Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Pied Piper - Pillipiipari


Johnny (see previous entry) released "Pillipiipari" (Pied Piper) as a single in 1966. It was quite popular tune at the time, but not of Johnny's greatest. The original song "Pied Piper" was written and performed by Steven Duboff and Arthur 'Artie' Kornfeld. They released this very dylanesque song in 1965 under band name "Changin' Times" (undoubtedly taken from Dylan, too). This was their only hit, but later the couple also wrote The Cowsills' smash hit song "The Rain, the Park and Other Things." 'Artie' Kornfeld was later one of the producers of Woodstock music festival. A cover version of "Pied Piper" by British Crispian St. Peters was a number one hit all over Europe in 1966. The song is based on the ancient legend of The Pied Piper of the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Germany . In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a man dressed in pied (pied = having patches of two or more colors, as various birds, especially magpie (black and white)) garments appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He played a musical pipe to lure the rats with a song into the Weser River, where all of them drowned. The towns-people refused to pay the rat-catcher, and he left the town angrily, but returned some time later, seeking revenge. On Saint John and Paul's day while the inhabitants were in church, he played his pipe again, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. They followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and never seen again.

Here's the pair:

No comments: