This song might sound a little familiar to you. In 2006, The Black Eyed Peas' recorded a song called "Pump It" but they used a 1962 original recording of a song called “Miserlou” by American Surf Guitarist Dick Dale! He’s known as The King of the Surf Guitar.
You might be surprised at how long this song has been around.
The song was first performed in Athens, Greece in 1927 by Michalis Patrinos. The original composer has never been identified. Michalis Patrinos, who originally lived in Smyrna, named the song Mısırlı or Misirlou which means specifically a Muslim Egyptian girl.
In 1941, Nick Roubanis, a Greek-American music instructor, released a jazz instrumental arrangement of the song, crediting himself as the composer. Since his claim was never legally challenged, he is still officially credited as the composer today worldwide, except in Greece where credit is variably given to Patrinos.
The song was then rearranged as a solo instrumental guitar piece by Dick Dale 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. Dale's father and uncles were Lebanese-American musicians, and Dale remembered seeing his uncle play "Misirlou" on one string of the oud (a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North Africa and Middle Eastern music).
He vastly increased the song's tempo to make it more Rock'n'Roll. It was Dale's version that introduced "Misirlou" to a wider audience in the United States as "Miserlou."
Pretty interesting stuff! Oh, you might have also heard Dale's version in the Guitar Hero II game.
What’s really cool? Dick Dale is 73 years old, is left-handed, plays a right-handed guitar upside down, and is still jamming this song today!
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