"Walk Like an Egyptian" | ||||||||||||||||
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1986 cover art
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Single by The Bangles | ||||||||||||||||
from the album Different Light | ||||||||||||||||
B-side |
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Released | 1986 | |||||||||||||||
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Recorded | Sunset Sound Factory (1985) | |||||||||||||||
Genre | Pop rock | |||||||||||||||
Length | 3:24 | |||||||||||||||
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Writer(s) | Liam Sternberg | |||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | David Kahne | |||||||||||||||
The Bangles singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||
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"Walk Like an Egyptian" is a song made famous by American band the Bangles. It was released in 1986 as the third single from the album Different Light. It was a million-selling single and became Billboard's number-one song of 1987.
Music producer Liam Sternberg wrote the song after seeing people on a ferry walking awkwardly to keep their balance. Their poses reminded him of figures in some Ancient Egyptian paintings and reliefs.
By January 1984, Sternberg had finished cutting a demo version of the song with the singer Marti Jones. He offered his song to Toni Basil, who turned it down.Lene Lovich recorded the first version of the song, but it went unreleased when Lovich decided to take a break from music to raise her family. From Peer Southern Publishing, David Kahne, the producer of Different Light, 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, with Vicki Peterson, Michael Steele and Susanna Hoffs singing lead vocals on the first, second, and third verses, respectively, in the final version. Kahne did not like any of Debbi Peterson's leads, and so she was relegated to backing vocals. This angered Peterson and caused tension within the group. The situation was exacerbated by the drumming in the song being done by a drum machine instead of by her, further diminishing her role in the song. (Peterson can be seen playing the tambourine during their 1986 performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test.)