| "Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Serendipity Singers | ||||
| from the album The Serendipity Singers | ||||
| B-side | "Freedom's Star" | |||
| Released | February 1964 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 1963 | |||
| Genre | Folk, calypso | |||
| Length | 2:43 | |||
| Label | Philips | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Traditional Reissues credit Ersel Hickey, Ed E. Miller | |||
| The Serendipity Singers singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)" was a folk music single, and the debut recording of the Serendipity Singers in 1964. The song was based on the English nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man".
The song was first recorded as "Crooked Little House" by Jimmie Rodgers in 1960, on his album At Home with Jimmie Rodgers - An Evening of Folk Songs, on which the songwriting was credited to Ersel Hickey and Ed E. Miller. [2]
In 1964, it was recorded by the Serendipity Singers in a calypso music-based adaptation and arrangement by the group's musical director Bob Bowers, with group members Bryan Sennett and John Madden. In the midst of Beatlemania, the record reached #2 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #7 in Canada [3] in April and May 1964. [4] "Don't Let the Rain Come Down" (Phillips 40175) was the #1 song on the April 17, 1964 WLS Silver Dollar Survey, [5] and also topped surveys in Louisville, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and elsewhere. The song reached #6 on the New Zealand Lever Hit parade chart [6] . It was released on their premiere album, The Serendipity Singers. Later reissues of the Serendipity Singers' recording credited Hickey and Miller as the song's writers. [7] In a "My Music, Folk Rewind" video, the group's nine members appear as three groups of three, with each group singing its particular verse; all nine members sing in each repetition of the chorus.
The song was also covered by The Brothers Four on their album More Big Folk Hits; Trini Lopez on The Folk Album (1965); [8] and Ronnie Hilton, whose version was a hit in the UK, peaking at #21 in 1964.
