The original composer of the song itself is difficult to determine as the music was probably composed collaboratively by the members of the Michalis Patrinos band. This was a musical group of Greek refugees from Turkey. Other artists also claimed that the song was theirs, early in its inception. Nick Roubanis modified the song slightly and released it under his own name in 1941. He is responsible for its Arabic sound, as opposed to the Greek flavor with which it began.
The song's lyrics tell of a cross-cultural love affair between a Muslim Egyptian girl and a Greek, Christian man. "Misirlou" specifically means "Egyptian girl" in Greek. The lyrics speak of honeyed kisses and the promise of madness if love must be denied between the two young people. Originally written in Greek, it was quickly translated into English.
In 1945, the song's music was used with the dance steps of the Cretan Kritikos, as taught by Mercine Nesotas, for a program to honor America's allies of World War II. The dance's popularity spread quickly among the Greek-American community and folk-dance enthusiasts. During the same period, a lively nightclub scene in New England fostered a love of belly dance and Near Eastern folk dance, where the Misirlou dance became even more popular. It is often referred to as the "snake dance" because of the sinuous movement of the feet.
Dick Dale, a Lebanese-American descendant, adapted "Misirlou" into a surf guitar piece in the early 1960s, bringing it to wider fame within the American consciousness. A year later, the Beach Boys recorded their own rendition of the song for their album Surfin' USA, permanently embedding it in American pop culture. It can be found in such diverse places as the film Pulp Fiction, the video game Guitar Hero II and as the basis of the Black Eyed Peas single "Pump It."
The Misirlou dance continues to be one of the most popular folk dances in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern worlds, despite the fact that its origins are so clearly American. In fact, many different countries now claim the song and dance as their own.