WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.339 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today, we're tuning 00:00:03.339 --> 00:00:06.280 the time machine to a remarkably specific and 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:09.400 frankly, kind of chaotic moment in music history. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:11.160 Oh, absolutely. We're looking at a song that 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:12.939 you definitely know, or at least you know the 00:00:12.939 --> 00:00:15.300 nursery rhyme that birthed it. But the story 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:18.960 behind how it became a hit is, well, it's wilder 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.579 than you'd expect. We are talking about Don't 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:23.379 Let the Rain Come Down, also known as Cricket 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:25.579 Little Man. It is such a fascinating track to 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:28.100 dig into because, you know, on the surface, it 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:31.370 feels like this breeze. Just a catchy folk pop 00:00:31.370 --> 00:00:33.710 tune. Right. But when we really look at the source 00:00:33.710 --> 00:00:35.810 material, this song is actually a perfect storm 00:00:35.810 --> 00:00:40.009 of. copyright confusion, logistical nightmares 00:00:40.009 --> 00:00:42.810 involving these massive vocal groups, and a genre 00:00:42.810 --> 00:00:45.530 mashup that by all rights really shouldn't have 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:47.829 worked at all. But it did work. And I guess that's 00:00:47.829 --> 00:00:49.789 our mission for today's deep dive. We need to 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:52.310 figure out exactly how a song based on an old 00:00:52.310 --> 00:00:55.130 English nursery rhyme managed to become a chart 00:00:55.130 --> 00:00:57.369 -topping smash hit right in the middle of, frankly, 00:00:57.469 --> 00:00:59.929 the most hostile environment imaginable for folk 00:00:59.929 --> 00:01:02.429 music. Hostile is definitely the right word for 00:01:02.429 --> 00:01:04.370 it. We really have to set the scene here for 00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:07.170 you. The date we're looking at is February 19th. 00:01:07.180 --> 00:01:10.680 Ground zero. Exactly. Ground zero. If you follow 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.840 music history at all, February 1964 is when the 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:15.760 Beatles arrived in America. Yep. They appear 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:18.560 on Ed Sullivan, and suddenly the entire culture 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.140 just pivots. The British invasion. Right. The 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:23.319 airwaves are instantly dominated by electric 00:01:23.319 --> 00:01:26.579 guitars, mop tops, screaming teenagers. Rock 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:28.819 and roll is completely rewriting the rule book 00:01:28.819 --> 00:01:30.540 overnight. Right. Everyone is just losing their 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.159 minds over, I want to hold your hand. And then 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:35.959 in walks this group, the Serendipity Singers, 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:39.540 with a song that... Isn't rock and roll. Not 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:41.739 at all. It doesn't have electric guitars. It's 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:44.819 this weird blend of traditional folk and calypso. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.379 It is a massive anomaly. Yeah. It's this folk 00:01:47.379 --> 00:01:49.680 calypso hybrid based on a nursery rhyme. And 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.379 it's climbing the charts while Lennon and McCartney 00:01:52.379 --> 00:01:55.060 are essentially strangling the life out of any 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:57.280 competition. Yeah, it's crazy. It really speaks 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.780 to how diverse the music scene actually was in 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:02.780 1964, even if, you know, our collective memory 00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:04.840 just tends to focus strictly on the British invasion. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.980 So let's unpack this. I think we have to start 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:09.840 with the source material of the song itself. 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:13.300 Because the lyrics aren't new, I think most people 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:15.439 listening probably heard this rhyme before they 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:17.979 could even walk. Yes. The foundational text, 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:21.139 so to speak, is the traditional English nursery 00:02:21.139 --> 00:02:25.020 rhyme. There was a crooked man. Right. You know 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:27.860 the one. He walked a crooked mile, he found a 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:30.460 crooked sixpence, bought a crooked cat. It's 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:34.099 classic stuff. Very Mother Goose. But here is 00:02:34.099 --> 00:02:36.259 where we need