The Little Drummer Boy

<p>On this episode of the official holiday podcast for people who hate all humans — which, in 2020, is most of us — we dance to the beat of our own drum back to 1968 and back into the Rankin/Bass universe for the story of “The Little Drummer Boy.”</p><hr /><h4>On This Episode:</h4><ol><li><strong>Mike Westfall</strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/fallwestmike">@fallwestmike</a>), cross-eyed juggling stereotype.</li><li><strong>Brandon Medley</strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/brandmed">@brandmed</a>), king of the desert showmen, from the <a href="http://starweirdos.podbean.com">Star Weirdos</a> podcast.</li><li><strong>Michael May</strong> (<a href="https://twitter.com/michaelmaycomix">@michaelmaycomix</a>), one of the wise men, but I forget which one, because they all sound the same to me, of <a href="https://www.michaelmay.online">MichaelMay.online</a>, <a href="http://sleighbellcinema.michaelmay.online">Sleigh Bell Cinema</a>, <a href="http://nerdlunch.net/category/afterlunch/">AfterLUNCH</a>, and <a href="http://www.mysterymovienight.com">Mystery Movie Night</a>.</li></ol><hr /><h4>Topics and Tangents:</h4><ol><li>This was <a href="http://www.rankinbass.com/romeo1.html">Romeo Muller’s favorite Christmas special</a> he wrote for Rankin/Bass. Also, that link on Rankin/Bass’s website is from 2003 and looks like it hasn’t been touched since 2003. There are tags in the code, y’all.</li><li>Podcast favorite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Frees">Paul Frees</a> provides the voice of 8 different characters in this special, if you count animal noises. Also, Frees following Mel Blanc and Rich Little in the last two episodes completes a “Man of a Thousand Voices” hat trick!</li><li>The song, originally called “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Drummer_Boy#Origins">Carol of the Drum</a>,” was written more recently than I’d thought, in 1941, and first recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the family that inspired “The Sound of Music.”</li><li>Aaron’s origin story is the same as <a