# What is this "middle eastern" melody? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067 "2019-01-19T19:18:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067/21 "2019-01-23T10:01:28Z")
[quote=“Folly, post:16, topic:828067”] Interesting. IMBD calls it “a Vision of Salome” A version on youtube [/QUOTE] That's it! Thanks to all. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067/22 "2019-01-24T01:08:42Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Well that certainly helped me. It’s the song from the Bugs Bunny cartoon [A-Lad-In His Lamp](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fbz2c), although I don’t know the name. Damn! When I first read the OP’s question, I immediately thought of “Miserlou,” and couldn’t get it out of my mind. Now that I’ve watched this cartoon, I can’t stop hearing “A Vision of Salome”! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067/23 "2019-01-24T03:46:50Z")
[quote=“mbh, post:20, topic:828067”] Here is a clip of them performing. The OP’s song is at 2:45 [/QUOTE] Please, next time include a trigger warning if you’re going to link to someone performing in black-leg! ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067/24 "2019-01-24T05:14:34Z")
I’m not yet convinced that “a Vision of Salome” is the correct title. Only that one video calls it by that name. Other searches of this title play the song called “[Vision of Salome](https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/173/043)”, a 1909 song by English light music composer [Archibald Joyce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Joyce). This song appears to be well enough known that there are several versions of it on Youtube, and it also features on the extended soundtrack to the movie\* Titanic\*. It’s clearly not the same music as the cod-Egyptian piece that Wilson, Keppel & Betty use in the video linked to. Maybe they are different songs sharing the same title, like the various different “Power of Love” songs of the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067/25 "2019-01-24T05:33:36Z")
Delving a bit deeper, the IMDB lists the composer of “A Vision of Salome” as a Mr “J. Bodewalt Lampe”, who has [a wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Bodewalt_Lampe), which describes him as “a Danish-born American composer, arranger, performer and band-leader of ragtime and syncopated dance music”. Googling a bit further finds this link to “[A Vision of Salome](https://arabkitsch.com/song-directory-2/1050/vision-of-salome-a-2/)” by “J. Bodewalt Lampe”, which may be the cover to the sheet music. Its copyright date is shown as 1908, a year _before_ the date of Archibald Joyce’s “Vision of Salome”. So I guess I was right with the “Power of Love” hunch… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067/26 "2019-01-24T06:15:25Z")
A couple more recordings of the J. Bodewalt Lampe “A Vision of Salome”: [1909](http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1=1020&num=1&start=1&query=cylinder6286) American Symphony Orchestra cylinder recording, from “The Edison Phonograph Monthly”, v.7 (1909) [1956](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isJFprGgVGU) Carl Stevens and his Circus Band, from LP “Music From the Big Top” (1956) [Here](https://library.musicaneo.com/sheetmusic/sm-75004_a_vision_of_salome.html)’s sheet music of the piece. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-middle-eastern-melody/828067.md?page=1)