Lyr Req: Miserlou

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Genie
Date: 23 Aug 05 - 03:54 PM

So glad this thread is here! I wanted the chords and lyrics to Misirlou and was delighted to find them, along with the history and Yiddish lyrics.   You 'catters are great!

One more request:

Does anyone have the Ladino lyrics to Miserlou?

Genie

Subject: Miserlou / Misirlou / Mizerlu - Ladino lyrics
From: Genie
Date: 29 Aug 05 - 08:42 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 11:04 PM

Looking for Ladino words to Miserlu. A have a recording I made from a Sephardic website some time ago, but that site is gone. I can't transcribe the words.

References to the melody are frequent, but I can't find lyrics.
This site has music, no words, for three Hassidic Songs, Nigun, Miserlu, and Nigun Bialik, by J. Dechario-no. 701605-750.
http://www.holywellmusic.co.uk/HolywellCatalogue.pdf

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 11:47 PM

Article on Greek origin of "Miserlou." original in rebetika style from Asia Minor, with Greek refugees. Author unknown.
"Initially composed as a Greek zeibekiko dance, at a slower tempo and a different key...than performances that most are familiar with today. This was the style of the first known recording by Michael Patrinos in Greece, ca. 1930; a second recording was made by Patrinos in New York in 1931."
http://www.wikimirror.com/Miserlu
Miserlou

Greek lyrics and translation provided. As with other articles from this site, no documentation is provided.

If this is the beginning, than the Sephardic versions are late, and are translations. I will look further to see if anything that is older Sephardic or Hassidic can be found. The version I recorded supposedly was collected from Sephardic Jews in Morocco.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 02:10 PM

A version by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 02:11 PM

Glad to see that my mis-spelling was good for something!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Genie
Date: 29 Aug 11 - 03:46 PM

This audio is supposed to be the original Misirlou

Manolis Angelopoulos - Misirlou


Manolis Angelopoulos - MISIRLOU (Egyptian Girl)
Μανώλης Αγγελόπουλος - Μισιρλού
מנוליס אנגלופולוס - מיסירלו(ילדה מצריה)

Lyrics in Greek:
----------------------
Μισιρλού μου η γλυκειά σου η ματιά
φλόγα μ' έχει ανάψει μέσ' την καρδιά
Αχ γιαχαμπίμπι αχ γιαλελέλι αχ
τα δυό σου χείλη στάζουν μέλι ωϊμέ

Αχ Μισιρλού μαγική ξωτική ομορφιά
τρέλλα θα μ' έρθη, δεν υποφέρω πιά
Αχ θα σε κλέψω μέσ' απ' την Αραπιά
Αχ Μισιρλού μαγική ξωτική ομορφιά

Μαυρομάτα Μισιρλού μου τρελλή
η ζωή μου αλλάζει μ' ένα φιλί
Αχ Γιαχαμπίμπι μ' ένα φιλάκι αχ
απ' το δικό σου το στοματάκι ωϊμέ

Lyrics in English:
-------------------------
My Misirlou (Egyptian girl), your sweet glance
Has lit a flame in my heart.
Ah, ya habibi, Ah, ya leh-leli, ah (Arabic: Oh, my love, Oh, my night‎)[2]
Your two lips are dripping honey, ah.

Ah, Misirlou, magical, exotic beauty.
Madness will overcome me, I can't endure [this] any more.
Ah, I'll steal you away from the Arab land.

My black-eyed, my wild Misirlou,
My life changes with one kiss
Ah, ya habibi, one little kiss, ah
From your sweet little lips, ah.

מִיסִרְלוּ / מיוונית, יעקב מעוז

מִיסִרְלוּ, מְתוּקָת-עֵנִיִים, יְפֵהפִיָה,

מַבְעִירָה בִּי אַהֲבָה בִּלְתִי שְׁפוּיָה.

אַךְ יָא חַבִּיבִּי, אַך יָא לֵלֵה לִי, אַךְ

דְבָשׁ-שְׂפַתָיִיך כַּמָה מָתוֹק לִי, אַךְ.

אַךְ, מִיסִרְלוּ, יְחִידָה, מַדְהִימָה בְּיוֹפְיָה.

כְּבַר הִשְׁתַגַעְתִּי, נַפְשִׁי בְיָדָיִיך שְׁבוּיָה.

