Misirlou (2:17)

Misirlou (Greek: Μισιρλού, “Egyptian Girl”; from Turkish Mısırlı, “Egyptian”; from Arabic مصر, Miṣr, “Egypt”), is a popular Greek song with a cult-like popularity in five very diverse styles of music: Greek rebetiko, Middle-Eastern belly dancing, Jewish wedding music (Klezmer), American surf rock and international orchestral easy listening (Exotica).

The song was rearranged as a solo instrumental guitar piece by Dick Dale in 1962. Dale’s father and uncles were Lebanese-American musicians who were a part of the aforementioned ethnic nightclub scene. Although they were Arab, they, like other performers, played the music of all the main cultures which made up the nightclub patrons—that included Greek music and Misirlou. During a performance, Dale was bet by a young fan that he could not play a song on only one string of his guitar. Later that night, he remembered seeing his uncle play “Misirlou” on one string (actually a double string) of the oud. He tried to imitate that style on his guitar, but vastly increased the song’s tempo to make it into rock’n’roll, and the result was the famous Dick Dale Misirlou. It was Dale’s version that introduced “Misirlou” to a wider audience in the United States as “Miserlou.”