Day After Day #292: Misirlou

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Misirlou (1962)

Sometimes when we look at popular music, we forget that it's been around for a long time. And sometimes different versions of certain songs will become popular in different decades for different reasons. The song "Misirlou" has been around for nearly 100 years and it's still relevant, thanks to Dick Dale's version from 62 years ago.

The song has its origins in the Mediterranean in 1920s, played by Arabic, Greek and Jewish klezmer musicians, but the first known recording was rebetiko musician Theodotos Demetriades in 1927. Demetriades had moved from Istanbul, Turkey to the U.S. in the early '20s; he called the song "Misirlou," which is Turkish for "The Egyptian." Greek musician Michalis Patrinos made a slower version in 1930.

In 1941, a jazz instrumental version was released by Nick Roubanis, a Greek-American. Bandleader Harry James also released a version that year that went to #22 in the U.S. Five years later, pianist Jan August released a version that went to #7 on the Billboard chart. 

But it was in 1962 when Dale released an instrumental surf rock version of "Misirlou" that had a faster tempo and a blistering riff. Dale, who was of Lebanese descent, remembered seeing his uncle play the song on an oud and came up with his own version of it. The song didn't chart but it became identified with the surf rock movement and Dale was dubbed "King of the Surf Guitar" (likely by himself). 

Dale came up with his version after a fan asked if he was able to play a song on one string. Unlike the Beach Boys, Dale was actually a surfer and he said he wanted to transfer the power he felt while surfing into this guitar player. "Misirlou" definitely achieves that objective.

Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (he of the iconic "Linus and Lucy" fame) recorded a live version with his quartet later that year, and the Beach Boys put a Dale-esque version on their 1963 album Surfin' USA. Other surf rock acts made their own covers, including the Ventures and the Trashmen. 

Dale ended up retiring after a cancer scare in the mid-'60s but began performing again in the '80s. He was in the movie Back to the Beach in 1987, in which he played a version of "Pipeline" with Stevie Ray Vaughan. But he became known to a whole new audience in 1994 after Quentin Tarantino used "Misirlou" in the opening credits of Pulp Fiction. The popularity of that movie and its amazing soundtrack led Dale to play rock clubs to crowds of indie rock fans. I saw him at the Middle East Downstairs in the late '90s and he was great, although he was a character who loved to refer to himself in the third person regularly. 

Dale was an extremely influential guitarist who inspired Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen and Brian May, among others. He popularized tremelo picking on electric guitar and his speedy single-note staccato picking technique came well in advance of folks like Van Halen, who surpassed it.

Dale toured right up until his death in 2019 at the age of 81 because of his need to pay for his extensive medical expenses; he was dealing with diabetes, kidney failure and vertebrae damage.