Is "Little Drummer Boy" the worst Christmas song ever? Or are there other contenders?

[QueerDuck]

Well... actually, you know... I guess I can think of other contenders for bad songs (ie: that Chipmunks song... and that Grandma getting run over by a reindeer song) but hose are goofy novelty songs so being bad is part of the gag. It's the reason they wear thin after awhile.

Aside from "Little Drummer Boy" (or maybe Sinatra's "The Lord's Prayer" as a close runner-up) I can't think of any other truly horrible holiday tunes.

Any ideas? Maybe I could make an Amazon or Spotify playlist.

[yardwork]

1. No, no.

I LOVE the Little Drummer Boy. Just because they made a sappy stop-action animated show around is no reason to disparage the song itself.

[QueerDuck]

5. I heard the Jim Nabors version of it yesterday on SiriusXM's christmas channel...

it just drags on and on and on... so slow and monotonous and tedious and repetitive, pa rum pa pum pum.

[yardwork]

14. ....Jim Nabors....?

[Nittersing]

16. aka Gomer Pyle. He had an amazing voice. nt

[yardwork]

17. I know but...

[rampartd]

52. christmas is all about tedious repetitive monotony

and a partridge in a pear tree........

[QueerDuck]

65. You make an excellent point and a very strong argument.

[MerrilyMerrily]

8. I love it too

Bing Crosby with David Bowie singing descant (Peace on Earth) - lovely.
Nana Mouskouri singing the French version (L'Enfant au Tambour) - almost unearthly beauty.

[applegrove]

51. I love it too. We used to sing it in French. My favourite.

Last edited Fri Dec 12, 2025, 10:59 PM - Edit history (1)

"Sur la route pa rum pa pa pum. Petit tambour quit va pa rump pa pa pum. Il sens ca coeur quit bas pa rum papa pum. Au rhythm de ces pas pa rum pa pa bum, rum pa pa pum, rum pa pa pum"

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

2. I agree! But novelty songs like "grandma got run over by a reindeer" are horrible too

[chicoescuela]

59. Hey! Why pick on my friends Elmo and Patsy. Good casino lounge act

back in the 70s and 80s in northern Nevada.
They had to make a couple bucks on their song.
Ain’t getting rich in casino lounges.

[BlueTsunami2018]

3. I despise Xmas music in general but some are worse than others.

The Christmas Shoes - NewSong

Horrible song, about a kid who wants to buy new shoes for his dying mom so “she can look pretty if she meets Jesus” that night.

Please Daddy don’t get Drunk this Christmas - John Denver

Apparently daddy has a drinking problem and always passes out under the tree after knocking it down. But the kid doesn’t understand that daddy needs to drink after being forced to listen to the Christmas Shoes all day at work.

Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

Even a genius like Paul has a bad day occasionally. Horrible.

There are several more but I don’t want to steal all the thunder here.

[electric_blue68]

40. Really??!.......

Please Daddy don’t get Drunk this Christmas - John Denver
I had no idea!

OTOH; your reason for why daddy has to drink is hilarious! (my underline)

"Apparently daddy has a drinking problem and always passes out under the tree after knocking it down. But the kid doesn’t understand that daddy needs to drink after being forced to listen to the Christmas Shoes all day at work."
😄😄
I had never of Christmas Shoes till a previous thread.

[3catwoman3]

4. Somewhat to my surprise, there is one version of Little Drummer Boy that I do like. Pentatonix, the 5...

...member a cappella group has a rendition with a lot of variation in it, which relieves the boredom so typical of most versions. You might consider giving it a try.

I detest the maudlin Christmas Shoes song, and Dominic the Christmas Donkey, as well as Last Christmas, I gave You My Heart.

[QueerDuck]

6. Oh, I do like PTX, but I've never heard their version.

I adore their Jolene that they recorded with Dolly herself.

[justaprogressive]

12. I wouldn't have thought it possible

but they saved the song by elevating it into a choral piece!

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. There are far worse the Drummer Boy

The Grandma song comes to mind, or anything with barking dogs or meowing cats.

