Two died as babies, one of malnutrition, said his daughter Ms. When they passed a grade in school, their reward was an egg. His eight children survived on maize porridge, known as pap. He also got a job sweeping floors and serving tea in the company's packing house. Linda received 10 shillings - about 87 cents today - when he signed over the copyright of "Mbube" in 1952 to Gallo Studios, the company that produced his record. Instead, he lived in Soweto with barely a stick of furniture, sleeping on a dirt floor carpeted with cow dung. It was translated into languages from Dutch to Japanese. Some 150 artists eventually recorded the song. He added lyrics beginning "In the jungle, the mighty jungle." A teen group called the Tokens sang it with a doo-wop beat - and it topped charts worldwide. Linda's recording and transformed it into the melody. Weiss took the last 20 improvised seconds of Mr. There followed a jazz version, a nightclub version, another folk version by the Kingston Trio, a pop version and finally, in 1961, a reworking of the song by an American songwriter, George Weiss. Seeger sang it as "wimoweh," and turned it into a folk music staple. His version differed from the original mainly in his misinterpretation of the word "mbube" (pronounced "EEM-boo-beh"). In the early 50's, Pete Seeger recorded it with his group, the Weavers. recording of "Mbube" was probably the first African record to sell 100,000 copies.įrom there, it took flight worldwide. He had been staying there since morning and he was hungry." The lyrics were spartan - just mbube and zimba, which means "stop" - but its chant and harmonies were so entrancing that the song came to define a whole generation of Zulu a cappella singing, a style that became known simply as Mbube. "The lion was going round and round, and the lion was happy," she said. Linda's youngest surviving daughter, said it had been inspired by her father's childhood as a herder protecting cattle in the untamed hinterlands. Linda's group, the Original Evening Birds, into a recording studio where they produced a startling hit called "Mbube," Zulu for "The Lion." Elizabeth Nsele, Mr. He sang soprano over a four-part harmony, a vocal style that was soon widely imitated.īy 1939, a talent scout had ushered Mr. After moving to Johannesburg in his mid-20's, he quickly conquered the weekend music scene at the township beer halls and squalid hostels that housed much of the city's black labor force. Linda never learned to read or write, but in song he was supremely eloquent. Were he still alive, Solomon Linda might turn it into one heck of a ballad.īorn in 1909 in the Zulu heartland of South Africa, Mr. It is fraught with racism and exploitation and, in the end, 40-plus years after his death, brings a measure of justice. Since then, there have been many, many covers of 'Lion', and some more of 'Wimoweh', too.JOHANNESBURG - As Solomon Linda first recorded it in 1939, it was a tender melody, almost childish in its simplicity - three chords, a couple of words and some baritones chanting in the background.īut the saga of the song now known worldwide as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is anything but a lullaby. Karl Denver did a version or 5 of 'Wimoweh' at various stages. The song went down a storm and hit No.1 for 3 weeks. Not having any copyright and embarrased by the falsetto voice bit, they didn't release the song, until their record label convinced them too. The Tokens liked the tune and penned the familiar 'Lion' lyrics, and recorded the song in the very early 60's. The Weavers did a cover in the late 1950's. The song 'wimoweh' is based quite strongly on 'Mbube'. The history of the song when it was brought to these shores is scattered, although it is known that the phonetic pronounciation of 'mbube' is very close to 'wimoweh', and that's where the lyric came from. Well, Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds released the original 'Mbube' (in 1939), which is in Zulu. "What's the difference between 'Wimoweh' and 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight'?" I hear you cry? The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Caribbean Version) There are lyrics to the Lebo M version here I couldn't even hope to outdo this history of the song. I am, in fact, so obsessed with this song that I currently have 86 different recordings of it, by 72 different artists. Yes, it even out-does 'New York City' by They Might Be Giants This has to be my all-time favorite song. uk - The Lion Sleeps Tonight!ģ0/April/2023 - London time is 04:02 (BST)
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