Roubanis is(was?) Greek-American. He never claimed to have been the originator of the song, garnering it from his heritage, revising the music into the popular song of the 40s (labelled on my old bakelite red label Decca, "Miserlou" (N. Roubanis, F. Wise, M. Leeds and K. Russell), Victor Young Orch.). Words are those posted by WillH near the top of this thread.
The flip side is another remake, "Red Moon of The "Caribees,"" which is based on "Cancion del Mar," by Jose Sabre Marroquin. The Bruce album also has "The Lamp of Memory," based on "Incertidumbre," originally by Gonzalo Guriel but redone by Al Stilman. A lot of this revision has been done to make foreign songs more palatable or interesting for North Americans. Who can forget the Hadjidakis song "Ta Pedia Ton Pirea," (The Children of Piraeus), which became "Never On Sunday" with its content and message completely changed.