"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 claims he was inspired to create the song while on a ferry crossing the English Channel. When the vessel hit choppy water, passengers stepped carefully and moved their arms awkwardly while struggling to maintain their balance, and that reminded Sternberg of the depiction of human figures in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings. He wrote the words "Walk like an Egyptian" in a notebook. Later, Sternberg looked back in the notebook, and composing the melody with a guitar, he put together an up-tempo song with lyrics about Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Nile River, crocodiles, desert sand, bazaars and hookah pipes and then segued into modern scenes of blond waitresses, school kids and police officers.
Sternberg 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 Debbi Peterson's leads, so she was relegated to backing vocals, which 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.[5] She can be seen playing the tambourine during their 1986 performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test.[6] The whistling in the song was played by a machine.
"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. It was also included in a "list of records to be avoided" drawn up by the BBC during the Gulf War.
Walk Like an Egyptian
The Bangles
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
Foreign types with the hookah pipes say
Way oh way oh, way oh way oh
Walk like an Egyptian
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
All the kids in the marketplace say
Way oh way oh, way oh way oh
Walk like an Egyptian
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 wanna 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
All the cops in the donut shop say
Way oh way oh, way oh way oh
Walk like an Egyptian
Walk like an Egyptian
Written by: Liam Hillard Sternberg
