From the "Songfacts" web site:
This was originally a Czech song which Katherine Davis translated to English in 1941. Dawn Halloran explained to us: "This song was originally published as 'Carol of the Drum,' a traditional Czech carol, by Katherine K. Davis. My father, Jack Halloran, arranged it and recorded it under the same title on his 1957 Dot album, 'Christmas is A-Comin'. Henry Onorati was a producer for Dot who worked on the project and took the arrangement to Harry Simeone, who had nothing to do with my father's recording. Dot was to put out the single of 'Carol of the Drum' for the Christmas '57 season, but for unknown reasons did not get it out in time. Meanwhile, Onorati took the arrangement to Simeone who hired the same singers, re-recorded it adding finger cymbals and cutting a difficult passage just before the last phrase. It was then put out as a single under the title 'Little Drummer Boy,' by Harry Simeone, Katharine K. Davis and Henry Onorati. I've seen the master recording of the song and it pre-dates Simeone's by a year. And for the record, no one else ever arranged 'for' my father. He was the arranger for other artists."

Thanks to Dawn Halloran's encouragement, we've uploaded this very popular Christmas favorite, and we will continue to upload the other remastered selections from the album for the 2016 Advent season.

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