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{{Short description|Eastern Mediterranean folk song}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2012}}
{{Listen|filename=Miserlou - Strolling Strings - United States Air Force Band.mp3|title="Miserlou" (instrumental)|description=Performed by the Strolling Strings of the [[United States Air Force Band]]}}
"'''Misirlou'''" ({{langx|el|Μισιρλού}} < {{langx|tr|Mısırlı}} 'Egyptian' < {{langx|ar|مصر}} ''Miṣr'' '[[Egypt]]'<ref>{{cite web |title=Mısırlı |publisher=[[Seslisozluk]] |work=SesliSozluk Online Dictionary |url=http://seslisozluk.com/?word=M%C4%B1s%C4%B1rl%C4%B1&sbT=Search&ssQBy=0 |access-date=2009-11-10}}</ref>) is a folk song<ref>[https://www.ft.com/content/b80c0a32-048c-11e5-adaf-00144feabdc0] {{subscription required}}</ref> from the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] region. The song's original author is unknown, but [[Arabic music|Arabic]], [[Music of Greece|Greek]], and [[Jewish music|Jewish]] musicians were playing it by the 1920s. The earliest known recording of the song is a 1927 Greek [[rebetiko]]/[[tsifteteli]] composition. There are also Arabic [[belly dance|belly dancing]], [[Music of Albania|Albanian]], [[Music of Armenia|Armenian]], [[Music of Serbia|Serbian]], [[Music of Iran|Persian]], [[Indian music|Indian]] and [[Music of Turkey|Turkish]] versions of the song. This song was popular from the 1920s onwards in the [[Arab American]], [[Armenian American]] and [[Greek American]] communities who settled in the United States.

The song was a hit in 1946 for [[Jan August]], an American pianist and xylophonist nicknamed "the one-man piano duet". It gained worldwide popularity through [[Dick Dale]]'s 1962 [[Music of the United States|American]] [[surf music|surf rock]] version, originally titled "'''Miserlou'''", which popularized the song in [[Western world|Western]] [[popular culture]]; Dale's version was influenced by an earlier Arabic folk version played with an [[oud]]. Various versions have since been recorded, mostly based on Dale's version, including other surf and [[rock music|rock]] versions by bands such as [[the Beach Boys]], [[the Ventures]], and [[the Trashmen]], as well as international orchestral [[easy listening]] ([[exotica]]) versions by musicians such as [[Martin Denny]] and [[Arthur Lyman]]. Dale's surf rock version was heard in the 1994 film ''[[Pulp Fiction]]''.

== History ==
=== Name ===
Misirlou (Μισιρλού), due to the suffix "ou", is the feminine form (in Greek<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wiktionary |title=-ού |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-%CE%BF%CF%8D |website=Wiktionary.org |access-date=27 January 2019}}</ref>) of Misirlis (Μισιρλής- a surname) which comes from the Turkish word Mısırlı, which is formed by combining Mısır ("Egypt" in Turkish, borrowed from Arabic {{lang|ar|مِصر}}{{lrm}} Miṣr) with the [[Turkish vocabulary#Adjectives from nouns|Turkish -lı suffix]], literally meaning "Egyptian". Therefore, the song is about an Egyptian woman. The original Turkish word ''Mısırlı'' is, however, [[genderless language|genderless]].

=== Composition ===
The folk song has origins in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] region of the [[Ottoman Empire]], but the original author of the song is not known. There is evidence that the folk song was known to [[Arabic music]]ians, Greek [[rebetiko]] musicians and Jewish [[klezmer]] musicians by the 1920s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bendix |first1=Regina F. |last2=Hasan-Rokem |first2=Galit |title=A Companion to Folklore |date=2012 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=9781444354386 |page=475 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=alPZSonZjaMC&pg=PA475}}</ref> The claim in some sources that the tune derives from the song "Bint Misr" ("Egyptian Girl") written by Egyptian musician [[Sayed Darwish]] is thought to be incorrect.<ref>[http://www.shira.net/music/misirlou-story.htm Panayiota Bakis Mohieddin, "Misirlou: The story behind the song", ''Shira.net'']. Retrieved 7 March 2020</ref>

The earliest known recording of the song was by the [[rebetiko]] musician Theodotos ("Tetos") Demetriades ({{langx|el|Θεόδοτος ("Τέτος") Δημητριάδης}}) in 1927. Demetriades, an [[Ottoman Greeks|Ottoman Greek]], was born in [[Istanbul]], [[Ottoman Empire]], in 1897, and he resided there until he moved to the [[United States]] in 1921,<ref name=tetos>{{cite web |title=Theodotos ("Tetos") Demetriades |url=http://www.recordingpioneers.com/RP_DEMETRIADES1.html|website=Recordingpioneers.com}}</ref> during a period when most of the Greek speaking population [[Greek genocide|fled]] 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 in [[Turkey]]), the song's actual [[composer]] has never been identified, and its ownership rested with the band leader. Demetriades named the song "Misirlou" in his original 1927 [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] 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 is {{lang|el|Αιγύπτια}} (''Aigyptia'').

