The Pied Piper (song)

"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. 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.

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

Year-end charts

Later uses

An advertisement for the first-generation Toyota Echo in Australia and New Zealand.

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.
• 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.
• 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).

References