Dick Dale & The Del-Tones - Misirlou (1962)

Born in 1937, this man is nicknamed The King of the Surf Guitar. An actual surfer in his youth, he wanted to try and harness the sound that he heard in his head while riding waves. His song “Let’s Go Trippin’” is regarded as the first-ever surf rock song, dated to May 31, 1958. His desire to create a unique use of reverberation, which is now synonymous with surf music, led to the Leo Fender creating the very first-ever amp/loud-speaker combination that jumped the volume up from the standard maximum of four, to ten. To this day, at the age of seventy-five, he still performs high-energy shows, touring the United States.

This song was originally performed by Michalis Patrinos in Greece, in 1927. It was rearranged as an American surf rock song by Dale in 1962 after a young fan challenged Dale to play a song using only one guitar string. Remembering his Lebanese-American uncle playing this song with only one string on an oud, Dale played this song. Soon after, it was introduced to a wider audience when he played it on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, becoming the first rock guitarist to perform on the show.



Dick Dale & The Del-Tones - Misirlou (1962)

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Lyrics:

(instrumental)