"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
" You Were on My Mind" (1965) "The Pied Piper" (1966) "Changes" (1966)

"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 song's title refers to a fairy tale from German folklore, the titular character of which is The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Chart history

Later uses

An 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

• In Italy a well-known cover version was made, with the title "Bandiera gialla" ("Yellow flag"), sung by Gianni Pettenati and the theme song of a popular radio program of that era targeted to the young people. ^[16]
• Jamaican reggae duo Bob and Marcia had a Top 20 hit with their version, taking the song to UK #11 in July 1971. ^[17]
• Cher also covered the song on her 1966 self-titled album.
• In France, Sheila covered the song in French the same year, with the title "Le pipeau".
• Rita Marley covered the song in 1967.

References