to get into the weeds of how folk 00:02:36.259 --> 00:02:39.280 music actually operates as a business. Because 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:41.400 usually with these really old rhymes, they're 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:44.280 considered public domain, right? Generally speaking, 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:46.919 yes. If a song or a rhyme is hundreds of years 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:49.659 old, nobody owns it. Because the author is long 00:02:49.659 --> 00:02:52.500 gone. Exactly. The author is dead or entirely 00:02:52.500 --> 00:02:54.879 unknown. You can record it, I can record it, 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:57.340 and we don't owe royalties to anyone. The credit 00:02:57.340 --> 00:02:59.520 on the record label usually just says traditional. 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:01.590 Okay, but the version we're talking about today, 00:03:01.650 --> 00:03:04.150 the one that hit the charts in the 60s, it didn't 00:03:04.150 --> 00:03:06.990 just spontaneously appear out of the ether. Our 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:09.590 sources point to a bit of a, I guess, a prequel 00:03:09.590 --> 00:03:12.770 in 1960. That's right. If we track the genealogy 00:03:12.770 --> 00:03:15.990 of this specific musical adaptation, we have 00:03:15.990 --> 00:03:18.729 to go back four years prior to the big hit. A 00:03:18.729 --> 00:03:21.389 singer named Jimmy Rogers recorded a version 00:03:21.389 --> 00:03:23.710 of this. And just to clarify for everyone, this 00:03:23.710 --> 00:03:27.009 is the pop singer Jimmy Rogers, not the legendary 00:03:27.009 --> 00:03:30.219 country yodeler from 1920. Right, right. The 00:03:30.219 --> 00:03:33.300 1960s pop singer. Yeah. So he recorded it, but, 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:35.900 and this is important, he released it on his 00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:38.780 album At Home with Jimmy Rogers, an evening of 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:41.300 folk songs, but he didn't call it Don't Let the 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:43.439 Rain Come Down. What did he call it? He titled 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.439 it Crooked Little House. Crooked Little House. 00:03:45.539 --> 00:03:48.219 Okay. Now, looking at the historical records 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:50.979 for that 1960 album, this is where the legal 00:03:50.979 --> 00:03:53.479 plot starts to thicken. The liner notes don't 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:55.860 say traditional. They do not. They list two very 00:03:55.860 --> 00:03:58.240 specific songwriters. Yeah. Ursel Hickey and 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.919 Ed E. Miller. Okay, wait. Why is that significant? 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:04.020 If it's a centuries -old nursery rhyme, how can 00:04:04.020 --> 00:04:05.860 Hickey and Miller just claim that they wrote 00:04:05.860 --> 00:04:08.620 it? This is a really key insight into the music 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:10.400 business, especially during that folk revival 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.740 era. You can't copyright the lyrics of There 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:15.560 Was a Crooked Man. Those belong to history. But 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.519 you can copyright a specific musical arrangement 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:22.839 or a new melody or modified structure. What Hickey 00:04:22.839 --> 00:04:26.240 and Miller did was they took the raw clay of 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.819 the nursery rhyme, and they sculpted it into 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:31.560 a modern verse chorus pop structure. Oh, I see. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:33.680 They're the ones who added that infectious don't 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.699 let the rain come down hook. Ah, so they essentially 00:04:36.699 --> 00:04:38.959 built the house even if they didn't manufacture 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:41.920 the bricks themselves. Precisely. In legal terms, 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:45.079 they created a derivative work, and that gave 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:47.459 them a completely valid copyright claim over 00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:50.160 that specific version of the song. Which brings 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:54.079 us to 1964. The Serendipity Singers released 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.899 their version, which, as we know, becomes the 00:04:56.899 --> 00:04:59.259 massive hit. You would assume Hickey and Miller 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:01.379 were thrilled just sitting back and watching 00:05:01.379 --> 00:05:03.639 those fat royalty checks roll in. You would definitely 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:06.079 assume that. But this is where it gets messy. 