A handful of folky one-hit wonders still make it to my rotation regularly, and I’m sure other folk fans have them spinning on occasion, too. But I’m still shocked that the following three one-hit wonders were one-hit wonders at all. I imagine the Greenwich Village folk scene would have eaten them up. But, sadly, just one song from each of them earned substantial charting success.
“Greenfields” by The Brothers Four (1960)
The Brothers Four had a hit on their hands with “Greenfields”. This folk song was written by Frank Miller, Terry Gilkyson, and Richard Dehr. This song was a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it reached the same placement in Canada as well. The song was so popular that it earned two Grammy Award nominations. And yet, The Brothers Four never reached the Top 20 on the Hot 100 again. Thankfully, the band is still going strong, decades later.
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“In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager And Evans (1969)
The 1960s wave of folk (and early folk rock) was defined by all of the politically charged protest songs from the era. I’m surprised that “In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” by Zager And Evans, an early rock-leaning folk song, didn’t get more love, along with their other songs that didn’t become hits. Perhaps this critique of humanity was just a little bit too heady and worthy of close listening for casual listeners at the time.
“In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus)” was a No. 1 hit across the board in the US, UK, and Canada. But they would never reach the Top 40 anywhere again, ultimately calling it quits in 1971.
“Don’t Let The Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)” by The Serendipity Singers (1964)
This sweet little folk song from The Serendipity Singers has a touch of calypso to it. Plenty of listeners in 1964 enjoyed it, which brought “Don’t Let The Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)” to No. 6 in the US and No. 7 in Canada. Somehow, none of their follow-up singles made it to the Top 20 again. This entry on our list of folky one-hit wonders had some very deserving songs. A few include “Beans In My Ears” from 1964 and “Plastic” from 1965.
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