The Pied Piper (song)
| "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 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 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.[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]
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Kent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book 1940–1969. Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 107. ISBN 0-646-44439-5. OCLC 62561852.
- ^ "Crispian St. Peters – The Pied Piper" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ "Crispian St. Peters – The Pied Piper" (in French). Ultratop 50. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ Anon. (18 July 1966). "RPM 100" (PDF). RPM. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 August 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ Gogan, Larry. "Pied Piper". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Anon. (20 August 1966). "Hits Of The World" (PDF). Billboard. p. 57. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ "Pied Piper / The Pied Piper - The Jets / Crispian St. Peters" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Archived from the original on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ "Crispian St. Peters - The Pied Piper" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ Kohler, Steve (1 July 1966). "The N.Z. Hit Parade". Flavour of New Zealand. New Zealand Listener. Archived from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ Anon. (18 June 1966). "Hits Of The World" (PDF). Billboard. p. 36. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ "SA Charts 1965 – 1989: Acts S". The South African Rock Encyclopedia. Springbok Radio. 2000. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ Kimberley, C (2000). Zimbabwe: Singles Chart Book. Zimbabwe. p. 72. OCLC 499262382.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Anon. (7 May 1966). "Top 50". Disc and Music Echo. p. 3.
- ^ Anon. (7 May 1966). "Pop 50". Melody Maker. p. 2.
- ^ Anon. (14 May 1966). "NME Top Thirty". New Musical Express. p. 5.
- ^ "Pied Piper by Crispian St. Peters". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ Anon. (23 July 1966). "Hot 100" (PDF). Billboard. p. 30. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 October 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ Anon. (30 July 1966). "Cash Box Top 100" (PDF). Cash Box. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ Anon. (30 July 1966). "100 Top Pops" (PDF). Record World. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 June 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ "The Pied Piper" (in German). Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Archived from the original on 20 December 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1966" [Year Overview 1966] (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1966" [Top 100 Year-End Review of 1966] (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Archived from the original on 23 August 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
- ^ Anon. (5 January 1967). "Top 100 best-selling singles of 1966". Record Retailer. p. 11.
- ^ Anon. (24 December 1966). "Top Singles of 1966" (PDF). Billboard. p. 34. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 May 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ "Top 100 Chart Hits of 1966" (PDF). Cash Box. 24 December 1966. p. 30. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025 – via WorldRadioHistory.
- ^ "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.