00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:08.800 When the Serendipity Singers released their version, 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:11.740 those names, Hickey and Miller, were largely 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:14.040 absent from the initial labeling. You're kidding, 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:17.019 really? Yeah. The initial pressings often credited 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:19.339 the song as traditional, or in some cases, they 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:21.560 credited the adaptation to the Serendipity Singers' 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:24.220 own musical director. It is a classic example 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:28.379 of just how murky folk music copyrights were 00:05:28.379 --> 00:05:31.480 in the early 60s. There was this prevailing attitude 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.360 in the industry of, oh, it's a folk song. It 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:36.920 belongs to the people. Nobody owns it. That feels 00:05:36.920 --> 00:05:39.879 like a massive oversight. I mean, imagine you're 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:42.180 Hickey or Miller. You're driving in your car. 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:45.000 You turn on the radio and you hear your specific 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.959 melody, your specific original hook being sung 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:50.720 by this huge group. And the DJ comes on and says 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.899 it's an old traditional tune. It must have been 00:05:52.899 --> 00:05:55.629 infuriating for them. And obviously it was. legally 00:05:55.629 --> 00:05:57.649 actionable. It was eventually rectified, thankfully. 00:05:57.910 --> 00:06:01.110 Later reissues of the Serendipity Singers recording 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:04.009 did correct the credits. They finally listed 00:06:04.009 --> 00:06:06.410 Ursel Hickey and Eddie Miller as the writers, 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:09.879 but for a very distinct Very lucrative window 00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:12.060 of time. The biggest folk hit in the country 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.660 was essentially sailing under a false flag regarding 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:16.800 its authorship. Justice for Hickey and Miller. 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:18.480 I'm glad they got their names back on there eventually. 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:20.540 It really just goes to show that even in the 00:06:20.540 --> 00:06:23.879 whole peace and love communal folk era, the music 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:26.639 business was still very much a business. Absolutely. 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:28.420 The music industry has never been a charity, 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.740 no matter what genre we're talking about. Very 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:34.639 true. OK, so we have. The song's origin and the 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:37.339 copyright drama. Now let's talk about the vehicle 00:06:37.339 --> 00:06:39.360 that actually carried the song up the charts. 00:06:39.579 --> 00:06:42.959 The Serendipity Singers themselves. A truly fascinating 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.060 group. And calling them a group? might actually 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:48.139 be an understatement. Yeah, looking at the notes 00:06:48.139 --> 00:06:50.579 here, there were nine members. Nine members. 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:53.199 That is not a band. That is a baseball team. 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:57.160 That's a jury minus the alternates. It practically 00:06:57.160 --> 00:06:59.540 is a small village, and you really have to try 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:01.879 to imagine the logistics of that. In the modern 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:04.980 era, you know, we are so used to this solo pop 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:07.660 star or maybe a four -piece rock band. Right. 00:07:07.779 --> 00:07:09.980 The idea of a nine -person folk group trying 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:12.519 to get radio play, trying to organize tours, 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:14.639 trying to just physically fit on a stage together. 00:07:15.629 --> 00:07:18.089 It's wild to think about. Honestly, how do you 00:07:18.089 --> 00:07:20.750 fit nine people on a stage or even worse in a 00:07:20.750 --> 00:07:22.649 1960s recording booth? It feels like it would 00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:24.550 just be absolute chaos. Like who is in charge 00:07:24.550 --> 00:07:26.810 of ordering lunch for nine lead singers? It's 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:29.709 a logistical nightmare, surely. But they actually 00:07:29.709 --> 00:07:32.769 had a very specific, very disciplined way of 00:07:32.769 --> 00:07:35.290 handling the performance aspect, especially for 00:07:35.290 --> 00:07:37.470 their live shows and their TV appearances. How 00:07:37.470 --> 00:07:41.920 so? Well, there's this great video. from a special 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.120 called My Music Folk Rewind that captures their 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.420 stage choreography. They didn't just walk out 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:49.560 and stand in disorganized clump around a couple 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:51.519 of microphones. Okay, paint the picture for us. 00:07:51.660 --> 00:07:55.100 How do you organize nine acoustic folk singers 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:57.540 without them constantly bumping into each other's 00:07:57.540 --> 00:07:59.759 guitars? They organize themselves into a matrix, 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:03.100 specifically three groups of three. A matrix 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:05.079 of folk singers? That sounds very mathematical. