Mostly SOLVED: Pa rum a pum pum

The song in question was annoying me a while ago, where the tune seemed to pleasantly annoy me. I could almost forget it was a Christmas song. I did try to find out who performed the song, and was surprised to find that "Little Drummer Girl" didn't correspond to any song I had in mind. (neither Alicia Keys nor David DeMordaunt) The tune eventually left my head, but the other day I was reminded of it once more, and have had an extensive search trying to key into the vaguest clues I have to the identity of the song.

So I must have got the tittle wrong. My hearing is shoddy at times.

To me, it's nothing like "little Drummer boy" apart from the chorus "Pa rum a pum pum" repeated a couple of times, sometimes with notable tubular (?) bells as part of the chorus. In my mind though, having "pa rum a pum pum" as a chorus line would almost certainly mean it's a version of "Little Drummer Boy" .

The only other words I can think of presently are "home for christmas" sung in a rather monotone manner, but I'm not that sure if I've heard it correctly.

Probably what makes the song stand out is it's use of a synthesised accordion sounding accompaniment and rhythm which is not typically 4/4 sounding.

I'd guess it was from the late eighties or early nineties as it used to get a fair bit of airplay on the Australian radio networks, but the last couple of years I haven't heard it as far as I know.

just a guess on some versions
they dont have (home for christmas) in them

Track13.mp3 - 4.84MB

Track07.mp3 - 3.46MB

hope it helps a bit

Thanks for looking.

I listened to both songs, neither are the song. Track 7 was performed by a female, and the tempo slow and traditional. Track 13 was faster, and still sounds like the traditional song.



The vocals were male, either one or with a group doing the chorus.

It's not in the traditional style /tempo of "little drummer boy". The accordion type instrument is very is notable.

I'm probably waaaay off with this suggestion but it has the monotone "home for christmas" and a Dub a dub a dum dum,

Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVEdE0O5tA

well done Mumbles

i dont know how i missed that
with all the xmas songs ive got and spent all night listening to

Thank you very much Mumbles, you've got the song.

I had to source another non youtube version by Jona Lewie though, and it was very close.

I've done further looking and it wasn't the Cory Band's version either.

Wikipedia lists it as still under licence, and no mention of other bands, so either the version I have in mind is a reworked release or I have in mind a cover version by another artist / group.

I'll see if I can find a program to "utilise" the youtube link you kindly left. (As I have a dial up connection, there's not much more annoying than tying up the connection for a few hours, having a browser hiccup, and having to start from scratch.)

Thanks again.

P.S. I consider it almost solved, and will leave it open for another day in case any one knows of any artists who did a cover version of "Stop the Cavalry" in the 90s.

First edit was aprox 10 min after submitting.
Second Edit (many hours later) I had a look at the video in the youtube link. Thanks, nice to see the video. It's the same more or less the same as the version I found for Jona.

All I need to do is work out who did a cover version, but still, I'm stoked just to know what song it was.