Cozy Rocket

Chances are you’ve heard Dick Dale’s Misirlou recently - if not through The Black Eyed Peas Pump It, then through the oh-so-popular Pulp Fiction Movie Soundtrack (Track 1 to be exact). Dick Dale’s rendition of Misirlou actually has its roots in Greek and Middle Eastern Music, according to the Fender Players Club:

“Misirlou” has unusual origins for a seminal piece in American rock. Its roots are in Middle Eastern music, and it was a 1940s pop hit in Turkey (and a Greek folk dance) two decades before Dick revived and reinvented the piece in 1962 — when he gave it a high energy twist by performing it on electric guitar with his band, the Del-Tones. It was rediscovered in the ‘90s when it appeared as a leading cut from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. …

The central focus of the piece is a classic case of a linear melody played solely on one string, which favors the tremolo picking attack. The scale of the theme melody has a decidedly ethnic sound, which gives “Misirlou” its haunting Middle Eastern quality. Called a “synthetic scale” in our Western culture, it has an unusual symmetrical layout which uses two augmented second intervals and four minor second intervals in its structure.

You can read more about the melody and tuning here, and of course you can listen to the track here at Cozy Rocket.

[This song has been removed, please see homepage for more info]