“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” that is also called “Wimba Way”, “Wimoweh” or “Awimbawe” was created and recorded for the first time by Solomon Linda and his band the Evening Birds in 1939. Originally the song was composed in Zulu and then covered internationally by Jimmy Dorsey, the Weavers, Yma Sumac, Miriam Makeba and the Kingston Trio. The Tokens’ version released in 1961 became the number one hit in the U.S.A. The song earned not less than US$15 million thanks to royalties from film licensing and cover versions. The song became one of the most popular folk tunes in the world and inspired generations in the States, in Europe, and in Africa.
The history of this tune started in South Africa. The creator of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, Solomon Linda spent his childhood in Zulu. He was not taught to write and read, but he was perfect in songwriting. In the 20s, he moved to the capital of South Africa where he was a member of an a capella band called the Evening Birds that charmed the audience in the beer halls. The group liked the traditional call-and-response chant, so they created 4-part harmonies and used Linda’s outstanding soaring over the top vocals (Gordon Harvey, 2015). Thus, they invented the new style that now defines the Zulu music (Lydia Hutchinson, 2011). Such sound was common for most of Linda’s singles, including the hit that wrote his name in the history of music - “Mbube.” “Mbube” should be pronounced as EEM-boo-beh and it means “lion” in Zulu. The lyrics of the song was centered on the words “mbube zimbe,” that mean “lion stop.” The song was recorded in 1939 and, for the first time for African records, it was sold out in more than 100,000 copies (Lydia Hutchinson, 2011).
In the 1940s, the song was very popular in Europe and in 1950s its fame came to the U.S.A. Thanks to the musicologist, Alan Lomax, the song became popular worldwide. He offered it to Pete Seeger who liked it and adapted for the Weavers. Pete Seeger misheard "Mbube" and called the song "Wimoweh". The Weavers created the record together with the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra. Their song got its place in the on the Billboard charts’ top ten in 1952 (Gordon Harvey, 2015). This version of the song did not have much lyrics, basically, they sang the title with vocal flourishes. Solomon Linda was not mentioned as the author of the song. He received 10 shillings (that equals to 87 cents nowadays) for singing it to Gallo Studios. Also as compensation, he was offered a job. He should have swept the floor and serve tea in the company’s packinghouse (Lydia Hutchinson, 2011).
In 1961, George David Weiss wrote the lyrics to “Wimoweh”. The renewed song became the most popular hit of the Tokens (Lydia Hutchinson, 2011). Just in two years after that, the song was translated in multiple languages from Finnish to Japanese and had more than 150 cover versions all over the world, but none of them lost the Linda’s concept and melody. The unique and catchy melody of “Wimoweh” worked for Nanci Griffith (folk-rock), Jimmy Dorsey (big band), *NSync (kiddie-pop), Glen Campbell (country), Eek-A-Mouse (reggae), Bert Kaempfert (Euro-easy listening), the New Zealand Army Band (military march), Lipa Schmeltzer (Yiddish), Yma Sumac (exotica). The tune was even used as the official theme of World Cup Squad 1986 (Mark Steyn, 2015). Also, the song featured in the Broadway musical The Lion King and Disney film in 1994.
The royalties paid by the publisher for this song could have made Linda a very rich man. But he died of kidney disease in a concrete hovel with the dirty floors that were covered in cow dung in 1962 (Mark Steyn, 2015). Only, 44 years after Linda died in poverty, in 2006, his estate got the rights to the royalties (Gordon Harvey, 2015).
Works cited
Harvey, G. “Story of a Song – The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. simplymusic.com. 2015. Web. Accessed 29 May 2016 at http://simplymusic.com/story-song-lion-sleeps-tonight-2/
Hutchinson, L. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. performingsongwriter.com. 2011. Web. Accessed 29 May 2016 at performingsongwriter.com/lion-sleeps-tonight/
Steyn, M. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. steynonline.com. 2015. Web. Accessed 29 May 2016 at www.steynonline.com/6003/the-lion-sleeps-tonight