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.899 It was highly structured. Visually, you have 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:09.740 these three distinct trios standing together. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.300 And the arrangement of the song actually leaned 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:14.379 right into that visual structure. Oh, really? 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:17.279 Yeah. Each subgroup of three would sing a specific 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.879 verse. So you'd have trio A take the first verse, 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:22.339 trio B take the second, trio C takes the third, 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:25.300 and so on. Oh, that's clever. So you get these 00:08:25.300 --> 00:08:27.860 different vocal textures for each verse. It keeps 00:08:27.860 --> 00:08:30.560 the listener's ear interested because the actual 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:33.620 tone of the vocals changes every 30 seconds or 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:36.039 so. Exactly. It completely prevents listener 00:08:36.039 --> 00:08:40.720 fatigue. And then for the chorus. That massive, 00:08:40.940 --> 00:08:44.460 don't let the rain come down hook, all nine members 00:08:44.460 --> 00:08:46.580 would join in together. That must have been just 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:49.840 a massive wall of sound. It creates this huge, 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:53.899 incredibly powerful communal vibe, a real sing 00:08:53.899 --> 00:08:56.419 -along energy. And we have to remember the context 00:08:56.419 --> 00:08:59.879 here. This is right at the tail end. Of the Hootenanny 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:02.360 era in American culture. The Hootenanny era. 00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:04.360 Let's break that down for someone who might not 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:06.000 know the term, because honestly, it sounds like 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.600 a cartoon character. Fair enough. So just prior 00:09:08.600 --> 00:09:10.360 to the Beatles changing everything, there was 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:12.720 a very popular television show called Hootenanny. 00:09:12.860 --> 00:09:16.019 OK. And the vibe of this show and the subculture 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:18.399 it represented was very collegiate, very clean 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:20.559 cut. It was all about these big groups singing 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.580 together. Lots of audience participation, acoustic 00:09:23.580 --> 00:09:26.120 guitars, matching sweaters. Right. Not the gritty 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:29.009 Greenwich Village scene. Exactly. It wasn't about 00:09:29.009 --> 00:09:32.750 the brooding, poetic solo artist sitting in a 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:36.850 dark corner cafe. It was about volume and harmony 00:09:36.850 --> 00:09:40.169 and smiling. The serendipity singers were perfectly 00:09:40.169 --> 00:09:42.570 engineered for that specific hootenanny aesthetic. 00:09:42.809 --> 00:09:45.169 So they are maximizing that power in numbers 00:09:45.169 --> 00:09:47.350 approach. It's almost like a choir, but cooler. 00:09:47.549 --> 00:09:49.269 A choir in turtlenecks, essentially. But they 00:09:49.269 --> 00:09:50.950 did something else, too. We touched on it briefly 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:52.750 in the intro, but this wasn't just a straight 00:09:52.750 --> 00:09:54.970 standard folk song like Michael Rowe, The Boat 00:09:54.970 --> 00:09:57.149 Ashore. They did something to the underlying 00:09:57.149 --> 00:09:59.730 rhythm that really set it apart from their peers. 00:09:59.950 --> 00:10:01.710 They did. And this is where we have to give a 00:10:01.710 --> 00:10:03.429 lot of credit to the group's musical director, 00:10:03.590 --> 00:10:06.110 Bob Bowers. Bob Bowers. Right. He is the one 00:10:06.110 --> 00:10:08.090 credited with the arrangement of the hit single. 00:10:08.590 --> 00:10:12.230 He took this basic folk concept and gave it a 00:10:12.230 --> 00:10:15.570 Calypso music -based adaptation. Calypso. Now, 00:10:15.629 --> 00:10:17.409 when I think of Calypso in the context of the 00:10:17.409 --> 00:10:20.250 early 60s, I immediately think of Harry Belafonte, 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:23.389 Deo, the Banana Boat song. And he is the gold 00:10:23.389 --> 00:10:26.379 standard for that era. Yeah. But mixing that 00:10:26.379 --> 00:10:29.000 Caribbean syncopated rhythm with a traditional 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:31.539 English nursery rhyme about a crooked man, that 00:10:31.539 --> 00:10:35.080 is a phenomenally bold creative choice. Can you 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:38.299 explain syncopated for us? What actually makes 