Question: The Devotions released a song in 1961 about a short story written by whom?

Context paragraphs:
Rip Van Winkle: "Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819.  Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it is part of a collection entitled "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. " Although the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains, Irving later admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills."  The story's title character is a Dutch-American villager living around the time of the American Revolutionary War.

A Very Short Story: "A Very Short Story" is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway.  It was first published as a vignette, or chapter, in the 1924 Paris edition titled "In Our Time", and later rewritten and added to Hemingway's first American short story collection "In Our Time", published by Boni & Liveright in 1925.

A Study in Emerald: "A Study in Emerald" is a short story written by British fantasy and graphic novel author Neil Gaiman.  The story is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche transferred to the Cthulhu Mythos universe of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.  It won the 2004 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.  The title is a reference to the Sherlock Holmes novel "A Study in Scarlet".  "A Study in Emerald" first appeared in the anthology "Shadows Over Baker Street", a collection of stories combining the worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft; it has subsequently been available as part of Gaiman's short story collection "Fragile Things," in the collection "New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird", and is available online.  The online version takes the form of a Victorian periodical or newspaper, which includes various advertisements that reference characters such as Vlad Tepes, Victor Frankenstein, Spring Heeled Jack, and Dr. Jekyll.

Allal: "Allal" is a short story written by American writer, composer, and world traveler Paul Bowles.  This story was first published in "Rolling Stone" on January 27, 1977, and since has been included in many compilation short story books.  "Allal" is about an outcast boy and his fascination with a pet snake that eventually leads to his very unusual death.  This short story contains many Gothic Fiction themes such as loneliness, human attraction to one's own atavistic natures and the uncanny.

Battles in the Desert: Battles in the Desert, or "Las batallas en el desierto", is a short story written by Mexican author José Emilio Pacheco.  The short story was first published in the Saturday edition of the Uno Más Uno, a Mexican newspaper, on June 7, 1980, but was published as a short story by Era the following year.  The short story is narrated by Carlos, as an adult, recounting his memories as a boy growing up in Mexico City in the late 1940s and 1950s.  In particular, his experiences and the events that unfolded after falling in love with one of his classmate’s mother comprise the central narrative of the short novel.

The Sounds of Old Earth: The Sounds of Old Earth is a science fiction short story written by writer and website designer, Matthew Kressel.  Matthew Kressel has been nominated for several Nebula Awards throughout his career, of which this short story was his first.  Matthew Kressel's inspiration for writing this short story arose from two different events.

The Dandelion Girl: "The Dandelion Girl" is a science fiction short story written by American science fiction author Robert F. Young.  The story, roughly 5,600 words, first appeared in "The Saturday Evening Post" on April 1, 1961.  The story was later republished in a Robert F. Young short story collection in 1965 called "The Worlds of Robert F Young: Sixteen Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy".  The line "Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you."  from the story appears six times throughout the text and is the only full line that is repeated.  The story involves a middle-aged man named Mark Randolph who meets a girl half his age who claims to be from 240 years into the future.

It Grows on You: "It Grows On You" is a short story written by author Stephen King and originally published in "Marshroots", volume 3, no. 1, Fall 1973, later revised and published in August 1982 in "Whispers", and again revised for the 1993 short story collection "Nightmares & Dreamscapes".  "It Grows on You" was nominated for the 1983 Locus Award for Best Short Story.

Dragon (Kalapugama short story): Makara: (‘මකරා’) is a short story written in Sinhala by Sri Lankan writer Anandasiri Kalapugama.  In 1975, this short story won the first prize of island-wide Novice Short Story Writing Competition conducted by Sri Lanka Board of Cultural Affairs under the Department of Cultural Affairs in the Government of Sri Lanka.  It was published in 1975 special edition of “Art News” (කලා පුවත්) issued in line with 1975 Annual Literature Ceremony held in Galle (ගාල්ල) and the winners were awarded by then President of Republic of Sri Lanka, Late Hon. William Gopallawa.

The Devotions: The Devotions are an American doo wop group.  Their single of a novelty song called "Rip Van Winkle" was released in 1961 on Delta Records; the tune was re-released on Roulette Records in 1962 and again on Roulette in 1964.  The tune became a hit on the third release, peaking at #36 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1964.

Supporting paragraphs: The Devotions Rip Van Winkle
Answer: Washington Irving