View Message

Ever wonder about the meaning of "Miserlu", Dick Dale's catchy surf theme from *Pulp Fiction*?
A few years back I played the soundtrack of "Pulp Fiction" and my mother told me "Hey I remember dancing to that song when I was a child." I was shocked, as my mother's childhood preceded the age of incense and peppermints. Looking in to the matter, I unearthed a couple of versions of "Misirlu", a Greek folk song of the thirties that apparently inspired Dale. "Misirlou", or "Mousourlou" is Greek slang for "Girl from Egypt" (Misr in Arabic). The song is about an enchanting exotic chick from Egypt, and actually even became a hit in Egypt during the 40s, with English lyrics. The earliest existing recorded version of the song "Mousourlou", (1931) is by Michalis Patrinos, a Greek expatriate, and was recorded in the US. If anyone is really interested, this as well as a 1930's version by a woman called Danae ("Misirlou") are available in the CD "Greek Archives, Vol. 8: Armenians, Jews, Turks & Gipsies in Old Recordings" by FM Records (Athens)which is also available though Amazon.com :)