“Foreign types with the hookah pipes say/Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh”
This wavy lyrics and tune made us walk like an Egyptian in the 80’s.
What possibly inspired the Bangles to record such an unusual song?
“A guy named Liam Sternberg [wrote the song] and I think he got the inspiration from being on a ferry crossing in Europe,” says frontwoman Susanna Hoffs, who has just returned from Europe after a tour with the reunited Bangles. “The ferry was moving around and people were, like, riding the waves a little bit and he had this vision [of ancient Egyptian figures]“. Interestingly enough, the little kids in the movie To Kill A Mockingbird talk about walking like an Egyptian and they do a little Egyptian walk. So there are other references.
Charles Purcell for The Sydney Morning Herald