I have a massive collection of Christmas music, and there is a whole sub genre of Christmas blues songs from the 20’s and 30’s that are the same slow I-IV-V chord progression with slight variations in lyrics, but all along the lines of:

“Woke up this morning, it was Christmas Day
It’s gonna be a blue Christmas, ‘cuz my baby went away…”

I have dozens of these types of songs in my collection.

As much as I like the blues, these songs are intolerable.

[QueerDuck]

13. Yikes! That does sound awful!

[debm55]

9. Dominick the Donkey

[Zorro]

10. The Little Drummer Boy melody is nice

but yeah, I doubt any parents of a newborn would welcome someone banging on a drum as they're coddling their child.

[Mad_Dem_X]

11. The Christmas Shoes is the worst.

I can handle just about any other Christmas song, but not that one.

[johnp3907]

15. No, every Mariah Carey Christmas song is the worst Christmas song ever.

"Is that tape recorder still running?"

?si=zZp0jjac-I2hnVKY

[Polly Hennessey]

18. It is the worst. It drones on and on, it is teeth grinding,

it makes my jaw hurt listening to it. I believe it is the sole reason I now hate Christmas music.

[yardwork]

22. If you listen to the words it's a very sweet story.

[Niagara]

19. The "Little Drummer Boy" is the worst Christmas song ever?

That's news to me.




Some people just have bupkis taste and are total sticks in the mud. Also, peoples unsolicited opinions are not facts.

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”—Lao Tzu

[yardwork]

21. Thanks for posting the Bib Seger version!

[Niagara]

31. My pleasure, yardwork

[catbyte]

20. I used to hate The Twelve Days of Christmas until Bob & Doug McKenzie released their version

&list=RD1DTwLqR071M

[Bobstandard]

23. Oh hell yes! Jose Feliciano wins by a mile

The song is Felice Navidad. The refrain, “I wanna wish you a merry Christmas, I wanna wish you a merry Christmas,” repeated ad nauseum in a hectoring shout will kick the Christmas spirit right out of you. Hear it twice while commuting and you’ll aim for a concrete abutment.

[QueerDuck]

36. From the bottom of my heart!

[Bobstandard]

37. Aaasasghhhhh!

[buzzycrumbhunger]

53. It can actually get worse!

I refer you to the Pee Wee Herman episode where Grace Jones sings Little Drummer Boy.

And goddamnitall… I had to edit this because I originally misremembered that it was Charro… She actually did Feliz Navidad, which was equally horrendous.

[Gore1FL]

24. The new South Park one from last night's episode is pretty awful. nt

[Clouds Passing]

25. " all I want for Christmas is you" mariah carey. Ear piercing. Painful.

[sakabatou]

38. Every year, they raise her from her carbonite sleep

[murielm99]

64. And she thinks she should be declared

The Queen of Christmas.

[Ocelot II]

26. The Christmas Shoes, Mary Did You Know, Do You Hear What I hear.

And all the horrible arrangements of otherwise great carols.

[SuzyandPuffpuff]

27. 12 days

Hate that song lol

[bif]

46. Same here!

[wcmagumba]

28. I like "The Little Drummer Boy" song, don't care for the animated film...

I like this one though:

[Chasstev365]

29. It was soooo creepy and scared me as a kid.

[Aristus]

45. "Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem" scared me more, and it's a traditional song.

The lyric "Yet, in thy dark streets shineth..."

[PBC_Democrat]

30. NO, NO, NO!

This is my 2nd fav version ...

First, by far, is the Celtic Women with Chloe

[ret5hd]

32. it's tied with about 5000 others.

[Srkdqltr]

33. I really dislike almost all Christmas music. I do like Siberian Orchestras, and my granddaughters wonderful high school

Orchestra.

[Blumancru]

34. Happy Christmas by John Lennon

He ripped off “Stewball” (more correctly Skewball) for the melody. He did spare us any Yoko caterwauling on it.

“I Found The Brains of Santa Claus” is bad
“Santa Claus Has Got The AIDS This Year” by Tiny Tim is vomit inducing.

[Big Blue Marble]

35. Yes, yes, and yes,

Many agree. Check out these sites.

https://littledrummerboychallenge.com

https://www.facebook.com/LittleDrummerBoyChallenge

[Dorothy V]

39. Ahem. I submit for your ... uh ... consideration, Leroy the Redneck Reindeer! by Joe Diffy

If that isn't the worst then I don't know what is. If you're feeling masochistic enough you can find the thing on YT.
It makes Little Drummer Boy sound great.

