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Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:00 pm

Little piece I read yesterday...Zulu related so I'd thought I'd share...

Seems that that the Zulu migrant worker, Solomon Linda and his heirs, will finally get some of the royalties due to the song he wrote under the title "Mbube" which was known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", a big hit here in the early 60's btw by the group The Tokens. Pretty much tied up in litigation before this... Since the song was written in 1939 it has an earned an estimated 15 million and recorded by 150 artists around the world.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:30 pm

Rich

Is that the one that goes something like, " a wimba wey, a wimba wey, In the jungle, the mighty jungle"....etc. etc...?. If so, I think I've got a version of it by "Baltimora" on 7" vinyl up in my attic. I suspect it will be staying there for a long time yet!! Good to hear that Solomon's folks are going to get their fair dues though.

H

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:00 pm

You got it Haydn!....and hold onto that vinyl!....not sure but was TLST on the British charts back then???? Lots of cross-pollination during that time between the US and the UK!!

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:27 am

Ross and Joey and the cast of FRIENDS singing it ot the monkey?

That's a darn fun song... right up there with Istambul Is Constantinople and Manah, Manah...

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:37 pm

Rich
The version I've got (picture sleeve too!) dates back to the early eighties at a time when my disco dancing days were coming to an end and it was time to hang up my flares Embarassed

There certainly was an earlier version over here but The Tokens doesn't ring any bells with me. It was somebody like Roger Whittaker or The Seekers but I can't remember exactly who. ( Shocked

I can't believe I'm writing this! I think I need to go and have a cup of tea and a lie down).

H

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:11 pm

You know I think the England 1986 World Cup squad may owe royalties too just like other artists!

BTW, Mr. Linda got 10 shillings for his song way back when..wrote the song based on his memories of chasing the big cats that stalked his father's cattle in Ladysmith.

And the "wimoweh" came from the English translation of the Zulu "uy-imbube"!

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:23 pm

call me immature, young and dumb what ever but everytime i browse this thread I get a strange mental image of Cetshwayo around a campfire with some Zulus " Yeeeee iee iehaee a wee umbumb away!" Zulus singing in the BG " Bahwimbaweh Bahwimbaweh"

"They have a great base section mind you, but they are no top tenners thats for sure " Laughing

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:31 pm

heh heh .....and hey is it just possible that in the vaults of Wales or the UK there's a long lost cover of "Wimoweh"done by Ivor, eh??? Wink

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:40 pm

Hey all,
PBS in the US actually did a program on that same song and its history, called something like "In search of the Lion". Sadly, I never was able to catch it, but here's my input anyway It's actually "a weemowah, a weemowah" and the same song has been resurfacing for decades under that name (yes, the Tokens did call it "The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and it was the first 45 I ever bought). Apparently The Weavers had a minor hit with it in the late fifties or early sixties as did a number of other artists throughout the mid Twentieth Century. The words have been changed a lot I guess, 'cause no lion I've ever met would be caught dead in a jungle although they do sleep a lot. Glad to hear that another exploited Third World artist finally has gotten his due! Incidently, the vocal section below the tenor section is spelled the "bass" section, as in "bass guitar" and I have absolutely no idea why!

Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:48 pm

Very early 60s, as I remember - & very big hit. Can't remember the group or the chap but I'm NOT looking THAT up!

P. Laughing

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:29 am

Allow me Peter! See: http://www.bobshannon.com/stories/Lion.html for a good background which also links to the exhaustive background published in"Rolling Stone" in 2000. (Although recorded by many people it was the Tokens who took it to No.1 in the States.) (It is very much Zulu related!)

Along with "Telstar" it was my favorite song as a kid.

MAB

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:24 am

Michael

Well done! It seems to have gone through many changes and recordings, and I only read about its Zulu origins a few years back (along with the campaign for royalties by the originator's family). Can't say I've ever heard of The Tokens although I remember the song - or, at least, its sound. (Del Shannon vaguely comes to mind but I never was very knowledgeable about "Tin Pan Alley").

Telstar ... ah, what memories! The freezing winter of early '63 when my mates & I spent three solid months playing football in local fields on hard-packed snow, punctuated weekly by coming in from the cold & dark just to listen to Telstar, which, at No 1 every week for months was guaranteed to be played at the same time on the wireless each Sunday evening. No such thing as a record-player in our household then!

Definitely getting off topic now!

P

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:12 am

Telstar!! The Tornados! Always reminds me of a Wolf Cubs outing to Barry Island where I heard it playing on the radio. Think my older brother had it on 45rpm with a picture cover showing their blonde (male) guitarist called "Heinz" (great beans!) if I recall correctly (I was only 8!). As a parting shot on this thread may I propose a toast Gentlemen? I give you Solomon and nostalgia - it's not what it used to be!

Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:42 am

..from "wimoweh" to Telstar! I like it.....btw Telstar was produced by Joe Meek one of those early UK "technical" producer guys..that's why you hear that other worldy "sound" in there....

Mr. Linda just didn't know it at the time but his Zulu imagination had tremendous cultural impact around the world. For that I salute him and it's great to know rock was influenced in its own way by the Zulu and their culture!

Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:42 pm

Just read another piece today on Solomon Linda the composer of "Mbube" and they even had a photograph of him with his 5 other mates in their group the "Original Evening Birds". Sartorially, they are dressed to the hilt in their dark striped double breasted suits with requisite handkerchief in jacket pocket! It was poignant to hear his daughter use the word 'forgive" in the context of the family earlier not receiving any royalties for her father's now famous song. Today it looks like that's been taken care of. Looking back, it certainly doesn't put the recording companies in a good light who relied on the Lindas not asking the question of why they weren't
reaping more benefits from the song.