00:10:38.299 --> 00:10:41.259 it sound calypso compared to just a standard 00:10:41.259 --> 00:10:45.220 folk guy strumming a guitar? Sure. In a standard 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:48.320 march or a very simple folk song, the emphasis 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.159 is usually on the one and the three beats. It's 00:10:51.159 --> 00:10:54.639 very rigid. Very predictable. Down, up, down, 00:10:54.779 --> 00:10:57.820 up. Like a metronome. Right. Calypso shifts that 00:10:57.820 --> 00:11:00.860 emphasis. It deliberately puts the accent on 00:11:00.860 --> 00:11:04.000 the offbeats. It gives the music a sway, a highly 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.059 danceable quality. It makes you want to move 00:11:06.059 --> 00:11:08.779 your hips, not just tap your foot. So Bob Bowers 00:11:08.779 --> 00:11:11.200 takes There Was a Crooked Man, which historically 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:13.840 is recited in this very stiff, almost marching 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.360 meter, and he forces it into this swaying, relaxed 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:21.399 Caribbean beat. Exactly. And along with group 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:23.500 members Brian Sennett and John Madden, who are 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:25.539 also specifically noted in the historical records 00:11:25.539 --> 00:11:27.179 in the context of the recording and arrangement, 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:29.120 they managed to make it work seamlessly. Wait, 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:31.039 hold on a second. John Madden. I knew you were 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.659 going to stop at that name. I have to ask, are 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:34.840 we talking about the legendary football coach, 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:37.559 the video game icon? We are not. Okay, thank 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:39.960 you for clarifying that. Because I was picturing 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:42.159 the guy with the telestrator drawing yellow lines 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.620 over the sheet music. Boom. Tough singing. You 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:46.080 had to hit the high note right here. That would 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.200 be an amazing piece of history, but no, this 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:50.500 is a different John Madden entirely. Okay. But 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:54.340 yes, this creative team forged a sound that was 00:11:54.340 --> 00:11:57.440 completely distinct. Yeah. It wasn't pure traditional 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.759 folk like Peter, Paul, and Mary, and it certainly 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:03.639 wasn't pure authentic Calypso. It was this highly 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:06.740 polished, pop -friendly fusion. And they released 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:09.399 this very polished fusion on Phillips Records. 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:11.259 That's right. It came out on the Phillips label. 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:14.059 The B -side was a track called Freedom Star. 00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:16.519 Yeah. And here's a crucial detail. This single 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:19.019 was actually the debut recording for the group. 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:21.639 It was on their premiere album, conveniently 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:24.870 titled The Serendipity Singers. That is a heck 00:12:24.870 --> 00:12:27.149 of a debut to come right out of the gate with 00:12:27.149 --> 00:12:30.250 a genre -bending nine -voice hit. And we keep 00:12:30.250 --> 00:12:32.730 coming back to the date, but it is just so incredibly 00:12:32.730 --> 00:12:36.389 significant. Released in February 1964. It really 00:12:36.389 --> 00:12:38.629 is the context that makes this chart story so 00:12:38.629 --> 00:12:41.149 special. I cannot stress enough how much the 00:12:41.149 --> 00:12:43.490 Beatles sucked the oxygen out of the room in 00:12:43.490 --> 00:12:46.509 February 1964. I was actually reading about the 00:12:46.509 --> 00:12:49.070 Billboard charts from that specific window of 00:12:49.070 --> 00:12:53.070 time. At one point in early 64, the Beatles famously 00:12:53.070 --> 00:12:55.409 held the top five spots on the Billboard chart 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:57.610 simultaneously. It was an absolute monopoly. 00:12:58.350 --> 00:13:01.789 They were an unstoppable cultural force. So for 00:13:01.789 --> 00:13:04.549 a debut folk group singing a nursery rhyme with 00:13:04.549 --> 00:13:07.610 acoustic instruments to break through that impenetrable 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:10.649 wall of noise, it's a huge testament to how undeniable 00:13:10.649 --> 00:13:13.029 that hook was. So let's look at the actual numbers, 00:13:13.070 --> 00:13:15.389 because breaking through is probably an understatement. 00:13:15.409 --> 00:13:17.690 This thing wasn't just a minor blip on the radar. 