[IcyPeas]

41. Grace Jones on Pee-Wee's Christmas Special singing Little Drummer Boy

I mean... c'mon... this is art.

Here's the entire Christmas special:

[mnhtnbb]

42. I love the Duke Pearson rendition

It really plays up the percussive aspect of the song, as it should.

?si=eKP_U7AP4alCjRfJ

[electric_blue68]

43. The Little Drummer Boy is an ok song...

As far as go; "Grandma Got Runover..., the Chipmonks..., once is quite enough for the season. 😄

[Aristus]

44. Not since this scene from The West Wing pulled it out of contention:

&list=RDC_BRd1fegBw&start_radio=1

[yorkster]

57. Bravo. Great scene.

[bif]

47. Pretty much all Christmas music sucks

I get so sick of it by the beginning of December. I hate going into stores where it's played constantly. I really can't think of a single one I enjoy.

[QueerDuck]

48. Thankfully, Costco doesn't blast background music... and when shopping on Amazon, I can do it in silence.

[Sequoia]

49. Santa Baby

Is downright awful. Lazy greedy woman wanting a sugar daddy.

[Harker]

50. Paul McCartney is a contender.

[gay texan]

54. Silent Night

Away in a manger

[gopiscrap]

55. How about

"I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus Underneath the Mistletoe"

[yorkster]

56. Christmas Shoes ... yikes.

Did the Google and found a video. When it got to "when mama meets jesus", I literally had the wholebody crawling cringies.
Glad I missed that one over the years.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

62. The year it came out..huge hit that played constantly that xmas

I had to change the radio station..

[pansypoo53219]

58. i would trash them all now. tho. oh holy night can stay.

[Norrrm]

60. Run over by a reindeer was cute the first 5000 times. 5001 went over the line.

[patphil]

61. Dominic the Donkey is as bad as it gets.

https://www.google.com/search?q=dominic+christmas+donkey&sca_esv=35aab6487a6cfb8f&source=hp&ei=duw8aaS8N8TV5NoPtqORkQM&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaTz6htxlqv74TbMWSpB7munR3H9tgHNB&gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0TEmrNDDNMKg0YPSSSMnPzczLTFZIzijKLC7JTSxWSMnPy06tBAAPHQ4G&oq=dominic+&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ighkb21pbmljICoCCAAyCxAuGJECGIAEGIoFMgsQABiABBiKBRiRAjILEAAYgAQYigUYkQIyCBAuGIAEGLEDMgUQLhiABDILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEyCxAuGIAEGLEDGIMBMgUQABiABDIFEC4YgAQyCxAuGIAEGLEDGIMBSME4UABY3gtwAHgAkAEAmAHKAaAByQeqAQU1LjIuMbgBAcgBAPgBAZgCCKAC5wfCAgoQABiABBiKBRhDwgIKEC4YQxiABBiKBcICDhAuGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBwgIREC4YgwEYkQIYsQMYgAQYigXCAggQABiABBixA8ICDhAuGMcBGLEDGNEDGIAEwgIQEC4YQxiDARixAxiABBiKBcICDhAuGIAEGMcBGK8BGI4FmAMA4gMFEgExIECSBwUzLjQuMaAHxmuyBwUzLjQuMbgH5wfCBwUwLjUuM8gHFYAIAQ&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:62e09c44,vid:Ca5wXojemRM,st:0

Sorry about the commercial at the start. This was the best I could do on short notice.

[Captain Zero]

63. Pah-rump-pah pah pum. Enjoy every earworm!

nt

[ProfessorGAC]

66. What I Didn't See Mentioned....

...was "Last Christmas".
How the heck did that become a Christmas song?
First, it's whiny & depressing. Second it has nothing to do with Christmas. The date is merely incidental.
I hate that song.

[QueerDuck]

67. Ugh... that's an awful one! Many covers of the "Wham!" original... and we now know that nothing can improve it.

[duckworth969]

68. McCartney "Wonderful Christmas Time" 🤮

That song is a complete lizard.

[QueerDuck]

69. Add that one to the burn-pile (or the permanently locked storage box)