"The Pied Piper" is a pop song written by the duo The Changin' Times, consisting of Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld, who first recorded it in 1965. Their version reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100.[2] However, when British pop singer Crispian St. Peters recorded it, he scored a major hit during the summer of 1966. It went to #4 in the United States, #5 in the United Kingdom, and #1 in Canada.[3][4]
| "The Pied Piper" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Crispian St. Peters | ||||
| from the album Follow Me... | ||||
| B-side | "Sweet Dawn My True Love" | |||
| Released | April 1966[1] | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 2:30 | |||
| Label | Decca 12359 (UK) Jamie 1320 (US) London 2512 (Canada) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Steve Duboff, Artie Kornfeld | |||
| Producer(s) | David Nicolson | |||
| Crispian St. Peters singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The song's title refers to a fairy tale from German folklore, the titular character of which is The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Chart history
edit
Weekly chartsedit
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Year-end chartsedit
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Later uses
editAn advertisement for the first-generation Toyota Echo in Australia and New Zealand.[13][14][15]
The song has been used in three episodes of the HBO series Silicon Valley, where it is sung karaoke by Dinesh.
Other versions
edit- In Italy a well-known cover version was made, with the title "Bandiera gialla" ("Yellow Flag"), sung by Gianni Pettenati and becoming the theme song of a popular radio program of that era targeted to young people.[16]
- Cher covered the song on her 1966 self-titled album.
- French singer Sheila covered the song in French, with the title "Le pipeau", in 1966.
- Rita Marley covered the song in 1967.
- Jamaican reggae duo Bob and Marcia had a Top 20 hit with their version, taking the song to UK #11 in July 1971.[17]
- Yugoslav rock band S.T.R.A.H. released a Serbo-Croatian language garage rock cover entitled "Vođa" ("The Leader") on their 1988 EP Mesec (The Moon).[18]
References
edit- ^ Rodriguez, Robert (2012). Revolver: How the Beatles Re-Imagined Rock 'n' Roll. Montclair: Backbeat Books. p. 242. ISBN 978-1-61713-009-0.
- ^ The Changin' Times, "Pied Piper" chart position Retrieved June 18, 2015.
- ^ Songs from the Year 1966
- ^ Library and Archives Canada. RPM 100 Week of July 18, 1966 Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-08-01. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – The Pied Piper". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved December 9, 2018.
- ^ Flavour of New Zealand, 15 July 1966
- ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
- ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, July 30, 1966
- ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1966/Top 100 Songs of 1966". musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
- ^ http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1966YESP.html Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 24, 1966
- ^ "The Good Oil: Road safety in school". New Zealand Herald. 2000-06-30.
- ^ YouTube - Toyota Echo Australian TV ad (2000) - "Follow me, I'm the pied piper..."
- ^ Four Donkey Films - production company for the advertisement
- ^ L'almanacco di Radioscrigno Retrieved March 13, 2012.
- ^ Bob and Marcia, "Pied Piper" chart position Retrieved June 18, 2015.
- ^ Janjatović, Petar (2024). Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960-2023. Belgrade: self-released. p. 288.
