Misirlou

Misirlou (Greek: Μισιρλού, "Egyptian Girl"; from Arabic مصر, Miṣr, "Egypt") is a popular song with a cult-like popularity in three very diverse styles of music:

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Greek rembetiko, Middle-Eastern belly dancing and American surf rock.

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The song's oriental melody has been so popular for so long that many people, from Morroco to Iran, will sometimes claim it to be a folk song from their own country. In fact, the song was first performed by the Michalis Patrinos rembetiko band in Athens, in 1927. As with almost all early rembetiko songs (a style that originated with the Greek refugees from Asia Minor), the song's actual composer was never identified, and its ownership rested with the band leader. The melody was most likely composed collaboratively by the group, as was often the case at the time; the initial lyrics were almost certainly by Patrinos himself. In Patrinos' heavy Smyrniot accent, the song's title was pronounced "Musurlu".

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Initially, the song was composed as a Greek zeibekiko dance, at a slower tempo and a different key than the orientalized performances that most are familiar with today. This was the style of first known recording by Michalis Patrinos in Greece, circa 1930; a second recording was made by Patrinos in New York, in 1931.

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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 challenged, he is still officially credited as the composer today. S. Russell, N. Wise and M. Leeds later wrote English lyrics to the song. Roubanis is also credited with fine tuning the key and the melody, giving it the oriental sound that the song is associated with today.

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The song was rearranged as a solo guitar piece by Dick Dale in the 1960s, after a fan asked if Dale could play a song entirely on one string. It was Dale's version of the piece that introduced Misirlou to a wider audience in the United States. Dale was of partially Lebanese background, and often credited Armenian music as the inspiration for his guitar style, and perhaps for this reason the tune has at times been mistakenly described as a Lebanese or Armenian folk song.

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The Beach Boys recorded a Dale-inspired Misirlou for the 1963 album "Surfin' USA", forever making Misirlou a staple of American pop culture. Hundreds of recordings have been made to date, by performers such as Agent Orange and Connie Francis.

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In 1994, Dale's version of Misirlou was heard on the dynamic soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. More recently, the song was selected by the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee as one of the most influential Greek songs of all time, and was heard on venues and the closing ceremony.

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