Take That Little Drummer Boy and Beat Him With His Drumsticks

Where Did Christmas Songs Originate?

I wonder how many people know the first Christmas song recorded in history. No, it isn’t Jingle Bells. It is “The Magnificat.” For those who are scratching their heads and saying, “Huh?”, this is the song Mary sang after the angel Gabriel appeared to her. Then I like to think “The First Noel” may have had some historical origins, as well, since supposedly it was the first song sung by angels to assure the frightened shepherds after the angel announced the birth of Jesus to them. However, my husband, the paid professional holy man and kill joy informs me that nowhere in Scripture is it recorded that angels sing. He maintains that angels chant, they don’t sing. This revelation has totally ruined a number of my favorite carols and other hymns for me. For example, doesn’t “Hark the Herald” say angels sing? What about “Angels We Have Heard on High?” Aren’t they sweetly singing o’er the plain? And don’t angels greet with anthems sweet in “What Child is This?” So, come on, give me a break. If I want to keep my misguided illusions about angels singing, who am I hurting?

I Love Most Christmas Music

I love most Christmas music, including many secular songs, as long as they aren’t sung by twangy country-western artists belting out “Jangle Bales.” Please don’t send me hate comments. Country-western is not my cup of tea. I enjoy several catchy seasonal tunes like “White Christmas” (as long as my white Christmas involves white sand and not snow), “Frosty the Snowman,” “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” and others. I even get a kick out of “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” Some secular songs I can do without, like “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, Holly Jolly Christmas, and Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time.” (Again, please don’t throw stones at me.) But for the most part, I prefer carols that point us toward the true meaning of Christmas and the joy of Christ’s birth.

Someone, PLEASE Get Rid of the Kid With the Drum!

One popular secular song that has never failed to amuse me is “Little Drummer Boy.” Originally known as “Carol of the Drum,” the song was written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941 and first recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family. Okay, I will admit I like the tune and the lyrics are sweet. But think about the context from the perspective of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The poor woman had to travel approximately seventy miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the joyful purpose of paying taxes (talk about rubbing salt in the wound), in the condition of being “great with child.”  This couldn’t have been easy.  The Bible doesn’t tell us whether she walked or perhaps rode a donkey or had other mode of transportation. Nevertheless, any journey in her late stage of pregnancy would have been uncomfortable.  Then when she arrives in Bethlehem there is no place to stay, so she ends up having to give birth in a stable (which was probably a cave rather than what we think of as a wooden structure). Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly say, it is assumed there either were animals present, or the area had been used for animals, as baby Jesus was laid in a manger, which is a feeding trough for animals.  So, in addition to the ordeal of having just given birth, the lack of cleanliness and the barnyard odor most likely added to her discomfort.

Then what happens?  A snot-nosed little brat shows up and bangs on a drum!  He probably woke the baby after she’d just gotten him to sleep!  Somehow I find it difficult to envision any woman who had just gone through what Mary did nodding her head when the drummer boy asked if he could play his drum for baby Jesus, rather than asking Joseph to please get rid of the kid and especially his drum. Who wants to hear a drum solo when one is stressed and exhausted? I also question whether newborn baby Jesus smiled at him.

But as the little drummer boy is not scriptural, I suppose I shouldn’t attach too much significance to the scenario.

Enjoy all the wonderful music of the season, don’t worry about analyzing it too deeply, and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”