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[ed. note: this post originally was found as skippy's wednesday nite music club last nite]
via the magic of youtube, we can take a look @ the various incarnations of a song that we all know and love. we thought it would be interesting to show you the history behind it…
here’s the first recorded version of what would eventually become a tune we’re all familiar with.
mbube – solomon linda & the evening song birds
solomon linda wrote this song, whose title is zulu for "lion." pete seeger eventually re-recorded it, mishearing the chorus as "wimoweh." here’s the carnegie hall reunion of seeger’s group, the weavers, singing their version (w/some fan comments beforehand; the actual song starts @ about 1:30):
wimoweh – the weavers
wikipedia tells us that songwriters george david weiss, luigi creatore, and hugo peretti eventually added some words, describing the legend upon which the song was based: the leader of the zulu, skaka, known as "the lion," did not die when the europeans took over their land; instead, he simply went to sleep, and someday he will wake up and led his people again.
the tokens recorded this new version, the one that most of us know so well:
the lion sleeps tonight – the tokens
2 Comments
I’ve never heard the original before. Delightful. Thanks Skippy!
There is a wonderful PBS documentary about Solomon Linda and his family’s efforts to recoup some portion of the millions made off the song in the USA. (Solomon died penniless)
I also found a story about a settlement that may have helped put a happy ending on what was a sort of sad history;