"The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941.

While speculation has been made that the song is very loosely based on the Czech carol "Hajej, nynej",[4] Claire Fontijn, the chair of the music department at Davis's alma mater Wellesley College claims otherwise.

The result was "The Little Drummer Boy".Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: Her manuscript is set as a chorale, in which the tune is in the soprano melody with alto harmony, tenor and bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment "for rehearsal only".

[2] Simeone and Onorati claimed and received joint composition credits with Davis,[2] although the two did not actually compose or arrange it.

[10] In 1965, Simeone, who had signed with Kapp Records in 1964, re-recorded a new version of the song for his album O' Bambino: The Little Drummer Boy.

[14] This version (3:18 play time) was recorded in stereo, had a slightly slower tempo, and contained different-sounding cymbals.