The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"Mbube" (Zulu for "lion") was written by Solomon Linda,[6] a South African Zulu singer, who worked for the Gallo Record Company in Johannesburg as a cleaner and record packer. He spent his weekends performing with the Evening Birds, a musical ensemble, and it was at Gallo Records, under the direction of producer Griffiths Motsieloa, that Linda and his fellow musicians recorded several songs, including "Mbube", which incorporated a call-response pattern common among many Sub-Saharan African ethnic groups, including the Zulu.

According to journalist Rian Malan:

"Mbube" wasn't the most remarkable tune, but there was something compelling about the underlying chant, a dense meshing of low male voices above which Solomon yodelled and howled for two exhilarating minutes, improvising occasionally. The third take was the best, achieving immortality when Solly took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and improvised the melody that the world now associates with these words:

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.[2]

Issued by Gallo as a 78-rpm phonograph record in 1939,[7] and marketed to black audiences, "Mbube" became a hit and Linda a star throughout South Africa. By 1948, the song had sold over 100,000 copies in Africa and among black South African immigrants in Great Britain. Linda's song also gave the name to a style of African a cappella music that evolved into isicathamiya (also called mbube), popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.[8]

In 1949, Alan Lomax, then working as folk music director for Decca Records, brought Solomon Linda's 78 recording to the attention of his friend Pete Seeger of the folk group The Weavers. 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 and released it as a 78 single titled "Wimoweh", a mishearing of the original song's chorus of "Uyimbube" ("You are a lion" in Zulu). Their version contained the chanting chorus "Wimoweh" and Linda's improvised melodic line. The Weavers credited the song as "Traditional", with arrangement by "Paul Campbell", later found to be a pseudonym used by the Weavers in order to claim royalties.[9] It reached Billboard's top ten and became a staple of The Weavers' live repertoire, achieving further exposure on their best-selling The Weavers at Carnegie Hall LP album, recorded in 1955 and issued in 1957. The song was also covered extensively by other folk revival groups such as The Kingston Trio, and exotica singer Yma Sumac. However, Miriam Makeba, in 1960, recorded the same song as "Mbube", with the writing credit given to "J. Linda".[9]

In 1961, two RCA Records producers, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, hired Juilliard-trained musician and lyricist George David Weiss to arrange a Doo-wop and Rhythm & blues cover of "Wimoweh" for the B-side of a 45-rpm single called "Tina", sung by group The Tokens. Weiss wrote the English lines "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, The lion sleeps tonight ..." and "Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling ..."

Weiss also brought in soprano Anita Darian to reprise Yma Sumac's version, before, during and after the soprano saxophone solo.[10] "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was issued by RCA in 1961, and it rocketed to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Weiss's Abilene Music Inc. was the publisher of this arrangement, and listed "Albert Stanton" (a pseudonym for Al Brackman, the business partner of Pete Seeger's music publisher, Howie Richmond) as one of the song's writers or arrangers.

Social historian Ronald D. Cohen writes, "Howie Richmond copyrighted many songs originally in the public domain but now slightly revised to satisfy Decca and also to reap profits."[11] Howie Richmond's claim of author's copyright could secure both the songwriter's royalties and his company's publishing share of the song's earnings.[2]

Although Linda was listed as a performer on the record itself, the Weavers thought they had recorded a traditional Zulu song. Their managers, publisher, and their attorneys knew otherwise because they had been contacted by— and had reached an agreement with— Eric Gallo of Gallo Records in South Africa. The Americans maintained, however, that South African copyrights were not valid because South Africa was not a signatory to U.S. copyright law.[2] In the 1950s, after Linda's authorship was made clear, Seeger sent Linda $1000. Seeger also said he instructed TRO/Folkways to henceforth pay his share of authors' earnings to Linda. The folksinger apparently trusted his publisher's word of honor and either saw no need, or was unable to make sure these instructions were carried out.[2]

In 2000, South African journalist Rian Malan wrote a feature article for Rolling Stone magazine in which he recounted Linda's story and estimated that the song had earned $15 million for its use in the Disney movie The Lion King alone. The piece prompted filmmaker François Verster to create the Emmy-winning documentary A Lion's Trail, that told Linda's story while incidentally exposing the workings of the multi-million dollar corporate music publishing industry.[12] In 2003 a CGI animation was released with Pat & Stan singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It marked the two's debut appearance and was the pilot episode to ITV's shorts and the TV series sketch of the same name.

In July 2004, as a result of the publicity generated by Malan's article and the subsequent documentary, the song became the subject of a lawsuit between Linda's estate and Disney, claiming that Disney owed $1.6 million in royalties for the use of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in the film and musical stage productions of The Lion King.[13] At the same time, the Richmond Organization began to pay $3,000 annually into Linda's estate. In February 2006, Linda's descendants reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music Publishers, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney, to place the earnings of the song in a trust.[14][15]

The copyright issues were updated in the 2018 TV movie, "Remastered: The Lion's Share".[16]

In 2012, "Mbube" fell into the public domain, owing to the copyright law of South Africa. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", however, is still in copyright.