The rebetiko version of the song was intended for a Greek [[tsifteteli]] dance, at a slower [[tempo]] and a different [[key (music)|key]] 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 the [[United States]] by the [[Orthophonic]] label; another recording was made by Patrinos in [[New York City]] in 1931 as well.

The song's Oriental melody has been so popular for so long that many people, from [[Morocco]] to [[Iraq]], claim it to be a folk song from their own country. In the realm of [[Middle Eastern music]], the song is a very simple one, since it is little more than going up and down the ''Hijaz Kar'' or [[double harmonic scale]] (E–F–G♯–A–B–C–D♯). It still remains a well known [[Greece|Greek]], Klezmer and [[Arab]] folk song.

=== Later versions ===
{{Infobox song
| name = Miserlou
| cover = Miserlou - Dick Dale single.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = [[Dick Dale]]
| B-side = Eight Till Midnight
| released = April 21, 1962
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = {{Flatlist|
*[[Surf music|Surf]]
*[[instrumental rock]]}}
| length = 2:15
| label = Deltone Records
| writer = {{Flatlist|
* Nicholas Roubanis
* [[Fred Wise (songwriter)| Fred Wise]]
*Chaim Tauber
* Milton Leeds}}
| producer = Jim Monsour
| prev_title = Jungle Fever
| prev_year = 1962
| next_title = Peppermint Man
| next_year = 1962
}}

Nick Roubanis, a [[Greek-American]] music instructor, released a [[jazz]] 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 (songwriter)|Fred Wise]] and Milton Leeds wrote [[English language|English]] lyrics to the song.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/misirlou-mt0004577866 |title=Misirlou - Dick Dale & His Del-Tones |website=AllMusic |access-date=January 9, 2020}}</ref> Roubanis is also credited with fine-[[musical tuning|tuning]] the [[key (music)|key]] and the [[melody]], giving it the Oriental sound that it is associated with today. The song soon became an "[[exotica]]" standard among the light [[Swing music|swing]] ([[Lounge music|lounge]]) bands of the day.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}}

[[Harry James]] recorded and released "'Misirlou" in 1941 on Columbia 36390, and the song peaked at No. 22 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|U.S. chart]].<ref name=Whitburn>{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |date=1986 |title=Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music |publisher=Record Research Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, WI |isbn=0-89820-083-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/73 73, 123, 226–228, 308, 391–393] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/73 }}</ref>

Pianist [[Jan August]] recorded a version of the song on [[Diamond Records]] (Diamond 2009) in 1946. It reached No. 7 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' Jockey charts in the U.S.<ref>Joel Whitburn's Pop Hits 1940-1954, Record Research 1994</ref>

Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer [[Darío Moreno]] recorded a version with lyrics sung in French in 1951.
{{Listen
|filename=Dick Dale - Misirlou.ogg
|title=Dick Dale – "Misirlou" (1962)
|description=[[Dick Dale]]'s "Misirlou" (1962), a [[surf music|surf rock]] [[cover version]]. It was responsible for popularizing the song in [[Western world|Western]] [[popular culture]].
|pos=right
}}

[[Dick Dale]] rearranged the song as a solo [[instrumental rock]] [[guitar]] 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|date=December 2024}} Dale's father James Monsour and uncles were [[Lebanese American|Lebanese-American]] musicians, and Dale remembered seeing his uncle play "Misirlou" on one string of the [[oud]].{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} He vastly increased the song's tempo to make it into [[rock and roll]]. It was Dale's [[surf music|surf]] version that introduced "Misirlou" to a wider audience in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704329806/dick-dale-surf-guitar-legend-dead-at-81|title=Dick Dale, Surf Guitar Legend, Dead At 81|website=NPR.org|date=18 March 2019 |last1=Hart |first1=Otis |last2=Tsioulcas |first2=Anastasia }}</ref> Dale recorded a new version with faster tempo for his 1975 ''Greatest Hits'' compilation.

