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"Misirlou" (Greek:Μισιρλού <Turkish:Mısırlı 'Egyptian' <Arabic:مصرMiṣr 'Egypt'[1]) is a folk song[2] from theEastern Mediterranean region. The song's original author is unknown, butArabic,Greek, andJewish musicians were playing it by the 1920s. The earliest known recording of the song is a 1927 Greekrebetiko/tsifteteli composition. There are also Arabicbelly dancing,Albanian,Armenian,Serbian,Persian,Indian andTurkish versions of the song. This song was popular from the 1920s onwards in theArab American,Armenian American andGreek American communities who settled in the United States.
The song was a hit in 1946 forJan August, an American pianist and xylophonist nicknamed "the one-man piano duet". It gained worldwide popularity throughDick Dale's 1962Americansurf rock version, originally titled "Miserlou", which popularized the song inWesternpopular culture; Dale's version was influenced by an earlier Arabic folk version played with anoud. Various versions have since been recorded, mostly based on Dale's version, including other surf androck versions by bands such asthe Beach Boys,the Ventures, andthe Trashmen, as well as international orchestraleasy listening (exotica) versions by musicians such asMartin Denny andArthur Lyman. Dale's surf rock version was heard in the 1994 filmPulp Fiction.
Misirlou (Μισιρλού), due to the suffix "ou", is the feminine form (in Greek[3]) of Misirlis (Μισιρλής- a surname) which comes from the Turkish word Mısırlı, which is formed by combining Mısır ("Egypt" in Turkish, borrowed from Arabicمِصر Miṣr) with theTurkish -lı suffix, literally meaning "Egyptian". Therefore, the song is about an Egyptian woman. The original Turkish wordMısırlı is, however,genderless.
The folk song has origins in theEastern Mediterranean region of theOttoman Empire, but the original author of the song is not known. There is evidence that the folk song was known toArabic musicians, Greekrebetiko musicians and Jewishklezmer musicians by the 1920s.[4] The claim in some sources that the tune derives from the song "Bint Misr" ("Egyptian Girl") written by Egyptian musicianSayed Darwish is thought to be incorrect.[5]
The earliest known recording of the song was by therebetiko musician Theodotos ("Tetos") Demetriades (Greek:Θεόδοτος ("Τέτος") Δημητριάδης) in 1927. Demetriades, anOttoman Greek, was born inIstanbul,Ottoman Empire, in 1897, and he resided there until he moved to theUnited States in 1921,[6] during a period when most of the Greek speaking populationfled the emerging Turkish state. It is likely that he was familiar with the song as a folk song before he moved to the United States. As with almost all early rebetika songs (a style that originated with the Greek refugees from Asia Minor inTurkey), the song's actualcomposer has never been identified, and its ownership rested with the band leader. Demetriades named the song "Misirlou" in his original 1927Columbia recording, which is a Greek assimilated borrowing of the regional pronunciation of "Egyptian" in Turkish ("Mısırlı"), as opposed to the corresponding word for "Egyptian" (female) in Greek, which isΑιγύπτια (Aigyptia).
The rebetiko version of the song was intended for a Greektsifteteli dance, at a slowertempo and a differentkey than the Oriental performances that most are familiar with today. This was the style of recording by Michalis Patrinos in Greece, circa 1930, which was circulated in theUnited States by theOrthophonic label; another recording was made by Patrinos inNew York City in 1931 as well.
The song's Oriental melody has been so popular for so long that many people, fromMorocco toIraq, claim it to be a folk song from their own country. In the realm ofMiddle Eastern music, the song is a very simple one, since it is little more than going up and down theHijaz Kar ordouble harmonic scale (E–F–G♯–A–B–C–D♯). It still remains a well knownGreek, Klezmer andArab folk song.
