# Name the song from the Pulp Fiction trailer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125 "2007-09-05T14:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/1 "2007-09-05T14:56:03Z")
For the love of God, someone name this song for me. It’s driving me batusi. [Link.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZtob6kkZag) ETA: The link is safe for work. No cussing or guns shooting. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/2 "2007-09-05T15:05:33Z")
[QUOTE=Hung Mung] For the love of God, someone name this song for me. It’s driving me batusi. [Link.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZtob6kkZag) ETA: The link is safe for work. No cussing or guns shooting. [/QUOTE] Dick Dale’s _Misirlou_. Another [youtube](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8) video. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/3 "2007-09-05T15:24:37Z")
Note of dubious interest: _Miserlou_ is actually an old piece of Greek music that dates back to the 1920s. It was originally played at a much slower tempo than Dick Dale’s version, and there was a folk dance that was invented to go along with it (my college girlfriend was a hippy). ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/4 "2007-09-05T15:31:32Z")
Awesome. I was almost certain it’s Misirlou, but the clips I’d listened to on iTunes were too brief for me to be certain. I feel much better now. **Chefguy** , in the digging around I’ve done on Dick Dale I read that much of his music is influenced by his Armenian heritage. I think there a few klezmer renditions of Misirlou around. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/5 "2007-09-05T15:51:13Z")
_Rio_, by Du\*\*\*\\*\*\* \ ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/6 "2007-09-05T16:00:03Z")
[QUOTE=Hung Mung] Awesome. I was almost certain it’s Misirlou, but the clips I’d listened to on iTunes were too brief for me to be certain. I feel much better now. **Chefguy** , in the digging around I’ve done on Dick Dale I read that much of his music is influenced by his Armenian heritage. I think there a few klezmer renditions of Misirlou around. [/QUOTE] I saw Dick Dale live in February, and I believe he mentioned actually being of Lebanese heritage (although there could be Armenian in his background as well). It’s amazing how well “Miserlou,” the Jewish traditional song “Hava Nagila,” and the Spanish traditional song “Malaguena” fit together. They are all standards for twangy surf-style guitar (and Dale has played them all in his time), but I actually wrote an arrangement combining all of them back when I was in a ska-punk band in college. I think we called it “Have a Miserlouaguenanagila.” ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/7 "2007-09-05T17:07:09Z")
[QUOTE=fiddlesticks] Dick Dale’s _Misirlou_. Another [youtube](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZIU0RMV_II8) video. [/QUOTE] This is SO great and for all the wrong reasons. How this escaped MST3K we will never know. I am happy to tell you Dick Dale is still amongst us. And he has MY vote. [http://www.dickdale.com/merchandise.html](http://www.dickdale.com/merchandise.html) ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/8 "2007-09-05T17:19:42Z")
[QUOTE=TubaDiva] This is SO great and for all the wrong reasons. [/QUOTE] Heh. I love how all the Del Tone “squares” get more love from the camera than poor Dick wailing away. Apparently [A Swingin Affair](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057545/) was Terri Garr’s first film. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/9 "2007-09-05T17:25:10Z")
[QUOTE=TubaDiva] I am happy to tell you Dick Dale is still amongst us. And he has MY vote. [http://www.dickdale.com/merchandise.html](http://www.dickdale.com/merchandise.html) [/QUOTE] I tell ya, I saw him at a small, smoky club in February. He looked good and played guitar like a man possessed, but he was very cantankerous and crabby, and insisted on singing a lot (REALLY not his strong point). ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/10 "2007-09-05T18:05:19Z")
We used Dick Dale’s recording of “Hava Nagila” as the recessional at our wedding. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/11 "2007-09-06T02:30:23Z")
Dick Dale… boy, that takes me back. I knew a guy who drove for him for a while in the mid-80’s- the guy was old then and really wild. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/12 "2007-09-06T02:39:34Z")
[QUOTE=cbawlmer] We used Dick Dale’s recording of “Hava Nagila” as the recessional at our wedding. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I love that idea, and hopefully I can rip you off some time in the next couple of years! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/13 "2007-09-06T02:40:32Z")
I saw Dale at the Brookdale Lodge up in the Santa Cruz mountains. Loud as sh\*t. To here Dick tell it, Tarentino called him and asked permission to use the song. After Dick said yes, QT locked himself in a room and played “Miserlou” over and over while he wrote the story. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/14 "2007-09-06T02:53:32Z")
You gotta admit, it does set up the movie perfectly. When that guitar hit, I knew we were in for a helluva ride. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/15 "2007-09-06T02:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=fiddlesticks] Heh. I love how all the Del Tone “squares” get more love from the camera than poor Dick wailing away. Apparently [A Swingin Affair](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057545/) was Terri Garr’s first film. [/QUOTE] Is she the big-ass blonde twisting in the foreground? If so, she was the star of that clip. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-the-song-from-the-pulp-fiction-trailer/418125/16 "2007-09-06T15:38:34Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] I love that idea, and hopefully I can rip you off some time in the next couple of years! [/QUOTE] You’re welcome to it!