It’s funny how a movie made in the ’90′s (set in an ambiguous time, no less) improbably resurrected a surf rock/guitar instrumental classic from the early ’60′s. If it were not for Pulp Fiction there is a very good chance that “Miserlou” would have been considered a classic only within the domains of the rock critics and people old enough to have heard it when it was released in 1962. But thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s penchant for amalgamating as many genres and influences as possible,[1] the classic surf- and Middle Eastern-inspired instrumental classic by Dick Dale became available for younger generations to ingest.
Dick Dale was already a bit of a cult figure within the California and surf rock scene before he released “Miserlou.” In 1961, he released “Let’s Go Trippin’,” which is generally considered to be the first surf rock song. Additionally, his popularity within the L.A. area was high enough that Capitol Records picked up his first album and sold it nationally.
While The Beach Boys enjoyed the most mainstream success with their style of surf rock/pop if you were really into that genre you knew that Dale’s music put The Beach Boys’ music to shame. In more ways than one Dale was the opposite of his (at the time) present-day contemporaries: Dale was a lefty guitar player, he played his guitar loud (he was the first person to ever use a 100-watt guitar amplifier), he played the guitar quicker and a little bit darker, and he kind of looked like an ass-kicker compared to the prevalent image of the day: the Frankie Avalon type in the surf movies, or the Brian Wilson type who had a penchant for wearing softly colored striped shirts and/or white pants.
“Miserlou” is the product of a bet by a fan and a traditional Middle Eastern song. One night after a performance a fan bet Dale that he could not produce a song by only using one string.[2] Later on, the idea struck Dale that he could remake “Misirlou,” a Greek song that was sometimes played using one string. And because Dale was half Lebanese and his father a musician who had played (and taught Dale himself to play) traditional Middle Eastern music, it seemed like a logical communion.
Dick Dale renamed the song to “Miserlou” because it is essentially a complete remake of the original; the speed at which Dale plays guitar alone and the fact that none of the lyrics of the original “Misirlou” are sung is justification enough to rename it. The end result is a song that not only boasts some magnificent guitar work by Dale (I mean, the beginning riff is the very definition of indelible) but also some amazing musical textures throughout: the piano that produces musical spirals, the billowing harp, and the wonderful drums and horns that combine in parts to give the song its Greek and Arabic flavor.
But it is the guitar work that is the real focus here. Dale effortlessly starts the song with an accelerating lower sound and shifts into a higher sound and then back again throughout the song—it’s quick, it’s polished, it’s a Pantheon song not only in terms of surf rock and rock, but also as it pertains to the electric guitar in general.
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[1] Sometimes detrimentally so w/r/t the viewers of his movies.
[2] I’m not entirely sure of the context of this bet/conversation (if it really did happen). I don’t know if Dale had boasted earlier that he could perform any request that anyone threw at him. Because, at the end of the day, it seems kind of weird that someone would say to Dale (or any guitarist, for that matter) “I bet you can’t do a song with only one string.” But, who knows, maybe the fan was drunk or something.
