telescreen.org: The Lion Can Finally Sleep Tonight

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March 23, 2006

In 1939, a thirty-year-old man named Solomon Linda walked into a recording studio in Johannesburg, South Africa -- the only studio in sub-Saharan Africa, actually -- and improvised "Mbube", a devastatingly simple a cappella song with two words, three chords, and some chants (supplied by his group, the Original Evening Birds.)

The song was catchy. Very catchy. Catchy enough that it lent its name to a style of choral Zulu music, which became known as "Mbube music." And catchy enough that it became the first African record to sell over 100,000 copies (not bad at all in the days of 78s) and to cross over into the American marketplace. It later was transformed into a massive worldwide hit that has earned tens of millions of dollars.

See, musicologist Alan Lomax ran across a copy of "Mbube" and gave it to his folksinger friend Pete Seeger, who led The Weavers. Seeger, mishearing the Zulu chorus of "uyembube" ("you're a lion"), retitled the song "Wimoweh" and recorded it in 1952. After that version came out, it was recorded by Jimmy Dorsey. By Yma Sumac. By the Weavers, again, in a live version at Carnegie Hall. By the Kingston Trio. And, after three producers wrote new lyrics for it in 1961, it became a smash for teenage doo-wop group the Tokens (after the departure of their original lead singer, Neil Sedaka), under its new title, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

It's been recorded countless times since, by artists ranging from Miriam Makeba to N'Sync to Glenn Campbell to They Might Be Giants to Chet Atkins. It's been featured in at least thirteen movies, and not incidentally the juggernaut Broadway musical "The Lion King." All of which means big money...none of which went to Solomon Linda, the original composer of the music that went around the world. He had signed his copyright over to the recording-studio owner for 10 shillings -- just 87 cents in today's money. He died in 1962, a year after the Tokens took his song to #1. His bank account at his death held just $22. His widow and children lived in a shack with a cow-dung floor in Soweto, subsisting on a diet of corn porridge and chicken feet, and the childrens' yearly reward for passing another grade in school was an egg.

In 2000, journalist Rian Malan wrote a great Rolling Stone article that traced the history of the song from "Mbube" to "Wimoweh" to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", estimating that the song had earned over $15 million in its use in "The Lion King" alone. That article led to a PBS documentary, and ultimately a lawsuit.

Under the 1911 copyright law in force in South Africa at the time of the song's 1939 recording, the copyright reverted to the Linda estate in 1987, 25 years after his death. Which means that Solomon Linda's children missed out on a whole pile of money that was due them. They filed suit in 2004 for $1.6 million in back royalties and other compensation. And yesterday, the Times reported that the lawsuit was settled in February. Abilene Music, the company controlled by George Weiss, one of the producers who wrote the English lyrics to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in 1961, has agreed to pay the Linda family royalties from 1987 onward.

So it's a happy ending for Solomon Linda's family, and they can finally move ahead. Go read that Rolling Stone article linked above -- it's fantastic. And check out the Times article linked in the above graf. They've got a neat feature which lets you hear significant versions of the song as it evolved.

Posted on March 23, 2006 at 12:43 PM | Permalink

Comments

You're kidding about NSync, right? Oh, please say you're kidding. For the love of all that's good, please say you're kidding.

Posted by: Ayelet | March 23, 2006 at 07:11 PM

Would I lie to you?

Posted by: [email protected] | March 23, 2006 at 09:57 PM

Did you hear the NPR story about the song Miserlou (sp?) that Dick Dale recorded (most folks know it from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack)? There oughta be a book compiling all these stories.
I also keep meaning to read the book about the song Stagger Lee and the actual events that inspired it.
Really great post, Vidiot.

Posted by: monk | March 24, 2006 at 09:14 AM

Monk -- Ironic Sans has a blog entry on Misirlou that includes an iTunes iMix (i'Mnotkidding) of all the versions iTunes has available. It's pretty interesting.

Vidiot -- Thanks for linking to that article. I first knew of the song from the original Weavers recording (Dad's a huge Weavers fan. It's much of what we listened to on the car's 8-track when we were little) and I knew it came from an African song, but didn't know more about the history. It's an interesting story and I'm glad there's a mostly happy ending.

Posted by: czeltic girl | March 24, 2006 at 06:44 PM

Glad it's happy ending. I'll post it in my blog with your address as the source. If there's any problem, please email me.

Posted by: lion_girl | April 29, 2006 at 10:52 PM

I distinctly remember seeing and hearing The Billy Williams Quartet sing wimowey on Sid Cesar's Your Show of Shows in 1950 or 51. It was so popular that they were frequently requested to repeat it...... It was a superior version ! I can't find a trace of it.

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