When the vessel hit choppy water, passengers stepped carefully and moved their arms awkwardly while struggling to maintain their balance, and that reminded Sternberg of the depiction of human figures in ancient Egyptian tomb paintings.

Later, Sternberg looked back in the notebook and, composing the melody with a guitar, he put together an up-tempo song with lyrics about Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Nile River, crocodiles, desert sand, bazaars and hookah pipes and then segued into modern scenes of blonde waitresses, school children and police officers.

[6] Sternberg finished a demo version by January 1984 with the singer Marti Jones, featuring percussion with kitchen implements.

Kahne disliked Debbi Peterson's leads, so she was relegated to backing vocals, which angered her and caused tension within the group.

[10] Di Cross of Record Mirror considered "Walk Like an Egyptian" an example of the Bangles "adopting an eastern flavour amidst the statutory guitars, jangly noises, and quaint vocals, sucking in the candyfloss pop of some predictably inoffensive lyrics", which the reviewer deemed a style regression in the band's career.

[13] It shows the Bangles performing the song at a concert and scenes of people dancing in poses similar to those depicted in the Ancient Egyptian reliefs that inspired Sternberg.

Most of these people were filmed on the streets of New York City, although special effects were used to modify photos of Diana, Princess of Wales and the then Prince Charles, the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and the Statue of Liberty.

The Movie,[64] in season 3 of Eastbound & Down and during the closing credits of Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra by Alain Chabat, one of the biggest successes in French cinema box-office history.