"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally recorded by Solomon Linda[1] under the title "Mbube" for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939.
Linda's version was written in Zulu, while the English lyrics were written by George David Weiss.
The song was adapted and covered internationally by many pop and folk revival artists in the 1950s and 1960s, including the Weavers, Jimmy Dorsey, Yma Sumac, Miriam Makeba, and the Kingston Trio.
In 1961, it became a number one hit in the United States as adapted in English with the best-known version by the doo-wop group the Tokens. It went on to earn millions in royalties from cover versions and film licensing. The pop group Tight Fit had a number one hit in the UK with the song in 1982.
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.' "
Issued by Gallo as a 78-rpm phonograph record in 1939, 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 also lent its name to a style of African a cappella music that evolved into isicathamiya (also called mbube), popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
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", Zulu: You are a lion. 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.
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".
In 1961, two RCA Records producers, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, hired Juilliard-trained musician and lyricist George David Weiss to arrange a pop music cover of "Wimoweh" for the B-side of a 45-rpm single called "Tina", sung by the teenage doo-wop group The Tokens. Weiss wrote the English lyrics: "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.
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was issued by RCA in 1961, and it rocketed to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Weiss' 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.