00:13:17.850 --> 00:13:20.190 Not at all. It was a legitimate smash. In the 00:13:20.190 --> 00:13:22.250 United States, it reached number six on the Billboard 00:13:22.250 --> 00:13:27.029 Hot 100. Number six. Top ten. In the era of the 00:13:27.029 --> 00:13:29.950 Beatles. That is incredible. It is. And if you 00:13:29.950 --> 00:13:31.590 look at the adult contemporary chart, it went 00:13:31.590 --> 00:13:33.750 even higher. It hit number two. Okay, that makes 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:35.850 a lot of sense. The teenagers are all screaming 00:13:35.850 --> 00:13:38.289 for Ringo and Paul, but the parents, the parents 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:39.970 are probably finding the Beatles a bit loud, 00:13:40.049 --> 00:13:43.809 maybe a bit scary. Exactly. The Serendipity Singers 00:13:43.809 --> 00:13:46.330 offered a safe harbor for adult listeners. It 00:13:46.330 --> 00:13:49.129 was upbeat. It was melodic. You could clearly 00:13:49.129 --> 00:13:52.129 understand every single word of the lyrics. It 00:13:52.129 --> 00:13:54.950 appealed to that slightly older demographic that 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:57.129 just wasn't quite ready to grow their hair out 00:13:57.129 --> 00:13:59.500 yet. But what's even more interesting to me, 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:01.480 looking at the sources, is the regional breakdown. 00:14:01.899 --> 00:14:04.679 Because back then, radio was a lot more fragmented 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:07.779 than it is today. You had local surveys and local 00:14:07.779 --> 00:14:10.360 DJs that held massive influence. Oh, absolutely. 00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:13.220 The national Billboard chart is an average, but 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:15.440 the local charts tell the real story of what 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.139 people were actually requesting on the phone 00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:19.679 lines in their hometowns. And in some major markets, 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:22.379 this song wasn't just top 10. It was number one. 00:14:22.539 --> 00:14:24.379 Where are we talking? What markets? One of the 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:27.659 biggest was the WLS silver dollar survey. WLS, 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:30.179 that's the big powerhouse AM station in Chicago, 00:14:30.379 --> 00:14:32.299 right? Huge station. If you made it to the top 00:14:32.299 --> 00:14:34.320 of WLS, you basically owned the entire Midwest. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:38.340 They had a massive 50 ,000 watt clear channel 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:40.480 signal that you could pick up three states away 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:43.559 at night. Wow. And on that WLS survey, don't 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:45.720 let the rain come down. Hit number one on April 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:49.919 17th, 1964. Number one in Chicago. Take that, 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:52.879 Lennon and McCartney. It didn't stop there. It 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.840 also topped the local surveys in Louisville, 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.820 Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. So it had this incredibly 00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:01.500 broad appeal across the Midwest and the industrial 00:15:01.500 --> 00:15:04.360 north. It really resonated with working class 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:06.899 folks in those cities. And it wasn't just contained 00:15:06.899 --> 00:15:09.039 to the U .S. borders either. The crooked little 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:11.919 man went international. He certainly traveled. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:15.000 The single reached number seven on the CAJM hit 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.740 parade in Canada. And it went all the way across 00:15:17.740 --> 00:15:20.379 the globe to New Zealand, where it hit number 00:15:20.379 --> 00:15:23.029 six on the leverhead parade. That is massive 00:15:23.029 --> 00:15:25.990 reach for a debut single about a crooked house. 00:15:26.190 --> 00:15:28.350 It really proves that a good melody is a good 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:30.529 melody, regardless of where you are in the world. 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:33.009 And regardless of genre, too. And that brings 00:15:33.009 --> 00:15:35.529 us to the lasting legacy of this song. Because 00:15:35.529 --> 00:15:38.490 once a song hits that level of absolute ubiquity, 00:15:38.590 --> 00:15:41.700 other artists start eyeing it. It becomes part 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:44.240 of the standard repertoire. The covers. Who else 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:45.940 decided to take a crack at The Crooked Little 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:47.659 Man? Well, keeping with the whole folk revival 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:49.899 theme, the Brothers Four covered it. They put 00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:52.419 it on their album, More Big Folk Hits. Which 00:15:52.419 --> 00:15:54.299 makes sense. That's right in their wheelhouse. 00:15:54.419 --> 00:15:56.980 There were direct competitors, essentially. Exactly. 