The Pied Piper (song)

"The Pied Piper" is a pop song written by the duo of Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld, who first recorded the song in 1965 as The Changin' Times. However, it was British pop singer Crispian St. Peters, who scored a major hit with the song during the summer of 1966, when his single went to #4 in the United States, #5 in the United Kingdom and #1 in Canada.^[1][2]

In the Netherlands, the beatgroup The Jets from Utrecht recorded their version a few months before St. Peters did. Rumors had it that this version inspired the Crispian St. Peters version.

The song's title came from The Pied Piper of Hamelin. In Italy a well-known cover version was made, with the title "Bandiera gialla" ("Yellow flag"), sung by local artist Gianni Pettenati and theme of a popular radio program of that era targeted to the young people,^[3] but there was also a version, sung in English, by Patty Pravo. The song is noted for its use of the Penny Whistle to represent the pipes of the Pied Piper.

Del Shannon also did a cover of the song in the 60s and The Ventures released a version in 1966. In 1966 in France, Pop sensation Sheila did a French cover of it with "Le pipeau".Jamaican reggae duo Bob and Marcia had a Top 20 hit with their version, taking the song to UK #11 in July 1971. In 1967 Artie Kornfeld put together a studio band called the Bassetts consisting of Hugh McCracken, Steve Gadd, Tony Levin, and Tony Amato (formerly of the Chaperones) and they put out a 45 in that same year with "The Pied Piper" on the A side and "With a Little Love" on the B side.

Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife, did a ska cover of the song in 1966.

Les Sultans, a popular group in Québec, did a french cover of the song "Apprends à vivre" in 1966.

In 1999, the song was used in an advertisement for the first-generation Toyota Echo in New Zealand.

References