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"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens
Single by The Tokens
Length	2:39
Audio sample
Info (help·info)

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" began as a 1939 African popular music hit "Mbube" that, in modified versions, also became a hit in the US and UK.

"Mbube" (Zulu for "lion") was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. Gallo Record Company paid Linda a single fee for the recording and no royalties. "Mbube" became a hit throughout South Africa and sold about one hundred thousand copies during the 1940s. The song became so popular that Mbube lent its name to a style of African a cappella music, though the style has since been mostly replaced by isicathamiya (a softer version).

Alan Lomax brought the song to the attention of Pete Seeger of the folk group The Weavers. It was on one of several records Lomax loaned to Seeger.^[1] After having performed the song for at least a year in their concerts, in November, 1951, they recorded their version entitled "Wimoweh", a mishearing of the original song's chorus of 'uyimbube' (meaning "you're a lion"). Pete Seeger had made some of his own additions to the melody. The song was credited exclusively to Paul Campbell (Campbell being a pseudonym for the four members of the group: Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, Ronnie Gilbert, and Pete Seeger). Linda's name was unknown at the time, to a point where he did not receive credit even on his own original release of the song, "Mbube". Solomon Linda would not receive actual credit until years later, one of the earliest being Miriam Makeba's 1960 version of "Mbube" (credited to "J. Linda") when she came to the US and performed the song live at Webster Hall in New York City, accompanied by the Chad Mitchell Trio, released on her debut album on RCA Victor. (Note that on many CD releases of early versions, credits were updated to include Linda as the original song's composer, including the Weavers and the Kingston Trio versions.)

Pete Seeger explains in one recording, "it refers to an old legend down there, [about] their last king, who was known as Chaka The Lion. Legend says, Chaka The Lion didn't die when Europeans took over our country; he simply went to sleep, and he'll wake up some day." (See "Senzenina / Wimoweh" on Seeger's With Voices Together We Sing (Live).)

It was published by Folkways. Their 1952 version, arranged by Gordon Jenkins, became a top-twenty hit in the U.S., and their live 1957 recording turned it into a folk music staple. This version was covered in 1959 by the The Kingston Trio.

New lyrics to the song were written by George Weiss, Luigi Creatore, and Hugo Peretti, based very loosely upon the meaning of the original song. The Tokens' 1961 cover of this version rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and still receives fairly frequent replay on many American oldies radio stations. In the UK an up-tempo rendering of this version was a top-ten hit for Karl Denver and his Trio. In 1971 Robert John did a cover of this version. Since then, "Wimoweh" / "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" has remained popular and frequently covered.

Contents 1 Copyright issues 2 Selected list of recorded versions 2.1 Mbube 2.2 Wimoweh 2.3 The Lion Sleeps Tonight 3 References 4 Trivia 5 External links

Pete Seeger later said in the book A Lion's Trail, "The big mistake I made was not making sure that my publisher signed a regular songwriters’ contract with Linda. My publisher simply sent Linda some money and copyrighted The Weavers’ arrangement here and sent The Weavers some money."

In 2000 South African journalist Rian Malan wrote a feature article for Rolling Stone magazine, highlighting Linda's story and estimating that the song had earned U.S. $15 million for its use in the movie The Lion King alone; this prompted the South African documentary "A Lion's Trail" by François Verster that documented the song's history. Screened by PBS, in September 2006, the documentary won an Emmy Award.

In July 2004 the song became the subject of a lawsuit between the family of its writer Solomon Linda and Disney. The suit claimed that Disney owed $1.6 million in royalties for the use of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in the film and stage production of The Lion King. Meanwhile, publisher of The Weavers' "Wimoweh", TRO/Folkways, began to pay $3000 annually to Linda's heirs.

In February 2006 Linda's heirs reached a legal settlement for an undisclosed amount with Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney. This settlement applies to worldwide rights, not just South African, since 1987.

• 1939 Mbube - Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds (South African hit)
• 1960 Mbube - Miriam Makeba
• 1988 Mbube - Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Coming to America soundtrack

The above is exclusive to the movie alone (VHS or DVD) and was not a part of the actual released soundtrack (vinyl, CD, or otherwise). The version was also never a part of any other LBM recorded offering.