00:15:57.019 --> 00:15:59.600 It's like Coke and Pepsi. If one has a hit flavor, 00:15:59.740 --> 00:16:01.120 the other is going to release their own version 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.799 of it. But then you also have Trini Lopez. Trini 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:06.440 Lopez. The guy who did If I Had a Hammer. Right. 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:09.539 He included it on his record, The Folk Album. 00:16:09.850 --> 00:16:13.470 which came out in 1965. And Trini Lopez is such 00:16:13.470 --> 00:16:15.529 an interesting figure to bring up here because 00:16:15.529 --> 00:16:19.070 he already straddled that line between folk and 00:16:19.070 --> 00:16:22.700 Latin pop. He was famous for playing at PJ's 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:25.899 in Hollywood, doing these incredibly high -energy 00:16:25.899 --> 00:16:28.659 go -go sets. So for him, the calypso element 00:16:28.659 --> 00:16:30.940 of the song was probably the main selling point. 00:16:31.379 --> 00:16:34.159 100%. He could lean into that syncopated rhythm 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:36.279 even harder than the Serendipity Singers did. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.340 It was just a perfect natural fit for his performance 00:16:39.340 --> 00:16:41.639 style. It really does seem like a song that can 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:43.720 shapeshift. It can be traditional folk. It can 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:46.320 be pop. It can be calypso. It can be Latin infused. 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.159 That fluidity is the key to its survival. A very 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:52.360 rigid song usually doesn't survive interpretation 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:56.220 well. But a simple, highly structural song like 00:16:56.220 --> 00:16:59.059 this one allows the next artist to project their 00:16:59.059 --> 00:17:01.340 own unique style right onto it. Yeah. And we 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:03.980 really can't forget the UK in all of this. While 00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:05.500 the Serendipity Singers were dealing with the 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:08.019 British invasion over here, the song actually 00:17:08.019 --> 00:17:10.650 invaded Britain in return. Did the serendipity 00:17:10.650 --> 00:17:12.750 singers hit the charts over there? Actually, 00:17:12.829 --> 00:17:15.630 no, they didn't. In the UK, the hit version of 00:17:15.630 --> 00:17:18.130 the song was by a guy named Ronnie Hilton. His 00:17:18.130 --> 00:17:20.769 version peaked at number 21 on the UK charts 00:17:20.769 --> 00:17:24.079 in 1964. So Ronnie Hilton carried the torch across 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:25.859 the Atlantic. It's funny how that happens in 00:17:25.859 --> 00:17:28.400 music history. Different artists completely capturing 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.460 different geographic territories with the exact 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:33.200 same song. It reminds me of how sometimes a movie 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.019 is released with a completely different title 00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.819 or poster in different countries just to suit 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:40.099 the local taste. It's the exact same principle. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:43.059 The UK audience already knew Ronnie Hilton. He 00:17:43.059 --> 00:17:46.059 was a familiar voice. They didn't know this massive 00:17:46.059 --> 00:17:49.380 nine piece American college group. Right. So 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:51.440 Hilton's cover becomes the definitive version 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.809 for them. But whether it's Ronnie Hilton, the 00:17:53.809 --> 00:17:56.690 Brothers Four, Trini Lopez, or the Serendipity 00:17:56.690 --> 00:18:00.509 Singers, that core repetitive hook of don't let 00:18:00.509 --> 00:18:03.470 the rain come down is what drives the whole thing. 00:18:03.569 --> 00:18:05.069 It really does just stick in your brain. I've 00:18:05.069 --> 00:18:06.750 honestly been tapping my foot under the desk 00:18:06.750 --> 00:18:08.529 this whole time just thinking about the chorus. 00:18:08.829 --> 00:18:11.539 It's a total earworm. It's scientifically designed 00:18:11.539 --> 00:18:13.680 to be. So let's bring this all together. We start 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:15.740 with a simple nursery rhyme that's been around 00:18:15.740 --> 00:18:18.180 for centuries. There was a crooked man. Right, 00:18:18.259 --> 00:18:20.400 just an oral tradition passed down from parent 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:23.380 to child. Then in 1960, Jimmy Rogers records 00:18:23.380 --> 00:18:26.240 it as Cricket Little House, and Hickey and Miller 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:28.480 do the heavy lifting on the songwriting adaptation, 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:31.480 turning a simple rhyme into a robust pop song 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:34.119 structure. Laying the legal and musical groundwork 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:38.059 for what was to come. Then, February 1964 hits. 00:18:38.339 --> 00:18:41.359 The Serendipity Singers, all nine of them, team 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:43.819 up with their musical director, Bob Bowers. They 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:46.619 speed it up. They throw in a syncopated calypso 00:18:46.619 --> 00:18:49.460 beat and they organize themselves into a highly 00:18:49.460 --> 00:18:52.500 choreographed vocal matrix. It really was a perfect 00:18:52.500 --> 00:18:54.940 storm of arrangement and timing. And despite 00:18:54.940 --> 00:18:57.619 the critic confusion early on, Hickey and Miller 00:18:57.619 --> 00:19:00.619 eventually get their due. The song travels the 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:03.180 world, hits number one in major markets like 00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:06.220 Chicago and Pittsburgh, and miraculously holds 00:19:06.220 --> 00:19:08.140 its own against the juggernaut of the Beatles. 