The Tokens went to the top of the charts with this soaring doo-wop adaptation of a Zulu chant. Solomon Linda improvised much of the original 'Mbube' which translates to "lion". It was so popular that it lent its name to a style of African a cappella music, which later developed into the quieter isicathamiya. Pete Seeger and his folk group The Weavers covered the song and had a hit adapting the song with brass and strings and changing the title to 'Wimoweh'. Ten years later, songwriting partners Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore teamed up with George David Weiss added new English lyrics and a new arrangement, calling their new version 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'. Brooklyn singing group the Tokens were guitarist Joe Venneri, multi-instrumentalist first tenor Mitch Margo and his baritone brother Phil Margo who had joined Hank Medress and Jay Siegel in 1960. The production team at RCA also brought in opera singer Anita Darian for the sessions. It spent three weeks at number one and sold over a million copies. When it was included in the film 'The Lion King' it generated over fifteen million dollars, which led filmmaker François Verster to make his Emmy-winning documentary 'A Lion's Trail' about how Solomon Linda's family had received none of that money. In the aftermath, Linda's heirs reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music.
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle, the quiet jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
Near the village, the peaceful village
The lion sleeps tonight
Near the village, the quiet village
The lion sleeps tonight
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
Hush my darling, don't fear my darling
The lion sleeps tonight
Hush my darling, don't fear my darling
The lion sleeps tonight
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
'Wimoweh' was the way the Weavers heard the chorus of "Uyimbube" in the original. They were Greenwich Village folkies led by Pete Seeger. Seeger says: "it refers to an old legend of last king of the Zulus, who was known as Shaka The Lion. Legend says, Shaka didn't die when Europeans took over their country, he simply went to sleep, and he'll wake up some day" - hence its other name 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'
In 1939, the original called 'Mbube' was recorded by Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds and became such a success in South Africa that it spawned its own genre of music characterized by loud and powerful a cappella four part harmony. It is rumored that Linda based the song on an event from his youth when he killed a lion cub.
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