A long-after-Christmas Christmas post. I'd meant to write this at the correct time, but better late than not at all. If nothing else, I'll be gifting cyberspace with a Carol of the Drum post that doesn't play Romper Room games with the truth (such as deliberately confusing authorship with a given arrangement of a piece--two very different things).
Above is the original manuscript of Katherine K. Davis' 1941 choral piece Carol of the Drum. Davis' song was stolen by Harry Simeone in 1958 and retitled The Little Drummer Boy. As you can see below, Simeone initially attempted to take sole credit for it:
The Trapp Family's 1951 recording is the earliest I (or apparently anyone else) is aware of, and it's clear that, come the late 1950s, the work was turning into a standard holiday choral item, given that it enjoyed at least three 1957 recordings--those of The Jack Halloran Singers, The Testor Chorus, and The Moody Chorale. Compared to the quiet but lively Trapp version, Halloran's arrangement is something closer to a dirge, and I much prefer a faster tempo. Both the Testor Chorus and the identified singers on the lone "fake hit" version I've located (which was released by at least three different budget label groups) speed things up like they should, but Halloran's treatment, which was swiped by Simeone along with Davis' tune, is the standard, draggy one. Maybe that's why so many people pan this Christmas standard--it seems to take forever to get to the "smiled at me" part. I've included two recordings of the lone "fake" version, one in stereo, and the other in mono, and both mastered at different pitches. (Not by me, I should note.)
The Trapp Family, of course, was the super-talented group whose story was fictionalized in The Sound of Music. The true vs. invented details make for some hilarious reading. By the way, the family's 1951 recording was reissued as a single by Decca in 1959 (left--image swiped from Discogs). 1959 was the year The Sound of Music opened on Broadway, and I'm pretty sure that explains the release.Anyway, Davis, a profoundly gifted composer whose specialty was choral pieces for children--girls, especially--certainly didn't deserve to be treated like this. I mean, it must be nice to have one of your works become hugely popular, but not so nice to have to share it with two thieves.
A question that always comes up is how to classify Drum/Drummer--as in, what specific Christmas song tradition does it conform to? That's easy. Generally speaking, it belongs to the longtime Christmas carol tradition of treating the Nativity as a current event, in a "You Are There" fashion (e.g., Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella). More specifically, it belongs to the popular "What gift can I give?" tradition--as in, what gift do I have to give the baby Jesus? The all-time great example of same has to be the 1872 masterpiece, In the Bleak Midwinter:
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am? —
If I were a Shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part, —
Yet what I can I give Him, —
Give my heart.
The same sentiment is expressed, in a slightly different way, in Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne, in which the no-room-at-the-inn situation is ingeniously answered:
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus
There is room in my heart for Thee
And so the drummer boy, who is poor like the Baby Jesus, wonders what gift he can give. Answer: the drum. So, the drummer boy gives the baby his drum, and the baby smiles at him. A lovely touch, and one that appeals to children. My late foster mother Bev, the English prof, felt that it takes a special genius to speak to children in art. In this case, that genius belonged to Katherine K. Davis, and not to the two guys who shoved their way into the song credit.
A big thanks to Ernie, who ripped his Jack Halloran track for me from the hard to find Christmas Is A-Comin' LP of 1957, on which Davis is listed as the arranger, kind of ironically. (The "Arr." part could be a typo--dunno.) Halloran was the honest guy out of the three. So, naturally, he ends up as a footnote.
DOWNLOAD: Carol of the Little Drummer Boy
Carol of the Drum (Czech Carol, Katherine K. Davis)--The Trapp Family Singers, 1951
Carol of the Drum (Katherine K. Davis)--The Testor Chorus, C. Dr. Harry T. Carlson, 1957
Carol of the Drum (Katherine K. Davis)--The Moody Chorale, Dir. by Don Hustad, 1957
Carol of the Drum (Arr. K.K. Davis)--The Jack Halloran Singers, 1957
The Little Drummer Boy (Same as SPC and other budgets)--The Broadway Pops Orch. With Featured Vocalists and Chorus (Tiara TST 105, Record 2)
Little Drummer Boy (Same as SPC, etc.)--Unknown choir, from Tops in Pops (Ultraphonic 5020L).
Lee
12 comments:
Wow, Lee -- this is fascinating! Worth the post-post-Christmas wait to read so many details, so well written, and backed by such a healthy helping of outrage on behalf of the actual composer. Bravo.
Diane,
Thank you!
So, Katherine wrote it from scratch, or is it based on a Czech carol? I'd always heard it was a folk tune she adapted, and then others adapted it for themselves. And I don't read sheet music, how does that compare to the recorded versions? Did Simeone bring anything to the table? And I didn't know Onorati was a bigwig at 20th Fox, that's new to me. Thanks for the info, Lee!
Nice recounting of this shameful tale, one whose likes are all too familiar in the music business.
I'm glad you mentioned "In the Bleak Midwinter," one of my favorite carols.
Ernie,
No one knows if she wrote it from scratch or not--I personally suspect she didn't. At any rate, no one has been able to track down the source, if there really was one. But it was her piece, and it was copyrighted under her name, so... it was her property. And Davis' music is absolutely the template for all the conventional choral versions, complete with a reduced-score section designed for the accompanist. Simeone added finger cymbals, I believe, which didn't merit co-composer credit. And the "Pum" portion is sometimes done as a simple pedal note on the tonic, or as Davis wrote it--fifth to tonic. The tiny changes from version to version are pretty irrelevant, and, as I noted in regard to the harmony, the four-part texture is the same whether you have five (?) singers, as in the Von Trapp version, or a large choir. But the "Czech carol" bit may have had Simeone figuring he could get away with swiping it and then pleading public domain.
Buster,
Big names likely get away with a lot. Davis would have been well known in choral circles, but not in general. She wasn't a household name, which is partly what emboldened Harry, I think. Also shameful is the half-hearted accounts of the Davis/Simeone affair by Wikipedia and others. I mean, theft is theft. A number of accounts focus on Halloran's arrangement vs. Simeone's slightly revised one, with no one seeming to care that the piece belonged to Katherine. Yes, "In the Bleak Midwinter" is one of the most moving carols ever--I believe it was voted number one in a recent poll. Don't ask me who did the poll--can't remember--but I think it's a fine choice for that spot.
Lee, this is great! Glad you updated this after I couldn't find any of your previous historical overviews. This was one of my favorites growing up - and now - In the Bleak Mid-Winter has become a favorite. I'm glad you made the connection in this post. Stay safe and warm. The hawk has landed up here...
Hi!
Haven't read article or all comments. This version was U/L'ed to pancocojams site on Dec. 20. Sends shivers & goose bumps, LOVELY rendition here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAcbSvhTLHk
Cheers!
Ciao! For now.
rntcj
Badgercat,
My pleasure! And where I'm at, the nor'easter dumped just enough snow to cause problems. More coming, and the stuff on the ground hasn't melted, and we're something like 20 degrees below the normal temps for early February. Ahhhh, winter!
Thanks for your extensive informative research, Lee, I look forward to hearing your after Christmas audio. It doesn't have to be Christmas to enjoy Christmas music you possibly won't hear anyplace else that's for sure. Have a Holly Jolly New Year
Byron, You're 'ol time fan.
Thanks, Byron! Great to hear from you!
Shame on Harry Simeone!
Anonymous,
Exactly!
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