Jazz pianist [[Vince Guaraldi]] recorded a live version with his quartet at the Trident Jazz Club in [[Sausalito, California]] in December 1962. It was released the following year on ''[[In Person (Vince Guaraldi album)|Vince Guaraldi in Person]]'', and received critical accolades from ''Why It Matters'' blogger James Stafford stating "for sheer plaster-a-smile-on-your-face delight, nothing beats his take on the Mediterranean traditional song".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://wimwords.com/2017/12/25/from-the-stacks-vince-guaraldi-in-person/ |title= From the Stacks: Vince Guaraldi, ''In Person'' |last= Stafford |first= James |date= December 25, 2017 |website= wimwords.com |access-date= 29 May 2023}}</ref>

[[The Beach Boys]] recorded a Dale-inspired "Misirlou" for the 1963 album ''[[Surfin' U.S.A. (album)|Surfin' U.S.A.]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://guitarsurf.com/article/surf-guitar-dick-dales-influence-to-the-genre/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503152626/https://guitarsurf.com/article/surf-guitar-dick-dales-influence-to-the-genre/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=May 3, 2019|title=Surf Guitar & Dick Dale's Influence to the Genre|date=2019-05-02|website=GuitarSurf}}</ref>

[[Serbia|Serbian]] folk singer [[Staniša Stošić]] recorded his version of the song, called "Lela Vranjanka" ("Lela from [[Vranje]]"), in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraf.rs/vesti/kultura/2917745-pesma-lela-vranjanka-je-svetski-hit-poslusajte-4-verzije-ove-pesme-na-srpskom-grckom-arapskom-i-rok-obradu-dika-dejlija-video|title=Pesma Lela Vranjanka je svetski hit: Poslušajte 4 verzije ove pesme na srpskom, grčkom, arapskom i rok obradu Dika Dejlija|date=2017-07-12|website=Telegraf.rs}}</ref>

=== Dance ===
In 1945, a [[Pittsburgh]] women's musical organization asked Professor Brunhilde E. Dorsch to organize an international dance group at [[Duquesne University]] to honor America's [[World War II]] allies. She contacted Mercine Nesotas, who taught several Greek dances, including [[Syrtos#Syrtos Chaniotikos|Syrtos Haniotikos]] (from Crete), which she called Kritikos, but for which they had no music. Because Pittsburgh's Greek-American community did not know [[Music of Crete|Cretan 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 at [[Stephen 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 at [[Serbian Orthodox]] churches across the U.S., performed as a [[Kolo (dance)|kolo]], a [[circle dance]]. The dance is also performed to instrumental versions of "[[Never on Sunday (song)|Never on Sunday]]" by [[Manos 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 in [[Fresno, California|Fresno]] 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).

=== Legacy ===
Dick Dale's version of "Misirlou" was used on the [[Pulp Fiction (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] of the 1994 [[Film|motion picture]] ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'', prominently featured over the opening titles.<ref>{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/pictures/surf-music-and-seventies-soul-the-songs-of-pulp-fiction-20140521/dick-dale-and-his-del-tones-misirlou-0612918 | title=Surf Music and Seventies Soul: The Songs of 'Pulp Fiction' | magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]| access-date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

The song was selected by the [[Athens 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 by [[Anna Vissi]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Aspden|first=Peter|url=https://www.ft.com/content/b80c0a32-048c-11e5-adaf-00144feabdc0|title=The Life of a Song: 'Misirlou'|work=[[Financial Times]]|date=29 May 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190417045416/https://www.ft.com/content/b80c0a32-048c-11e5-adaf-00144feabdc0|archive-date=17 April 2019|access-date=12 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Q magazine|''Q'' magazine]] placed Dale's version at number 89 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks in March 2005.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060224054627/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm rocklistmusic.co.uk/]}} ''[[Q magazine]] - 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever!''</ref>

The [[Black Eyed Peas]] heavily incorporates Dale's version of "Misirlou" in their 2006 single "[[Pump It]]" from their album ''[[Monkey Business (Black Eyed Peas album)|Monkey Business]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{External links|date=March 2019}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194652/http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/artist_lessons/dale.pdf |date=September 27, 2007 |title=Dick Dale's Extensive Explanation }} (with guitar tabs and standard notation)
*[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5134530 Misirlou, from Klezmer to Surf Guitar] (NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, January 8, 2006).
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007132737/http://playlist.kgnu.net/default.asp?show=7&from=03%2F02%2F2007&to=03%2F02%2F2007&ord=asc Playlist of a KGNU broadcast] listing 25 performances of Misirlou.
*[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/flwpabib:@field(TITLE+@od1(Misirlou)) U.S. Library of Congress recordings.]

{{Surfin' U.S.A.}}
{{Harry James}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Misirlou}}
[[Category:1927 songs]]
[[Category:1962 singles]]
[[Category:Arabic music]]
[[Category:Dick Dale songs]]
[[Category:The Beach Boys songs]]
[[Category:Music of Greece]]
[[Category:Music of Turkey]]
[[Category:Film theme songs]]
[[Category:Greek folk songs]]
[[Category:Turkish folk songs]]
[[Category:Surf instrumentals]]
[[Category:Songs about Egypt]]
[[Category:Surf rock songs]]
[[Category:1960s instrumentals]]

Misirlou - Revision history

imported>Kinkyturnip: /* Legacy */ce