Sheik of Araby
Encyclopedia
"The Sheik of Araby" is a song that was written by Harry B. Smith
, Francis Wheeler and music by Ted Snyder
in 1921. It was composed in response to the popularity of the Rudolph Valentino
film The Sheik
. In 1926 it received new lyrics written by Billy Rose
and was retitled "That Night in Araby".
It was a Tin Pan Alley
hit, and was also adopted by early jazz
bands, especially in New Orleans, making it a jazz standard
. It was a well recognized part of popular culture, earning a mention in The Great Gatsby
. In 1926, Fleischer Studios
released a cartoon with this song, recorded in Phonofilm
, as part of their Song Car-Tunes series, and a live action
short with this title was filmed in Phonofilm in the UK, directed by Miles Mander
.
The "Araby" in the title refers to Arabia or the Arabian Peninsula
.
The song featured in the film Valentino (1977) with words of parody by Ken Russell
, performed by Chris Ellis. A verse also appears in the novel The Great Gatsby
(1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
.
The appeal to New Orleans bands may have lain in "Araby" sharing the same pronunciation as Arabi, LA, a town downriver from New Orleans' 9th Ward and a center for gambling just outside city limits until the early 1950s.
Harry B. Smith
Harry Bache Smith was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works were librettos for the composer Victor Herbert...
, Francis Wheeler and music by Ted Snyder
Ted Snyder
Theodore Frank Snyder , was a U.S. composer, lyricist, and music publisher . His hits include "The Sheik of Araby" and "Who's Sorry Now?" . In 1970, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame...
in 1921. It was composed in response to the popularity of the Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
film The Sheik
The Sheik (film)
The Sheik is a 1921 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky, directed by George Melford and starring Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, and Adolphe Menjou...
. In 1926 it received new lyrics written by Billy Rose
Billy Rose
William "Billy" Rose was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. He is credited with many famous songs, notably "Me and My Shadow" , "It Happened in Monterey" and "It's Only a Paper Moon"...
and was retitled "That Night in Araby".
It was a Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
hit, and was also adopted by early jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bands, especially in New Orleans, making it a jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
. It was a well recognized part of popular culture, earning a mention in The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
. In 1926, Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios, Inc., was an American corporation which originated as an Animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York...
released a cartoon with this song, recorded in Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
, as part of their Song Car-Tunes series, and a live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
short with this title was filmed in Phonofilm in the UK, directed by Miles Mander
Miles Mander
Miles Mander , born Lionel Henry Mander , was a well-known and versatile English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist.-Early life:Miles Mander was the second son of Theodore Mander, builder of Wightwick Manor, of the prominent...
.
The "Araby" in the title refers to Arabia or the Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
.
The song featured in the film Valentino (1977) with words of parody by Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
, performed by Chris Ellis. A verse also appears in the novel The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
(1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
.
The appeal to New Orleans bands may have lain in "Araby" sharing the same pronunciation as Arabi, LA, a town downriver from New Orleans' 9th Ward and a center for gambling just outside city limits until the early 1950s.
Notable recordings
- Don AlbertDon AlbertAlbert Dominique, better known by his stage name Don Albert was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader....
's band recorded the first version with the chant "Without no pants on" between the lines of lyrics. This was and still is a popular bit of hokum with New Orleans bands, but got Albert's record generally banned from radio airplay. - A whistling version recorded by Guido Gialdini in 1923 on the German VoxVox Records (Germany)VOX Schallplatten- und Sprechmaschinen-Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin was a German record label founded in 1921. One source suggests that it issued the first electrical recordings in Germany in late 1924 or early 1925, presumably recorded by a method other than that of Western Electric, but notes that...
label - Fats WallerFats WallerFats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
& His Rhythm in 1939. - Fats DominoFats DominoAntoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
- George LewisGeorge Lewis (clarinetist)George Lewis was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life.-Ancestry:...
- The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
covered this song in 1962 at their unsuccessful DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
audition with George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
as the lead singer and Pete BestPete BestPete Best is a British musician, best known as the original drummer in The Beatles. He was born in the city of Madras, British India...
on the drums. This track can be found on Anthology 1Anthology 1Anthology 1 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in November 1995. It was released as the first part of the Anthology trilogy of albums with Anthology 2 and Anthology 3, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. It contains "Free as a Bird",...
. - Preservation Hall Jazz BandPreservation Hall Jazz BandPreservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of Dixieland Jazz and traditional jazz bands at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on tours as organized by the Preservation Hall...
- Django ReinhardtDjango ReinhardtDjango Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
and Stéphane GrappelliStéphane GrappelliStéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
(Hot Club of France) - Nelson RiddleNelson RiddleNelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s...
conducts a version of the song for the soundtrack recording of the Jack Clayton film The Great GatsbyThe Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
(1974), starring Robert RedfordRobert RedfordCharles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
and Mia FarrowMia FarrowMia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
. Song on the 2-record set LP from Paramount Records, PAS 2-3001. - Louis PrimaLouis PrimaLouis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
- Jimmy RosenbergJimmy RosenbergJoseph Rosenberg is a Sinto-Romani guitarist from Netherlands, known for his virtuoso playing of Gypsy jazz and other related styles....
- Harry Connick, Jr.Harry Connick, Jr.Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
on his big band album Oh, My NOLAOh, My NOLAOh, My NOLA is an album from Harry Connick, Jr., with his big band. The album was released in 2007, and contains well-known songs associated with New Orleans, as well as 4 new songs composed by Connick, who sings and plays the piano, conducts, arranges and orchestrates the album.A portion of the...
(2007) - Sidney BechetSidney BechetSidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...
; in 1941, as an early experiment in overdubbing at RCA Studios, Bechet recorded a version of the song, playing six different instruments: clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, piano, bass, and drums. - Leon RedboneLeon RedboneLeon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....
on his album Double Time - Spike JonesSpike JonesMel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
and his City Slickers. Album: Bluebirds - The Colts in 1957
- Duke Ellington in 1932
- Lou MonteLou MonteLou Monte born Louis Scaglione, was an Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Records and Reprise Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
- John Miller and the Heartbreakers
- Jimmy BuffettJimmy BuffettJames William "Jimmy" Buffett is a singer-songwriter, author, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett's musical hits include "Margaritaville" , and "Come Monday"...
in 1974, Pencil Thin Mustache - Ray StevensRay StevensRay Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...
in 1991; the song title "Sheik of Araby" is spoofed as "Sheik of R&B" about a sheik depressed with his material possessions and how he found happiness playing R&B all over the world. - Oscar PetersonOscar PetersonOscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
- Jo Ann CastleJo Ann CastleJo Ann Castle is a noted ragtime pianist. She adopted the stage name "Castle" from a type of accordion, another instrument she played with great proficiency...
(who described it as her "most requested song" during her tenure on The Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
).