Pete Seeger expressed concerns about the copyright laws associated with the song… Although Linda’s name was listed as a performer on the record, The Weavers assumed that the song was traditional. The Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” – 1961 (start at 0:15) The Weavers with Pete Seeger “Wimoweh” – 1952 (start at 1:13) Why am I thinking about this again? Because that copyright course I took a couple of months ago had a reference to the history behind the controversy over “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and links to these three YouTube videos: Issued by RCA in 1961, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” rocketed to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. But ultimately, they allowed themselves to be persuaded. The Tokens, who loved The Weavers’ version of the song… were appalled and were initially reluctant to sing the new arrangement.
![mbube wimoweh mbube wimoweh](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/70/bc/bd/70bcbdac7b404fa6ff1da7944841ba37--the-lion-sleeps-tonight-ukelele.jpg)
He also brought in the soprano voice of opera singer Anita Darian to vocalize (reprising Yma Sumac)… her eerie descant sounding almost like another instrument. Hush, my darling, don’t fear, my darling, etc. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight… In 1961, two RCA producers…engaged Juilliard-trained musician and lyricist George David Weiss to fashion an arrangement for a planned new pop music cover of “Wimoweh”… Weiss wrote English lyrics: I always preferred the non-orchestrated version myself here’s the live reunion version at Carnegie Hall. It achieved mass exposure (without orchestra) in their best-selling The Weavers at Carnegie Hall LP album, recorded in 1955 and issued in 1957, and was covered extensively by other folk revival groups… In November 1951, after having performed the song for at least a year in their concerts, The Weavers recorded an adapted version with brass and string orchestra and chorus as a 78 single entitled “Wimoweh”, a mishearing of the original song’s chorus of “Uyimbube”, Zulu: You are a lion… It reached Billboard’s top ten and became a staple of The Weavers’ live repertoire.
![mbube wimoweh mbube wimoweh](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MyCJfaY3ycg/UkntBTu3XsI/AAAAAAAABjs/igSI9js1wls/s1600/Mbube.jpg)
In 1949, Alan Lomax, then working as folk music director for Decca Records, brought Linda’s 78 recording to the attention of his friend Pete Seeger of the folk group The Weavers. This Wikipedia post tells how Mbube was a song written by Solomon Linda and recorded by him originally with the group the Evening Birds for the Gallo Record Company of South Africa in 1939. It’s the narrative of a particular song you’ve probably heard. Way back in December 2008, Coverville, one of my favorite podcasts, presented an episode, #535, Mbube to Wimoweh – The Lion Sleeps Tonight Cover Story.