For what it's worth, I really liked this song when I was a kidling. For one thing, the drummer boy was the only one who actually seemed interested in giving something the baby could appreciate, rather than bringing fancy gifts of status, to impress the parents. And there was also child-to-child exchange going on.

It's only as an adult, after hearing a dozen too many sacherine arrangements of this song that I've come to happily leave it off my listening list.

As for the wisdom of playing a drum for a baby, well, these days, newborns are soothed by the sounds of vaccuum cleaners and car engines (reminds them of the inside of the womb, which is, in fact, rather loud). And with the right sort of thrumming, a skilled drummer might reproduce the sound of the mother's heartbeat.

As for the theme of the carol itself, it reminds me of the final verse of "In the Bleak Mid-Winter":

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb.
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part.
Yet what can I give him? I shall give my heart.