"There Was a Crooked Little Man" was an English nursery rhyme (www.rhymes.org.uk/there_was_a-crooked_man.htm) first physically recorded by James Halliwell in the 1840s. It was also part of the Mother Goose Collection.

Not The Singing Brakeman or the blues musician but the pop singer Jimmie Rodgers (Honeycomb) recorded it as "Crooked Little House" in 1960. The album "At Home with Jimmie Rodgers - an Evening of Folk Songs contained the rendition composed by Ersel Hickey (Bluebirds Over the Mountain) and Ed E. Miller

In 1964 The Serendipity Singers debut album contained "Crooked Little Man" as "Don't Let the Rain Come Down" which reached the top ten.