Rather like King Arthur, there was a folk belief that Shaka is not dead but only sleeping and one day he will return to liberate his people from their colonial oppressors. The first is that the “lion” referred to in the song is none other than the famous Zulu king Shaka Zulu (the subject of this famous poem) who acquired legendary status after his death. There are two other fascinating things about this tune. The song was also used in the Disney film The Lion King without any royalties being paid, leading to a lawsuit brought by Linda’s surviving relatives (which was settled out of court). Solomon Linda sold the rights to the Gallo record company for just ten shillings in 1949 so never received significant income from the worldwide sales. In the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps. Since then it has had more cover versions than I’ve had hot dinners, mostly with an English title The Lion Sleeps Tonight or Wimoweh, a not-entirely-accurate phonetic attempt to render the isiZulu phrase uyimbube (“you are a lion”) which occurs in the song. Solomon Lindas Original Evening Birds - Mbube - The Original Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) Lyrics.
The song Mbube by South African singer and composer Solomon Linda was first performed in 1939 and was an immediate hit in his native land. To cut a long story short I found this, and it’s been in my head ever since so I thought I’d share it here. THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT (Wimoweh) The original song 'Mbube' (Zulu: lion) was written in the 1920s by Solomon Linda, a South African singer of Zulu origin. I couldn’t identify some of the sounds so when I came inside I started googling about for various combinations of “birds singing in the evening”. The other evening it was warm enough for me to sit out in the garden, listening to the birdsong until it got dark. Cash Box said, “May easily break”.And now for something completely different… It was a startling departure from everything else the Weavers had ever done, but Billboard loved it, anointing it a Pick of the Week. And then Pete cut loose with all that hollering and screaming. Strings swooped and soared through Solomon’s miracle melody. Maybe he was growing bored, because his arrangement of “Wimoweh” was a great Vegas-y explosion of big-band raunch that almost equalled the barbaric splendour of the Zulu original. Prior to this, Jenkins had been very subdued in his instrumental approach, adding just the occasional sting and the odd swirl of strings to the Weavers’ cheery singalongs. Like earlier recordings, it took place with Gordon Jenkins presiding and an orchestra in attendance. This is great - Kookaburra pointed to a fascinating article about the origins and history of “Wimoweh” (more popularly known as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”) called Where does the lion sleep tonight? that I’ve been browsing off and on for the past hour in breaks between jobs. Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on July 25, 2003).
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