"Mbube"
Single by Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds
B-side	"Ngi Hambiki"
Released	1939
Recorded	c. 1939
Studio	Gallo Recording Studios
Genre	Isicathamiya mbube
Length	2:44
Label	Gallo Record Company
Songwriter(s)	Solomon Linda
Audio
Mbube (Audio) on YouTube

The song has been recorded by numerous artists, and is a standard that has become a part of popular culture.

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
Single by Robert John
from the album Robert John
B-side	"Janet"
Released	December 1971
Genre	Pop adult contemporary[21]
Label	Atlantic
Songwriter(s)	Hugo Peretti Luigi Creatore George David Weiss Albert Stanton Solomon Linda
Producer(s)	Hank Medress and Dave Appell
Robert John singles chronology
"When the Party Is Over" (1970) "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (1971) "Hushabye" (1972)

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
Single by Tight Fit
from the album Tight Fit
B-side	"Rhythm, Movement And Throbbing"
Released	January 1982
Recorded	1981
Genre	Pop
Length	3:18
Label	Jive
Songwriter(s)	Hugo Peretti Luigi Creatore George David Weiss Albert Stanton Solomon Linda
Producer(s)	Tim Friese-Greene[22]
Tight Fit singles chronology
"Back to the Sixties Part II" (1981) "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (1982) "Fantasy Island" (1982)

• 1961: The Tokens: US No. 1, UK No. 11, Canada No. 1[23]
• 1962: Henri Salvador – in French as "Le lion est mort ce soir" ("The Lion Died Tonight") FR No. 1
• 1965: The New Christy Minstrels
• 1965: The Shangaans, on "Jungle Drums"
• 1966: The Townsmen, No. 70 Canada[24]
• 1967: The Hounds (Swedish Popgroup)
• 1968: The Tremeloes, on Silence Is Golden
• 1971: Eric Donaldson
• 1972: Robert John: US No. 3, gold record / Can No. 15[25]
• 1972: Dave Newman: UK No. 34
• 1974: Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus, as "Rise Jah Jah Children (The Lion Sleeps)"
• 1975: Brian Eno, on single, later on Working Backwards: 1983-1973 and Eno Box II: Vocal
• 1976: Dove[26]
• 1979: The Stylistics
• 1980: Passengers
• 1982: Tight Fit: UK No. 1,[27] This version has sold over a million copies in the UK.[28]
• 1982: The Nylons No. 91 Canada[29]
• 1982: Maria Conchita Alonso
• 1990: Ladysmith Black Mambazo with The Mint Juleps, on Spike Lee & Company: Do It a Cappella PBS documentary and album
• 1991: Hotline & P.J. Powers, on The Best Of
• 1991: Big Daddy, mashed up with "Welcome to the Jungle"
• 1992: Talisman, on A Capella
• 1992: They Might Be Giants with Laura Cantrell, interpolated into "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)"
• 1993: Pow woW: FR No. 1, cover of Salvador's version.
• 1993: R.E.M.: B-side of "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" and on The Automatic Box (Disc 3).
• 1993: The Nylons
• 1994: Dennis Marcellino
• 1994: Tonic Sol-Fa
• 1995: Lebo M for Rhythm of the Pride Lands, an album with songs inspired by the music of The Lion King
• 1997: 'N Sync: B-side of "For the Girl Who Has Everything"
• 1998: The Undertones, on 8 Degrees and Rising
• 1990s: Streetnix
• 2001: Baha Men featuring Imani Coppola, sampled the chorus in the song "You All Dat" on Who Let the Dogs Out
• 2001: Rockapella
• 2002: Mango Groove, on Eat a Mango
• 2004: Daniel Küblböck
• 2005: The Mavericks
• 2006: VeggieTales characters, on Bob and Larry Sing the 70s
• 2009: Melo-M, on Around the World
• 2010: Cool Down Cafe featuring Gerard Joling, on Goud
• 2014: Billy Joel and Jimmy Fallon, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon[30]
• 2015: Justin Fletcher as Gail Force on Gigglebiz
• 2016: Tight Fit new production Rainforest Radio Edit on Together (Almighty)[31]
• 2019: Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen, on The Lion King film and soundtrack
• 2019: Wiese (music producer)

• "Solomon Linda, Songwriter Who Penned 'The Lion,' Finally Gets His Just Desserts"
• Sample of "Mbube" performed by Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds (WMA Stream).
• "Family of 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' Writer to Get Millions": All Things Considered, NPR
• "Penniless singer's family sue Disney for Lion King royalties": Daily Telegraph
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight. BBC World Service documentary by Paul Gambaccini first broadcast 16 July 2010, archived
• 200+ recordings of Mbube/Wimoweh/The Lion Sleeps Tonight on FLORENCOM's YouTube tribute channel
• "The Money Show" 6 May 2021 episode of Afropop Worldwide, which includes a history of "Mbube"/"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
• Video comparing "Mbube" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" on VYIMBVBE's YouTube tribute channel