then Joseph took my arm (pa-rum-pa-pum pum) He led me from the barn (pa-rum-pa-pum pum rum-pa-pum pum rum-pa-pum pum) Then he smiled at me (pa-rum-pa-pum pum) And fed me my drum.\* _(Right up my bum)_ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/51 "2019-11-22T23:47:15Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > When you give birth to a king, you unfortunately do not have the luxury of a normal life anymore. Mary understands this and nods. The baby smiled. **No crying he makes.** The animals danced. Good stuff. If your issue is the account of the tale and not the musical quality of the song, you are projecting yourself into the situation and unfairly criticizing the art. That line from “Away in A Manger” always bugged me. Ever since I was a little kid, I caught a subtext of _“Not like when YOU were a baby. We couldn’t shut you up! Why couldn’t you have been a quiet little baby, like Little Lord Jesus?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/52 "2019-11-23T01:04:57Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > It is the defense of a song about a child wanting to honor Jesus, but only can offer his music. The boy is successful, so much so that even the animals are enjoying the performance. … Of course if he _really_ wanted to please the baby, he should have put down the drum and started tearing paper. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/53 "2019-11-23T01:22:50Z")
> [@Eclipse\_Chaser](#): > > You wonder why people hate this song? [. . .]. I don’t think it’s half as bad as most of the Christmas onslaught, and I might even like it if I hadn’t heard it so much. But I am still laughing at that post. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/54 "2019-11-24T00:04:09Z")
From my SO: Go, they told me, pa rum pa pum pum And take that drum. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/55 "2019-11-24T00:52:22Z")
The venom against drum music is not in the spirit of the season. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/56 "2019-11-24T01:34:03Z")
How can you tell a drummer’s at the door? The knocking speeds up. What’s the last thing a drummer says in a band? “Hey, how about we try one of my songs?” Hey, did you hear about the drummer who finished high school? Me neither. How is a drum solo like a sneeze? You know it’s coming, but there’s nothing you can do about it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/57 "2019-11-24T02:34:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > That line from “Away in A Manger” always bugged me. Ever since I was a little kid, I caught a subtext of _“Not like when YOU were a baby. We couldn’t shut you up! Why couldn’t you have been a quiet little baby, like Little Lord Jesus?”_ I sang this one a lot to my 2-yr-old grandson last Christmas (and through much of the winter as well–he called it “Broken Barn” for some reason and requested it frequently). I always made sure to change “But little lord Jesus, no crying he makes” to “And little lord Jesus, much crying he makes.” Partly to avoid this very issue. Mostly though for theological reasons. Much of the point of Jesus is that he is both divine and human. So, yes, he would’ve cried as an infant. I find it difficult to relate to the carols (and the iconography) that depict this perfect baby that is clearly 100% God and 0% person. Unfortunately, that’s most of them. As for the carol in the OP…not at all my favorite. Too long and too saccharine and probably most of all too repetitive. Did I mention too repetitive? I do like the idea of replacing the three hundred and eighty-six instances of “rumpapumpum” with actual drumbeats, and am amused by people saying it wouldn’t work. Of course it would, musically and lyrically, and it would improve the song too. Did I mention it would improve the song too? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/58 "2019-11-24T02:50:29Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I really like the [Bing Crosby/David Bowie mash-up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9kfdEyV3RQ). Otherwise, I’m very meh on the song. So was Bowie, as it turns out; “Peace on Earth” was composed specifically for that TV special as a contrapuntal duet because Bowie didn’t like “Little Drummer Boy.” Yes, that’s nice, but the original is good- except when you hear it too damn often. It’s one of those songs that grate after you hear it a few times in a hour. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/59 "2019-11-24T02:51:47Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > … > > Harry Simeone rearranged it and slowed it down, and, yes, that IS the version everybody came to know. I tend to enjoy it up until about the 10th iteration or so, and then it becomes tedious. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807/60 "2019-11-24T03:00:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > … > > You may as well arrange “Piano Man” for the sousaphone. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wiJbdYLKv6o/maxresdefault.jpg "Louie, Louie by Richard Berry/arr. by Paul Lavender") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiJbdYLKv6o) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-all-the-misplaced-hatred-for-the-little-drummer-boy/843807.md?page=4)