Lyrics to
Little Drummer Boy

This version of Little Drummer Boy was released by Emmylou Harris in 1979.

Our About Emmylou Harris page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Little Drummer Boy from 1979 as well as all of the other lyrics from Emmylou Harris that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Emmylou Harris or about the 1970s in general.

Come they told me,
Pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see,
Pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring,
Pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King,
Pa rum pum pum pum,
Rum pum pum pum,
Rum pum pum pum,
When we come.
Baby Jesus,
Pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too,
Pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring,
Pa rum pum pum pum
That’s fit to give the King,
Pa rum pum pum pum,
Rum pum pum pum,
rum Pum pum pum,
Shall I play for you,
Pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary Nodded,
Pa rum pum pum pum,
The ox and lamb kept time,
Pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him,
Pa rum pum pum pum
I play me best for Him,
Pa rum pum pum pum,rum pum pum pum,
Rum pum pum pum

Then He smiled at me,
Pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum

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Emmylou Harris has released many songs over the years besides Little Drummer Boy. Emmylou Harris released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like Gliding Bird, Elite Hotel, Pieces Of The Sky, Luxury Liner, Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town, Light Of The Stable, Blue Kentucky Girl, Roses In The Snow, Cimarron, Evangeline, Last Date, White Shoes, The Ballad Of Sally Rose, Thirteen, Angel Band, Trio, Bluebird, Duets, Brand New Dance, At The Ryman, Cowgirl's Prayer, Wrecking Ball, Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, Trio II, Red Dirt Girl, and Stumble Into Grace. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Emmylou Harris.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1979 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Little Drummer Boy by Emmylou Harris

The lyrics to Little Drummer Boy are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Emmylou Harris used when the song was created in 1979. The lyrics to Little Drummer Boy have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Emmylou Harris and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Little Drummer Boy by Emmylou Harris. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Little Drummer Boy" means the words set to the music of Little Drummer Boy, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Emmylou Harris. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Little Drummer Boy and the lyrics to Little Drummer Boy are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Emmylou Harris who came here looking just for the lyrics to Little Drummer Boy, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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