Finding the winter issue of SING OUT as I was clearing up a pile on my desk, I came upon Joe Hickerson's Songfinder request for the song with "Put/place a nickel in/on the drum", which is in answer to a request by Lydia Fish, who began this thread.

I will add the recollection that at Yale in the early 1970s, I remember hearing a celebratory song, usually passed down in the small singing groups (Whiffenpoofs, etc.), suitable for initiations, birthdays, and other occasions where an individual would be honored:

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It's _____ [substitute name of person to be honored]
It's _____
It's _____ that makes the world go round
It's _____
It's _____
It's _____ that makes the world go round
It's _____ _____ _____ _____
It's _____ that makes the world go round
It's _____ that makes the world go round

Sing Hallelu, Hallelujah
Hallelu, Hallelujah
Put a nickel on the drum
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelu, Hallelujah
Hallelu, Hallelujah
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be saved

You'll be S-A-V-E-D
From the bonds of S-I-N
Glory hallelujah, and hip hooray again
You'll be F-R- double-E
From the bonds of S-I-N
Glory hallelujah, and hip hooray again

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I don't know how long this tradition had been going on, but traditions in Yale singing groups are often long lasting. I wonder if this song is in some copy of "Songs From Yale" or equivalent collegiate songbooks.

--Charlie Baum