The Pied Piper (song)
1966 single by Crispian St. Peters
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"The Pied Piper" is a pop song written by the American song-writing and performing 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) | |||
| Songwriters | Steve Duboff, Artie Kornfeld | |||
| Producer | 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
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Later uses
An advertisement for the first-generation Toyota Echo in Australia and New Zealand.[30][31][32]
The song has been used in three episodes of the HBO series Silicon Valley, where it is sung karaoke by Dinesh.
Other versions
- 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.[33]
- 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.[34]
- 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).[35]