Little Drummer Boy, David Bowie and Bing Crosby

Opposites attract.

And you couldn’t get two greater artistic opposites than Bowie and Crosby. The former was a pioneer of rock. The other the ultimate crooner. One fused art with music and was gender fluid. The other sang and danced as a leading man.

One was young, the other elderly. One was king of the kids, the other of the old guard.

As Bing rues, “It’s been a long time since I was the new anything…”

So the younger knocks on the door of the older and a relationship begins. The outsider comes in. Or is the insider the outsider?

Their conversation is awkward. The jokes are bad. You wonder if one thinks they’re better than the other. But there seems to be genuine respect.

As disparate as they are one thing brings them together.

A song.

And their version of “Little Drummer Boy” is spellbinding. It maintains the awkwardness of their conversation. Sometimes Bowie can’t get it. Crosby’s belted out tunes like these for decades.

These two men sing a child’s song about a child playing for a child. And despite their differences, magic happens. It works because of their differences.The song binds them.

And this tune takes me to those characters around the cradle on that first Christmas. The shepherds, the wise men, the parents. Some were rich, others were poor. Some were locals, others foreign.

As disparate as they are one thing brings them together.

The baby born away in a manger.

Even when he was little, Jesus was bringing all sorts together.

So, if your Christmas family gathering is a bit awkward or if your work thing is a bit weird or if you feel like a bit of an outsider, take heart. Bing and Bowie’s song is just like that.

So too was the first Christmas.