Walk like an Egyptian....

I'm not a very "musical" person.  My assorted relatives a couple generations down were amazed that I don't own ear buds, don't have a music streaming service...heck, I don't even listen to music when I'm driving.  Meh.

But every now and then a song, or in this case a music video, captures a moment in time and I take a liking to it.  For instance....The Bangles, and Walk like an Egyptian.....

Here's the full video.....it brings back the 80's every time....

1986.  Women mostly had hair like that.  It was a silly era.  So what was the actual story behind this nonsense?

I assumed it was a call back to the famous Steve Martin appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1978.  And I bet there is some indirect influence.  He was very much, and very over the top, dancing like an Egyptian.

But the actual story is odd.  Apparently the song writer, a certain Liam Sterberg, was crossing the English Channel in a ferry during rough seas.  As the boat swayed side to side the passengers had to do a sort of "Egyptian" dance move to stay steady.  I've crossed the Channel back in the days before the hover ferry and the Chunnel.  I can relate.  The first few lines of the song seem to reflect this story when they mention "..if you move too quick...you're falling down like a domino.."

I was new in medical practice and a first time father when Walk Like an Egyptian came out in 1986.  So I probably did not notice it at the time or even know who The Bangles were.  But as they are my age contemporaries its nice to find on a bit of searching that they are all alive and seem to have had mostly successful lives.  

Not all the people appearing in the video did.  Princess Diana would die in a traffic accident 11 years later.  Muammar Quadaffi had a few brushes with mortality before meeting an unfortunate but not undeserved end in 2011.  And the fire fighters of Ladder Company 100, well, some of them would have a date with destiny on September 11th, 2001.  Which makes this image from the end of the video especially poignant.  The Lady who is doing various Egyptian moves has her torch directly above the Twin Towers.