The Sheik of Araby

The Sheik of Araby was made famous by the Rudolph Valentino silent movie called The Sheik. It was originally written in 1921 by Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler with music by Ted Snyder. Billy Rose re-wrote the lyrics and published it in 1926 under the title, That Night in Araby. It became a jazz standard, and was especially popular in New Orleans, as there was a gambling town down river named "Arabi," famous in the 1950's.

The Beatles recorded the song for the Decca audition on January 1, 1962. It was later made publicly available in the Anthology 1 collection in November of 1995. The Beatles used a rock and roll version of the song, patterned on a record by Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, released in 1961. George Harrison, who was a Joe Brown admirer, sang the lead vocals. Even though the Beatles had performed it often in their live set, both in Germany and in Liverpool, the studio recording seemed lightweight by comparison.