| "Miserlou" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byDick Dale | ||||
| B-side | "Eight Till Midnight" | |||
| Released | April 21, 1962 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:15 | |||
| Label | Deltone Records | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Producer | Jim Monsour | |||
| Dick Dale singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Nick Roubanis, aGreek-American music instructor, released ajazz instrumental arrangement of the song, crediting himself as the composer, in 1941. Since his claim was never legally challenged, he is still officially credited as the composer today worldwide, except in Greece where credit is given to either Roubanis or Patrinos. Subsequently, Chaim Tauber,Fred Wise and Milton Leeds wroteEnglish lyrics to the song.[7] Roubanis is also credited with fine-tuning thekey and themelody, giving it the Oriental sound that it is associated with today. The song soon became an "exotica" standard among the lightswing (lounge) bands of the day.[citation needed]
Harry James recorded and released "'Misirlou" in 1941 on Columbia 36390, and the song peaked at No. 22 on theU.S. chart.[8]
PianistJan August recorded a version of the song onDiamond Records (Diamond 2009) in 1946. It reached No. 7 on theBillboard Jockey charts in the U.S.[9]
Turkish-Jewish polyglot singerDarío Moreno recorded a version with lyrics sung in French in 1951.
Dick Dale rearranged the song as a soloinstrumental rockguitar piece in 1962. During a performance, Dale was bet by a young fan that he could not play a song on only one string of his guitar.[citation needed] Dale's father James Monsour and uncles wereLebanese-American musicians, and Dale remembered seeing his uncle play "Misirlou" on one string of theoud.[citation needed] He vastly increased the song's tempo to make it intorock and roll. It was Dale'ssurf version that introduced "Misirlou" to a wider audience in the U.S.[10] Dale recorded a new version with faster tempo for his 1975Greatest Hits compilation.
Jazz pianistVince Guaraldi recorded a live version with his quartet at the Trident Jazz Club inSausalito, California in December 1962. It was released the following year onVince Guaraldi in Person, and received critical accolades fromWhy It Matters blogger James Stafford stating "for sheer plaster-a-smile-on-your-face delight, nothing beats his take on the Mediterranean traditional song".[11]
The Beach Boys recorded a Dale-inspired "Misirlou" for the 1963 albumSurfin' U.S.A.[12]
Serbian folk singerStaniša Stošić recorded his version of the song, called "Lela Vranjanka" ("Lela fromVranje"), in 1972.[13]
In 1945, aPittsburgh women's musical organization asked Professor Brunhilde E. Dorsch to organize an international dance group atDuquesne University to honor America'sWorld War II allies. She contacted Mercine Nesotas, who taught several Greek dances, includingSyrtos Haniotikos (from Crete), which she called Kritikos, but for which they had no music. Because Pittsburgh's Greek-American community did not knowCretan music, Pat Mandros Kazalas, a music student, suggested the tune "Misirlou", although slower, might fit the dance.
The dance was first performed at a program to honor America's allies of World War II atStephen Foster Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh on March 6, 1945. Thereafter, this new dance, which had been created by putting the Syrtos Kritikos to the slower "Misirlou" music, was known as Misirlou and spread among the Greek-American community, as well as among non-Greek U.S. folk-dance enthusiasts.
It has been a staple for decades of dances held atSerbian Orthodox churches across the U.S., performed as akolo, acircle dance. The dance is also performed to instrumental versions of "Never on Sunday" byManos Hadjidakis – though in the Serbian-American community, "Never on Sunday" was popularly enjoyed as a couple's dance and actually sung in English. "Never on Sunday" was often one of only two songs performed in English at these dances, the other song being "Spanish Eyes" (formerly "Moon Over Naples") also internationally popular in its time.
The Misirlou dance also found its way into the Armenian-American community who, like the Greeks, were fond of circle dances, and occasionally adopted Greek dances. The first Armenian version of "Misirlou" was recorded by Reuben Sarkisian inFresno the early 1950s. Sarkisian wrote the Armenian lyrics to "Misirlou" which are still sung today, however he wrote the song as "Akh, Anoushes" ("Ah, My Sweet") while later Armenian singers would change it to "Ah Anoush Yar" ("Ah, Sweet Lover"; Yar meaning sweetheart or lover, from Turkish).
Dick Dale's version of "Misirlou" was used on thesoundtrack of the 1994motion picturePulp Fiction, prominently featured over the opening titles.[14]
The song was selected by theAthens 2004 Olympics Organizing Committee as one of the most influential Greek songs of all time, and was heard in venues and at the closing ceremony, where it was performed byAnna Vissi.[15]
Q magazine placed Dale's version at number 89 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks in March 2005.[16]
TheBlack Eyed Peas heavily incorporates Dale's version of "Misirlou" in their 2006 single "Pump It" from their albumMonkey Business.
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