Walk Like An Egyptian

"Walk Like an Egyptian" is a song recorded by the American band the Bangles. It was released in 1986 as the third single from the album Different Light. It was the band's first number one single, being certified gold by the RIAA, and became Billboard's number-one song of 1987. Liam Sternberg, who wrote the song, had finished a demo version by January 1984 with singer Marti Jones. He offered it to Toni Basil, who turned it down. Lene Lovich recorded the first version of the song, but it went unreleased when she decided to take a break from music to raise her family. David Kahne from Peer Southern Publishing was the producer of Different Light; he received a copy of the demo and liked it, especially Jones's "offhand quality". Kahne took the song to the Bangles, who agreed to record it. He had each member of the group sing the lyrics to determine who would sing each verse; Vicki Peterson, Michael Steele, and Susanna Hoffs sang lead vocals in the final version on the first, second, and third verses, respectively. Kahne disliked particularly Debbi Peterson's leads, so she was relegated to backing vocals. This angered her and caused tension within the group. The situation was exacerbated by the use of a drum machine in place of her drumming, further diminishing her role in the song. She can be seen playing the tambourine during their 1986 performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The whistling in the song was performed by machine, not by anyone in the band. "Walk Like an Egyptian" was released as the third single from Different Light. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1986. The song reached a peak of number three on the UK Singles Chart in November 1986 and reached number one in the US on December 20, staying at the top of the Hot 100 for four weeks, carrying it over into January 1987. The success of the song and "Manic Monday" propelled Different Light to number two on the Billboard 200 chart, making it the group's most successful album. The music video for "Walk Like an Egyptian" was nominated for Best Group Video at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards. It features both the Bangles performing the song at a concert and scenes of people dancing in poses similar to those depicted in the Ancient Egyptian reliefs that inspired songwriter Liam Sternberg. Most of these people were filmed on the streets of New York City, although special effects were used to modify photos of Princess Diana, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the Statue of Liberty. In a popular scene from the video, Hoffs was filmed in a close-up where her eyes moved from side to side, looking left and right. When asked about the scene in an interview, Hoffs explained that she was looking at individual audience members during the video shoot, which took place with a live audience. Looking directly at individual audience members was a technique she used to overcome stage fright, and she was unaware that the camera had a close-up on her while she was employing this technique, switching between one audience member on her left and one on her right. In 1990, "Walk Like an Egyptian" was re-issued as a single in the UK to promote the Bangles' Greatest Hits album. It featured new remixes for the song called Ozymandias Remix. It charted at number 73 in the UK. "Walk Like an Egyptian" was one of the songs which were claimed to have been banned by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Snopes in researching this found that the list was simply suggestions regarding songs to be sensitive about when deciding what to play. It was also included in a "list of records to be avoided" drawn up by the BBC during the Gulf War. In 2014 the song was used as the first ending for the third part of the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders.

[Verse 1: Vicki Peterson; (All)] All the old paintings on the tomb They do the sand dance, don't you know? If they move too quick (Oh-way-oh) They're falling down like a domino All the bazaar men by the Nile They got the money on a bet Gold crocodiles (Oh-way-oh) They snap their teeth on your cigarette [Pre-Chorus: Vicki Peterson; (All)] Foreign types with the hookah pipes say (Way-oh-way-oh, ooh-way-oh-way-oh) [Chorus: Vicki Peterson] Walk like an Egyptian [Verse 2: Michael Steele; (All)] The blonde waitresses take their trays They spin around, and they cross the floor They've got the moves (Oh-way-oh) You drop your drink, then they bring you more All the school kids so sick of books They like the punk and the metal band When the buzzer rings (Oh-way-oh) They're walking like an Egyptian [Pre-Chorus: Michael Steele; (All)] All the kids in the marketplace say (Way-oh-way-oh, ooh-way-oh-way-oh) [Chorus: Michael Steele] Walk like an Egyptian [Guitar solo] [Verse 3: Susanna Hoffs; (All)] Slide your feet up the street, bend your back Shift your arm, then you pull it back Life is hard, you know (Oh-way-oh) So strike a pose on a Cadillac If you want to find all the cops They're hanging out in the donut shop They sing and dance (Oh-way-oh) They spin the clubs, cruise down the block All the Japanese with their yen The party boys call the Kremlin And the Chinese know (Oh-way-oh) They walk the line like Egyptian [Pre-Chorus: Susanna Hoffs; (All)] All the cops in the donut shop say (Way-oh-way-oh, ooh-way-oh-way-oh) [Chorus: Susanna Hoffs] Walk like an Egyptian Walk like an Egyptian