Graham first heard the guitar at the age of 12, when a family friend played him a song on his instrument. As legend would have it, the friend went out for a while, and Graham, who had never picked up a guitar in his life, stayed at home "to play on the guitar". To the amazement of the friend, when he returned Graham could play the song he had performed earlier exactly. Buying his first guitar at age 16, Graham exhibited unnatural talent in playing the instrument and in picking up tunes - a skill he attributes to his being blind in one eye. Graham was to perfect an eclectic style over the next few years, travelling abroad to pick up new styles and ways of playing. After a trip to Morocco, hearing the Oud, Graham introduced and popularised the DADGAD tuning of the Oud, now common amongst Celtic musicians especially, to western guitarists. He released his first LP, The Guitar Player, (after two EPs) in 1963. From this time until the early 1970s, Graham would release a range of albums, ranging in style and content album-to-album and even within albums. Towards the end of the 1970s, Graham stopped recording and faded into obscurity. However, Graham became active again in the mid nineties.
Davy Graham died on December 15th 2008 of lung cancer.
Misirlou
Davy Graham Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Natives kneel in prayer by their caravans.
There, silhouetted under and eastern star,
I see my long lost blossom of shalimar
You, Misirlou, Are the moon and the sun, fairest one.
We'll find our Kismet, answering love's command.
You, Misirlou, are a dream of delight in the night.
To an oasis, sprinkled by stars above,
Heaven will guide us, Allah will bless our love.
The song Misirlou is a romantic ballad that romanticizes the beauty of the East. The singer talks about the desert shadows creeping across purple sands and the natives kneeling in prayer by their caravans. It paints a beautiful, exotic picture of the East, with its old temple bells calling across the sand, and the stars sprinkled above an oasis.
The singer then goes on to describe a beautiful woman, his long-lost love, who is silhouetted under an eastern star. He calls her "Misirlou" and says that she is the moon and the sun, the fairest one. He talks about finding their kismet, or fate, answering love's command. He believes that Allah will bless their love, and they will find heaven in the oasis sprinkled by stars above.
Through its beautiful lyrics and music, Misirlou evokes the exotic beauty and romance of the East. It is a testament to the power of music to transport us to distant lands and evoke the deepest emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Desert shadows creep across purple sands.
The dark and long shadows of the desert extend over the lustrous violet sands.
Natives kneel in prayer by their caravans.
The local inhabitants are performing their religious worship beside their nomadic homes.
There, silhouetted under an eastern star, I see my long lost blossom of shalimar
In that place, outlined by an eastern star, I perceive my beloved long gone Shalimar flower.
You, Misirlou, Are the moon and the sun, fairest one.
Misirlou, you are the embodiment of the sun and the moon, the most beautiful of all.
Old temple bells are calling across the sand.
The archaic chimes of the temple are attracting attention in the expanse of sand.
We'll find our Kismet, answering love's command.
We will discover our Kismet, complying with the bidding of love.
You, Misirlou, are a dream of delight in the night.
During the night, Misirlou, you evoke a dreamy rapture of pleasure.
To an oasis, sprinkled by stars above, Heaven will guide us, Allah will bless our love.
Towards an oasis, embellished by the stars from above, we will be led by divinity, and blessed by Allah in our love.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Fred Wise, Jose Pina, Milton Leeds, Nicholas Roubanis, Sidney Russell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@geoffreytotton1983
Walking between the middle
East and the blues
A jazz improvisation masterful
@neelpatkar7519
the best rendition I’ve ever heard. Exquisite
@nikirk101
saw him young saw him old and just fabulous talented man
@ianwilliams6042
A lovely track from a lovely album. I bought After Hours today and played it three times in a row. Easily my favourite Davey album. It is just him on guitar playing after a gig at Hull University in one of the student's digs and which was recorded on a tape-recorder. A primitive recording but the sound is excellent. It is Davey relaxing and playing it as he feels it: blues, folk, jazz, classical, and Indian ragas. Seamlessly beautiful. He only sings on three of the tracks, which is a good thing as he had the weakest voice in the Christendom. But his guitar playing was a joy to behold.
@chailstones
Ian Williams Agreed, I always go for the instrumentals.
@openmodalguitar61
"His guitar playing was a joy to behold" = agree completely. "Weakest voice in the Christendom" = agree with some reservations. I don't think it was a "weak" voice that was the problem, rather that he was very much into his guitar technique, compositions and arrangements but didn't seem to be nearly as motivated about his singing. When I hear his version of "Sally Free and Easy" it sounds like that was the one where he really put something into his vocals as well as the guitar. His arrangement is quite different to the original (by Cyril Tawney), it may be that he put more thought and invested more pride into how the vocals should work with the guitar for "Sally", because here (but not elsewhere) they go together beautifully. Or maybe he really liked the melody of that song. Whatever, that is the one that tells me he could sing well, but usually didn't.
He seems to have intimidated some people with his physical stature, forthright attitude, aptitude for martial arts, intellectual capacity and of course prowess on the guitar. Possibly nobody around him was game to actually tell him that his singing was of a far lesser standard than his guitar playing. Oh well, Davey Graham was a larger than life character; musically speaking, taken all in all, his virtues are of a scale that his faults are easily forgotten and forgiven.
Also, this is such a great version of "Misirlou". There are so many varied arrangements of "Misirlou", musicians keep finding something in it to inspire, from Dick Dale's revved up electric guitar version, the older traditional arrangements to this piece which is charged with atmosphere from it's immediate late night "after hours" surroundings, and also the resonance of Davey's journeys through other lands and musical cultures.
@mmypainting
Davie, great guy, wonderful musician.
@ichbin4122
Wondeurfull
@TheSuperintendant
Still no dislikes... as if.
@AnthonyMonaghan
At his brilliant best. What a marvellous, natural rendition. I wish I could work out the tuning. It doesn't seem to be in conventional tuning or DADGAD, unless he is using a Capo at the fourth, which seems odd. Anyway, thank you so much for this. It really made my evening to sit alone and just listen in with Davy.