• 1993 Mbube - Mahotella Queens, Women of the World
• 1999 Mbube - Ladysmith Black Mambazo, In Harmony
• 2006 Mbube - Mahotella Queens, Reign & Shine
• 2006 Mbube - Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Long Walk to Freedom

• 1952 Wimoweh - The Weavers US #6
• 1952 Wimoweh - Jimmy Dorsey
• 1952 Wimoweh - Yma Sumac
• 1957 Wimoweh - The Weavers on live Carnegie Hall album
• 1959 Wimoweh - The Kingston Trio
• 1961 Wimoweh - Karl Denver Trio UK #4 (1962 release)
• 1993 Wimoweh - Nanci Griffith with Odetta, on Other Voices, Other Rooms

• 1961 The Tokens US #1, UK #11
• 1962 Henri Salvador (French language version "Le lion est mort ce soir") French #1 ...Salvador also recorded a version in German as "Der Löwe Schläft Heut' Nacht (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)".
• 1965 The New Christy Minstrels
• 1971 Eric Donaldson
• 1972 Robert John US #3
• 1972 Dave Newman UK #34 (sound-a-like/cover of the then-current Robert John US version)
• 1974 Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus (as "Rise Jah Jah Children")
• 1975 Brian Eno
• 1975 Bamse (Flemming Jørgensen) (Danish language version "Vimmersvej")
• 1982 Tight Fit UK #1
• 1982 The Nylons
• 1989 Sandra Bernhard (recorded October, 1988)
• 1992 name tk Japanese #1
• 1992 They Might Be Giants with Laura Cantrell as "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)"
• 1993 Pow woW French #1 (Cover of "Le lion est mort ce soir)
• 1993 R.E.M. (B-side track on the single release of "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite", which itself references "The Lion Sleeps Tonight")
• 1994 Film and 1997 Broadway versions of The Lion King ...Broadway Cast version by Lebo M
• 1997 *NSYNC
• 2000 Helmut Lotti and Golden Symphonic Orchestra in "Out of Africa"
• 2000 Laurie Berkner on "Whaddaya Think of That?" CD
• 2001 Caribbean group Baha Men sampled the song on their own single, "You All Dat".
• 2003 Morgan Arons ...Morgan was accompanied by Jay Siegel (of the Tokens) on her recording

1. ^ Liner notes, "Pete Seeger's Greatest Hits," released 1962.

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• In early 2006, a clip of the digitally animated hippo & dog duo Pat & Stanley singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" circulated widely around the Internet. It had originated about 5 years earlier.
• In 1981 German NDW Band "Profil" did a mostly instrumental German version of "Wimoweh" called "Immer Mehr" (= "Always More") as the B-side of their hit single "Berühren".
• In the sitcom Friends, Ross Geller's monkey Marcel is shown to have a particular liking for the song in the episode The One with all the Poker. In fact, in a later episode, The One After the Superbowl, Part Two another character form the show, Joey Tribbiani sings most of the song along with the rest of the gang to help the monkey remember the gang.
• In an early college film by Sam Raimi entitled Cleveland Smith: Waders of the Lost Park, Bruce Campbell plays a parody of Indiana Jones. Falling from the sky, he lands in a cannibal cookpot. As they boil him, the blackface "natives" dance around singing "Oweemboay-oweemboay-oweemboay" in an obvious send-up of the song.
• The Portuguese comedy show Gato Fedorento featured the song in one of his sketches, "El Chato", where El Chato (Spanish for The Annoying, played by Zé Diogo Quintela), a bull annoyer, sings the song very loud to annoy a bull.
• The song is a soundtrack of the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
• The song was featured in the movie The Sandlot.
• In 1960, two vocal versions were released with original words added to the melodic chant. One was by the Randy Sparks Three called "Eh Wimoweh" on their Verve lp #2143. The lyric there was composed by members Jackie Sparks and Paul Sykes. The next was by Kitty White called "Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps)" (Dot 16157, released October, 1960). Unlike the Tokens version, which came along a year later, this one had nothing to do with a sleeping lion, but was more a tribute to her man. Kitty White adapted the song with her own lyric.
• Timon and Pumbaa briefly sang the Tokens' version of the song in the Disney film The Lion King.
• Dave Chappelle sang the song (while dressed as Nelson Mandela) during a talk show spoof in the second season of Chappelle's Show.
• The song has been referenced in three episodes of The Simpsons: Insane Clown Poppy, Treehouse of Horror XIII and My Big Fat Geek Wedding.
• In Rise of the Cybermen, an episode of Doctor Who, the song is played by a character to drown out the sound of people screaming.
• The song was featured in the movie No Reservations.

• Rondo Histriae mixed choir from Croatia chant The Lion Sleep Tonight - (video)
• Sample of Mbube performed by Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds (WMA Stream].
• PBS: The Lion's Trail
• Time: It's a Lawsuit, a Mighty Lawsuit
• NPR: All Things Considered: Family of 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' Writer to Get Millions
• Telegraph: Penniless singer's family sue Disney for Lion King royalties
• Article on the song's history by Mark Steyn, specifically illuminating Pete Seeger's role
• Bob Shannon's BEHIND THE HITS backgound story of the song originally published with John Javna in 1986 and updated since, plus comprehensive song listing by Fred Clemens

Preceded by "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (The Tokens version) December 18, 1961	Succeeded by "The Twist" by Chubby Checker
Preceded by "Town Called Malice" by The Jam	UK number one single (Tight Fit version) February 28, 1982	Succeeded by "Seven Tears" by Goombay Dance Band