C'est Sheik

As Elijah Wald's liner notes for Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks reminds us, "When Rudolph Valentino galloped across the sands of Hollywood on his Arabian stallion and bent the lovely Agnes Ayres to his will, he transformed a generation of young Americans."

The film was The Sheik, and its influence lay heavily on first-generation Americans and new arrivals, especially those with dark complexions, off the boats that had only recently slowed. The year was 1921, and sheiks caught the nation's attention and ire. The word itself exuded an exotic virility, savage sophistication, and animal passion to a roaring generation that was arguably the first golden age of American youth. Even men for whom the idea of sheik chic was foreign or silly couldn't deny the attraction the image held for women. "The Sheik of Araby" ruled as the most popular song of the year, and its parody version "The Sheik of Araby (With No Pants On)" perpetuated its life among jazz bands and children – the Beatles used the original at their Decca audition.

Naturally, musicians picked up on the sheik mystique. The Beale Street Sheiks and the Mississippi Sheiks embodied the word's appeal much like royal terms such as "kings," "dukes," and "knights" turn up in band names throughout the decades. "Playboy" is a likewise popular appellation, particularly in the South and Louisiana among Cajun and zydeco bands, similarly suggestive of prosperity and easy sex.

Neither is this the first time the name Texas Sheiks has been used in the Lone Star State. The late Keith Ferguson and Uncle John Turner – both Johnny Winter alumni – with Jack Morgan and Krackerjack vocalist Bruce Bowland traveled between Dallas and Austin as the Texas Sheiks in the mid-1970s, electrifying blues with rock & roll power. That makes total sense because Turner schooled Winter in the blues, teaching him about Texas field hollers and Delta blues.

Muldaur didn't know that, but it likely wouldn't have made any difference. The name is a universal conjuring of tradition and exotica at once. Rudolf Valentino never imagined that 90 years after he flew across the staged desert, the sheik would still be conquering.

Django Reinhardt & Quintette du Hot Club de France, 1937, "The Sheik of Araby"