Dick Dale’s Guitar Screams With Pain And Pleasure

LIANE HANSEN, host:

We can’t introduce the king of surf guitar any better than he does himself.

(Soundbite of music)

HANSEN: Dick Dale is the king of the surf guitar. This song, and 15 others, have been collected on a new CD called “Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale.” And we’re thrilled to be able to get a hold of Dick Dale at his ranch in California’s high desert. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today, Dick.

Mr. DICK DALE (Guitarist): Hey. You know, those gals singing in the background, you know, that was the Blossoms. And that was one of their first background – backing up someone and singing, at Capitol Records.

(Soundbite of song, “King of the Surf Guitar”)

THE BLOSSOMS: (Singing) From Balboa to Anaheim, San Bernardino to Riverside. All the kids in all L.A., love to hear Dick Dale play…

HANSEN: I think a lot of us associate surf music with the ’60s. But – I mean, when you moved from Massachusetts to California, Orange County, in 1954, you took up surfing, you started a band called the Del-Tones.

Mr. DALE: Yeah, we wanted to – well, it started off, I won a contest from about 4,000 kids, singing Elvis songs. And I didn’t realize it was Elvis songs for Yako(ph) Oldsmobile. So my dad says, look at the spotlights; let’s go in there. And we went in there, and I had my red jacket on, you know, and my black pants, and I started to sing (Singing) baby, let me be-bop, do-wa-dawa.

And then I found out – I get a call from the State Theater manager and he says, you have won, Dick Dale. You’re going to come and sing between the Elvis movies. And all I had was this one, little guitar and the little Flash Gordon microphone, and about a six-inch speaker. And it was so funny. And that’s how I started rolling and doing that.

(Soundbite of song, “Let’s Go Trippin'”)

Mr. DALE: (Singing) Let’s go trippin’.

HANSEN: Your song from 1961, “Let’s Go Trippin’,” that was essentially titled because that’s what people would say, right – let’s go trippin’ on down to see Dick Dale at the ballroom in Balboa?

Mr. DALE: Yes. They were lined up in their cars all the way, three miles to the main Pacific Coast Highway. And they would be screaming, let’s go trippin’ on down to see Dick Dale. And they named all my records.

(Soundbite of song, “Let’s Go Trippin'”)

HANSEN: Fans didn’t name all of Dick Dale’s songs. In 1962, he released one of his biggest hits, “Misirlou.” Decades later, it became the theme song for Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” “Misirlou” is a folk song. Its origins are claimed by many countries, but Dick Dale’s family was from Lebanon. He learned the song from his uncles, who played it on the oud.

Mr. DALE: You know, they say it’s the Greek folk song. Well, the word misirlou is an Arabic name. It means the Egyptian. And the song itself is an actual Egyptian folk song.

(Foreign language spoken) Where are you, my sweetheart? Habibi(ph) is sweetheart. So, I would listen to them play it, but it’s played slowly. It’s (makes beat with mouth). That is the beat. It’s called terabacki(ph). And then I started playing it. I went (hums song). And I said, oh no, that’s too slow. And I thought of Gene Krupa’s drumming, his staccato drumming, where he went one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one.

So, I went and put “Misirlou” to that rhythm. And I went (hums song). Like that.

(Soundbite of song, “Misirlou”)

HANSEN: What kind of sound was it that you were trying to capture, that you were searching for?

Mr. DALE: Well, you know, what it was, was drums was my first instrument. And I would play on my mother’s sugar cans and flower cans, and my dad would kick me in the butt and saying – it was the Depression time – what, are you scratching your mother’s flour pans?

And then when we went to California, you know, I got my first guitar. But I was using this Gene Krupa rhythm on the guitar to make it sound full.

(Soundbite of song, “Misirlou”)

Mr. DALE: And then what happened was, I met a man called Leo Fender, who was the Einstein of the guitar and the amplifiers. And he says, here, I just made this guitar. It was a Stratocaster. He says, beat it to death and tell me what you think. So when I started playing on that thing, I wanted to get it to be as loud as I could, like Gene Krupa’s drums. And as I was surfing, when the waves picked me up and took me through the tubes, I would get that rumble sound.

And at the same time, I was raising 40 different exotic animals – from elephants to lions and tigers and cheetahs and hawks and eagles – to preserve them so they wouldn’t be killed off into extinction from poachers. So when my mountain lion would scream to me, he’d go (makes noise) like that, I would imitate that on my guitar. When my African lion wanted to be fed every day at 5 o’clock, he’d go (makes noise).

(Soundbite of music)

HANSEN: I’m speaking with Dick Dale, the king of the surf guitar – and the father of many things. His new CD is called “Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale.” Hey, I have one more question, and it’s about surf music, which, you know, the liner notes describes as tribal or exotic or sexual. I mean…

Mr. DALE: It is.

HANSEN: But you weren’t up there – you know, after all, you weren’t up there bumping and grinding.

Mr. DALE: No. I was running all over the damn stage. I almost would break my guitar just ripping at people who used to tell me: You look like you’re chopping down a tree with your guitar. I make my guitar scream with pain or pleasure or sensuality. It makes people move their feet and shake their bodies. That’s what music does. And every single tribe uses the same pulsation. But musicians today don’t learn that way.

When people are clapping, you get them to clap, to sing with you and say, OK, everybody, follow me, and the musician always claps on the off-beat. So, he’ll go: (Singing) well, the games people play now, every night and every day now. You hear me clapping that way, right?

HANSEN: Yep.

Mr. DALE: Now, watch what happens when the musician stops clapping – they fall back into grassroots sensuality rhythm on the one. Now, watch: (Singing) Well, the games people play now, every night and every day now. That clapping has stemmed from the music of the holy rollers to the beginning of rock and roll. And that’s why when I play, I stay to that traditional style on the one. Play to the people – and that’s what I do.

(Soundbite of music)

HANSEN: Dick Dale – his new release is called “Guitar Legend: The Very Best of Dick Dale.” And he joined us from his home in Twenty Nine Palms, California. Mr. Dale, be well, and thank you so much.

Mr. DALE: I’ll see you on tour soon, in a couple of months.

HANSEN: You will, Mr. Dale. Thanks again.

Mr. DALE: OK. God bless.

Copyright © 2010 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.