The Lion Sleeps Tonight
The Tokens
Written by Solomon Linda in 1939
Written in the late 1930's, the original title of this African doo-wop song was titled "Mbube," pronounced EEM-boo-beh),
which means lion. It was sung with a haunting Zulu refrain that sounded, to English-speaking people, like "wimoweh."
Some of us always thought they were singing "I wing my way," and were left to ponder how lions could fly. It was a big hit
in the 1940's in Swaziland and sold nearly 100,000 copies by its originator, a South African named Solomon Linda.
Soloman wrote it based on a childhood experience chasing lions that were stalking the family's cattle, and recorded the tune
in 1939 with his group, The Evening Birds.
In 1952 Pete Seeger, of the American folk group the Weavers, recorded the song as "Wimoweh," and it became a Top 15 hit.
It was basically an instrumental with the group singing "wimoweh" over and over, with other vocal flourishes. The tune
really took off in 1957 after the Weavers sang it at Carnegie Hall. The Kingston Trio released a version in 1959.
Linda rarely received credit for the score and died around the time of the Kingston recording with only $25 to his name.
His heirs are still pursuing royalties from the song that is perhaps one of the most well-known worldwide hits.
The story does not end here. In New York City, there was a doo-wop group called the Tokens, who had originated in a
Brooklyn high school with Neil Sedaka as the lead singer. Sedaka left to become a solo star and the group re-formed with
all new members, except Hank Medress, who was an original member. They were offered an audition with RCA Records and did
so with a song called "Wimoweh." RCA asked them to re-write many of the lyrics and renamed the song "The Lion Sleeps tonight."
The Tokens hated the title and felt "embarrassed" by it as too romantic. Despite their objections, the song was
recorded and released in May 1961. Classically-trained singer Anita Darian supplied the high soprano during the sax solo
as as the counter melody to the lead vocal. Better yet, the flip side of the released record, "Tina," was the song that
RCA executives promoted. However, DJ's began playing the flip side of "The Lion" and it was a number 1 hit by Christmas.
The Tokens were no longer embarrassed. In 1971 Robert John's version hit the airwaves, and it sold a million copies
again. Ironically several of the Token band sang on the new release with John. The "Lion" apparently never sleeps.
After listening to the audio version, take a couple more minutes and watch the fascinating pictorial put together
by the UK YouTube folks, located below the Win Media icon.
For the full YouTube video version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, click here to play.