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:11.849 It is a classic unlikely success story. But I 00:19:11.849 --> 00:19:14.289 think the real key takeaway here, for me at least, 00:19:14.329 --> 00:19:16.690 is the absolute power of arrangement. How so? 00:19:16.930 --> 00:19:18.990 Dig into that a bit more for us. Well, just think 00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:21.210 about the actual lyrics. The cat has a kitten. 00:19:21.309 --> 00:19:23.650 The kitten has a mouse. They all live together 00:19:23.650 --> 00:19:25.509 in a little crooked house. It's nonsense. It's 00:19:25.509 --> 00:19:28.109 imagery written for toddlers. On paper, if you 00:19:28.109 --> 00:19:30.490 walked in and pitched those lyrics to a record 00:19:30.490 --> 00:19:32.630 executive today, they would laugh you right out 00:19:32.630 --> 00:19:34.329 of the room. I have a hit song about a crooked 00:19:34.329 --> 00:19:36.150 cat. Yeah, I don't see that meeting going very 00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:39.509 well. They just yell next. Exactly. But Bob Bowers. 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.480 And the group. They completely changed the delivery. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:44.940 They took something old and dusty, gave it a 00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:46.779 rhythm that fundamentally made people want to 00:19:46.779 --> 00:19:49.299 dance, and they used those nine distinct voices 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:52.859 to create a sense of power and excitement. They 00:19:52.859 --> 00:19:55.319 proved that you can reinvent a completely traditional 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:58.319 concept just by changing the sonic rap it comes 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.519 in. It's not just what you say, it's how you 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:02.819 sing it. And I guess how many people you have 00:20:02.819 --> 00:20:05.519 singing it with you. Exactly. They turned a solo 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.420 spoken rhyme into a massive community event. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:12.140 And in 1964, even with the Beatles changing the 00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:14.680 entire cultural landscape, people still clearly 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:16.619 wanted that sense of community. You know, it 00:20:16.619 --> 00:20:18.279 leaves me with a thought to pass on to everyone 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:20.079 listening. We don't really see this anymore in 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:22.759 music. The idea of a nine person vocal group 00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:26.730 having a mainstream top 10 pop hit. It is incredibly 00:20:26.730 --> 00:20:28.930 rare these days. I mean, you have K -pop groups, 00:20:28.990 --> 00:20:31.190 which are certainly large and highly choreographed, 00:20:31.190 --> 00:20:34.109 but in the Western folk or pop tradition, it's 00:20:34.109 --> 00:20:37.109 almost extinct. And also just the source material 00:20:37.109 --> 00:20:39.930 itself. We talk all the time about sampling in 00:20:39.930 --> 00:20:42.829 modern hip hop, which is usually taking an audio 00:20:42.829 --> 00:20:45.349 piece of an old record. But this is sampling 00:20:45.349 --> 00:20:47.710 a piece of historical culture. Can you imagine 00:20:47.710 --> 00:20:51.130 a modern pop star taking Humpty Dumpty or Jack 00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:53.869 and Jill, putting a heavy trap beat behind it 00:20:53.869 --> 00:20:56.369 and going straight to number one on Billboard? 00:20:56.750 --> 00:20:58.849 You know what? We've seen stranger things happen 00:20:58.849 --> 00:21:01.650 on the Internet. We've seen 19th century sea 00:21:01.650 --> 00:21:04.789 shanties go completely viral on TikTok. Maybe 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:06.990 public domain nursery rhymes are the next big 00:21:06.990 --> 00:21:09.289 frontier for pop music. There you go. The next 00:21:09.289 --> 00:21:12.109 big trend. Little Miss Muffet featuring Drake. 00:21:12.269 --> 00:21:14.490 You heard it here first on the Deep Dive. I will 00:21:14.490 --> 00:21:16.390 definitely keep an eye on the charts. If it happens, 00:21:16.470 --> 00:21:18.410 we'll have to do another Deep Dive on it. Absolutely, 00:21:18.490 --> 00:21:21.130 we will. Well, that is all the time we have for 00:21:21.130 --> 00:21:23.450 today. We hope you enjoyed this look back at 00:21:23.450 --> 00:21:25.509 the crooked little man and his very unexpected 00:21:25.509 --> 00:21:27.769 journey to pop stardom. It was a real pleasure 00:21:27.769 --> 00:21:30.369 to revisit. Thanks for listening, and we will 00:21:30.369 --> 00:21:32.130 catch you on the next deep dive.