The Little Drummer Boy
Renditions
"The Little Drummer Boy" has been recorded by many artists, such as:
- In Spain, the song (El tamborilero) is associated to Raphael, who sang it for the first time in 1965 for a TVE Christmas special.[14]
- Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, whose version got to No. 13 in the UK charts at Christmas 1972[15]
- Jazz/funk musician Stix Hooper, drummer and percussionist for the group The Crusaders, who recorded the song in 1979 as the final track on The World Within, his first album as a lead artist.[16]
- Pop group Boney M., who recorded a version of the song for their 1981 Christmas Album. The single peaked at No. 20 in Germany.[17]
- Also in 1981, a pop punk/hard rock version served as the final track on Joan Jett and the Blackhearts's album I Love Rock 'n Roll. Jett's version includes a modification of the traditional lyrics of "Ox and lamb" to "Ass and lamb" and another line, traditionally "Mary nodded," is rendered in apparent nonsense words. Besides these and a climactic electric guitar breakdown, the song is otherwise performed fairly earnestly.
- A duet by the unusual pairing of Bing Crosby and David Bowie on Crosby's final holiday TV special (Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, 1977) as a medley titled "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy". In 1982 it reached No. 3 on the UK chart.[18]
- Ringo Starr included a version of the song on his 1999 holiday album I Wanna Be Santa Claus.[19]
- Terry Wogan and Aled Jones recorded a cover of the 1977 David Bowie/Bing Crosby duet, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"; after a brief campaign amongst listeners of BBC Radio 2 instigated by Chris Evans to get the song released in support of the Children In Need charity, it was released as a single on 8 December 2008, reaching No. 3 in the UK Top 40 singles chart.[20]
- Norwegian electronic musician Hans-Peter Lindstrøm recorded a 42-minute version of the song in 2009. In 2019, The Guardian placed it at number 20 on their list of the 50 greatest Christmas songs.[21]
- Justin Bieber released a version of the song, simply named "Drummer Boy", with Busta Rhymes on his 2011 Christmas album, Under the Mistletoe, adding rap verses. The song is listed among the Greatest of All Time Holiday 100 Songs chart by Billboard.[22]
- The cast of Glee recorded a version that rose to number 31 on Billboard's Holiday Digital Songs chart in 2011.[23]
- Pentatonix released it as a digital single, in 2013, which both debuted and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[24][25]
- The band For King & Country recorded a popular version of the song in which they featured on their 2017 live album Christmas: Live from Phoenix, as well as a studio version of the song off their 2020 album A Drummer Boy Christmas, which was nominated and won a GMA Dove Award for Christmas / Special Event Album of the Year.[26]
- American violinist Lindsey Stirling released a cover for this song in her 2022 album Snow Waltz.
- American trance music producers Jason Wyckshire & Chelsea Dotlin produced an instrumental version under their "Outlandish Trance Experiment Project" alias in 2005 and was featured on the "Grand Light Music" compilation "X-Mas Trance 2015" released in 2015.
- American band Low covered the song