I got an e-mail request for lyrics and origin information for a Pied Piper song that begins like this:

Once upon a mystical time in a place called Hamelin Town,
......
A piper of great renown
With his pipe a tune he played,
And for the usual fee,
He offered to lure the rats away,
And drown them in the sea.

....(different tune, maybe a chorus sounding like a pipe do-doodle-oo-doo)

He did his job, and he did it well,
...
But now that the rats they could not return,
The townsfolk would not pay.
With his flute, he began to play,
The children danced with glee;
And as the villagers watched aghast,
He danced....to the sea

[chorus]

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Click to play (joeweb)