אַךְ, עוֹד אֵחְטוֹף אוֹתָך מְאַרְצֵך, עַרְבִיָה.




שְׁחוּמָה מְטוֹרֶפֵת מִיסִרְלוּ אַת שֶׁלִי,

נְשִׁיקָה אַחַת שִׁנְתָה הַכּוֹל בִּשְׁבִילִי.

אַךְ, יָא חַבִּיבִּי, רַק נְשִׁיקוֹנֶת, אַךְ,

מִפִּיך הַמְתַקְתָק רַק נְשִׁיקוֹנֶת אַךְ.

Subject: RE: Lyr. Add: Misirlu (Sephardic)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Sep 11 - 04:08 PM

MISIRLU
Sephardic, Turkey

No pretendas mas ke to me amas
Ni te 'sforses a virtir lagrimas,
Yo ya lo supe ke era por enganyar,
Esto es un fakto ke no puedes nyegar.

Chorus-
Ah...Ahh... Misirlu
Es muy amargo, ah es muy amargo el sufrir
Ma no por esto uno deve murir.

Munchos anyos t'esperi en vanedad
Kreyendo ke tu amor era verdad
Me amurchates propyo kom'una flor
I me forsates a bivir kon dolor.

Chorus-

Algun diya sufrira tu korason
I konoceras lo ke es la trahisyon,
Komo lo yoro ansi tu yoraras,
I konsuelo nunkua no toparas.

Chorus-

No translation provided.

From Leaflet with cd, Kantikas para syempre, Los Pasaros Sefardis. Turkish Sephardic music.

The tune is probably much older than the lyrics, and seems widespread in the Mediterranean-Ottoman region.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Monique
Date: 20 Sep 11 - 09:04 PM

See this whole thread for a translation.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: GUEST,Emel from turkey
Date: 22 Dec 11 - 05:37 PM

I have made quite a research on the song , Turkish sources say it was Composed by Misirli Udi Ibrahim Efendi ( Born in 1879 in Aleppo, his real name is Avram Levi , and he's a Jewish Ottoman. He's known as a great Turkish Classical Songs composer. He's known to have composed more thasn 500 songs, but only 56 can be proven to be his. He died in 1938 in Istanbul. He is known to be Eygptian because he lived in Eygpt most of his life.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: GUEST,Emel from Turkey
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 04:27 AM

Misirli Udi Ibrahim Efendi translates as Ibrahim - the Eygptian Ud-Master. ( Ud- Oud- The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths. The oud is readily distinguished by its lack of frets and smaller neck.) He lived in Cairo most of his life. He both sang, and was a saz player, and he was also a great composer. He's known to compose for the Synagogue too. He was also one of the teachers in Mehterhane ( Band of Musicians of the Palace) He died in 1948 in Istanbul ( not in 1938 as I mistakenly wrote down) The Turkish sources that say that this composer composed Misirlou are quite serious sources, but it probably can't be verified 100 %. ( If it were, the inheritors of Ibrahim Efendi would gain a fortune from the song's rights :)).)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 31 Jan 18 - 03:50 AM

1939 Floridian take. Part of the WPA Writer's Project.

At Florida Memory: Misirlou (Castrounis)
(first song)

Library of Congress Catalog: Misirlou (Castrounis)

Performance Note: "Misirlou" (vocals) performed by Jennie Castrounis at Jacksonville, Florida, on October 4, 1939.

Recorded by Alton C. Morris.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Miserlou
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 Jan 18 - 04:55 AM

BTW it isn't in hijaz, but hijazkar - hijaz doesn't have a sharpened seventh. Because of the weirdness of Greek transliteration, it's sometimes spelt "hitziazkar" in transliterations of Greek sources, but isn't pronounced like that.

If Misirli Ibrahim Efendi wrote it, this may be of interest:

biography in Turkish

That site (surprisingly, given its coverage) only has one piece by him, and it isn't "Misirlou".

My guess would be that the tune is much older - it's an archetypal kind of melody for the hijazkar mode, which was known to the ancient Greeks and one of the commonest modes across India. Anybody noodling in that mode could come up with it. When I was learning the flute I used a tunebook by Quinto Maganini which had a piece which he said was a Greek lament from Sicily - almost the same tune but a slightly different rhythm, which he said matched a chorus in a play by Sophocles.