"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally written and first recorded in 1939 by
Solomon Linda[2] under the title "Mbube",[3] through South African
Gallo Record Company. Lyrics of Linda's original version were written in
Zulu, while those of the English one were later written by
George David Weiss.
In 1961, a version adapted into English with the title "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the
doo-wop group
The Tokens became a number-one hit in the
United States. It went on to earn millions in
royalties from cover versions and film licensing. The pop group
Tight Fit made a cover of the song in 1982, reaching
number one hit in the UK. This song is written and composed in the
key of
F major.
The original song title was "Mbube" (the
Zulu word for "
lion") and was written and first recorded in 1939 by
Solomon Linda,[6] a
South AfricanZulu singer, who worked for the
Gallo Record Company in
Johannesburg as a
cleaner and record packer. He spent his weekends performing with his musical ensemble, "The Evening Birds", and it was at this
record label, under the direction of producer "Griffiths Motsieloa", that Linda and his fellow musicians recorded several songs, including "Mbube", which incorporated a
call and response pattern common among many
Sub-Saharan Africanethnic groups, including the Zulu.
"Mbube" wasn't the most remarkable tune, but there was something compelling about the underlying chant, a dense meshing of low male voices above which Solomon yodelled and howled for two exhilarating minutes, improvising occasionally. The third take was the best, achieving immortality when Solly took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and improvised the
melody that the world now associates with these words:
In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.[2]
Issued as a 78-rpm
phonograph record[7] and marketed to black audiences, "Mbube" became a hit and Linda a star throughout
South Africa. By 1948, the song had sold over 100,000 copies in Africa and among black South African immigrants in Great Britain. Linda's song also gave the name to a style of African
A cappella music that evolved into Isicathamiya (also called Mbube music), popularized by the group
Ladysmith Black Mambazo.[8]
In 1949
Alan Lomax, then working as folk music director for
Decca Records, brought Solomon Linda's 78-rpm recording to the attention of his friend
Pete Seeger, leader of the
folk group
The Weavers. In November 1951, after having performed the song for at least a year in their concerts, The Weavers recorded an adapted version with brass, string orchestra and chorus and released it as a 78-rpm single titled "Wimoweh", a mishearing of the original song's chorus of "Uyimbube" ("You are a lion" in Zulu). Their version contained the chanting chorus "Wimoweh" and Linda's improvised line. The Weavers credited the song as "
Oral tradition", with arrangement by "Paul Campbell", later found to be a pseudonym used by The Weavers in order to claim royalties.[9] It reached Billboard's top ten and became a staple of The Weavers' live repertoire, achieving further exposure on their best-selling The Weavers at Carnegie HallLP album, recorded in 1955 and released in 1957.
Miriam Makeba also covered the song in 1960, with the original title "Mbube" and giving writing credits to "J. Linda".[9] In 1961, two
RCA Records producers,
Hugo Peretti and
Luigi Creatore, hired Weiss to arrange a
Doo-wop and
Rhythm and blues cover of "Wimoweh" for the B-side of a 45-rpm single called "Tina", sung by group
The Tokens. Weiss wrote the English lines "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, The lion sleeps tonight..." and "Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling...".[11] "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was issued by RCA in that year, and it rocketed to number one on the
Billboard Hot 100. Weiss' "Abilene Music, Inc." was the publisher of this arrangement, and listed "Albert Stanton" (a
pseudonym for "Al Brackman", the business partner of
Pete Seeger's music publisher,
Howie Richmond) as one of the song's writers or arrangers.[12]
Copyright issues
Social historian Ronald D. Cohen writes: "
Howie Richmond copyrighted many songs originally in the public domain but now slightly revised to satisfy Decca and also to reap profits".[13] Howie Richmond's claim of author's copyright could secure both the songwriter's royalties and his company's publishing share of the song earnings.[2]
Although
Solomon Linda was listed as a performer on the record itself,
the Weavers thought they had recorded a
traditional Zulu song. Their managers, the publisher, and their attorneys knew otherwise because they had been contacted by — and had reached an agreement with — Eric Gallo of
Gallo Record Company in
South Africa. The Americans maintained, however, that South African copyrights were not valid because South Africa was not a signatory to U.S. copyright law.[2] In the 1950s, after Linda's authorship was made clear,
Pete Seeger sent $1000 to the South African artist. The folk singer also said he instructed TRO/Folkways to henceforth pay his share of authors' earnings to Linda. Seeger apparently trusted his publisher's word of honor and either saw no need, or was unable, to make sure these instructions to be carried out.[2]
In 2000, South African journalist
Rian Malan wrote a feature article for Rolling Stone magazine in which he recounted Linda's story and estimated that the song had earned $15 million for its use in the
Disney 1994 movie The Lion King alone. The piece prompted filmmaker
François Verster to create the
Emmy-winning documentary A Lion's Trail, released in 2002, which tells Linda's story while incidentally exposing the workings of the multi-million dollar corporate music publishing industry.[14] In 2003 a CGI animation French TV series,
Pat & Stan, features protagonists, a brown hippopotamus and a yellow dog, singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". It marked the two's debut appearance and was the pilot episode to
ITV's shorts and the sketch of the same name.
In July 2004, as a result of the publicity generated by Malan's article and the subsequent documentary, the song became the subject of a lawsuit between Linda's estate and Disney, claiming that the latter owed $1.6 million in royalties for the use of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in the film and
musical stage productions of The Lion King.[15] At the same time, the Richmond Organization began to pay $3,000 annually to the Linda's estate. In February 2006, the South African singer's descendants reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music Publishers, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney, to place the earnings of the song in a trust.[16][17]