"Ten Little Indians" is a children's nursery rhyme dating back to 1868. It was used primarily to teach young children how to count.
The "one little, two little, three little . . ." melody is the only similarity to the Beach Boys tune. Usher is on record stating his main influence was "Running Bear" by Johnny Preston.
The title of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel And Then There Were None was borrowed from the last line of a minstrel version of the nursery rhyme. When a film of the novel was made in 1965, the title was changed to Ten Little Indians.
The disappointing chart performance of "Ten Little Indians," compared to their first at bat with Capitol ("Surfin' Safari"), reportedly shook Brian. He confided in a Capitol executive that he was worried the group was through and was unsure of their next move. Keep in mind that a #49 hit in Billboard is not too shabby. In less than ten years, they would have been thrilled with a #49 hit. But when your debut single hits like "Surfin' Safari" and "409" did, #49 is, well, disappointing. But there was never any consideration given to recording more children's nursery rhymes.
Enter Chuck Berry and Jimmy Bowles. And then Gene Goodman, younger brother of band leader Benny Goodman.
The original title for the novel "And then there were none" was 10 Little n******. Obviously it was retitled at a later date.
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