Why no royalties for Solomon Linda? Because music publishers considered Solomon Linda’s ‘ Wimoweh‘ to be traditional folk music and thus in the public domain. Then in 2000, a South African journalist looking into the background and the origins of the song, discovered an extensive cover-up by several well-known music publishers who made millions from the song. Of the tens of millions of dollars his song generated, Solomon Linda received only a $1000 check from folk singer, Pete Seeger. However, he failed to follow up on it with the record company and none of those royalties were ever paid. And with due credit to Seeger, he had also asked this publisher to give his share of the royalties to Linda. pop charts and went on to become one of the best-selling recordings of all time.īy this time, Solomon Linda had received only $1000, and that came from a grateful Pete Seeger. ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ soared to number one on the U.S. Instead, the song was credited to Weiss, Creatore, and Peretti, and all the royalties went to them, their publishing companies, the Tokens, and the record company, RCA Victor. However, Solomon Linda didn’t get credit anywhere – not on the record label, or by the publishing company, or by The Tokens. And in1961, with new English lyrics by George Weiss, and the song retitled, ‘ The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, it was released by The Tokens. In 1960, Jay Siegal, the lead singer of The Tokens, became enraptured with the ‘Wimoweh”. Unfortunately for The Weavers, they were about to be blacklisted as communists during the McCarthy era…which is another story in its own right.īy this time, Solomon Linda, the creator of the Mbube chant that evolved into ‘ The Lion Sleeps Tonight‘, had been forgotten. The Weavers released their recording of ‘Wimoweh’ in 1952 (it sounded like this). Seeger arranged it and recorded it with his band, The Weavers. And, as it so happened, a copy of Linda’s record made its way back to New York City where a man named Alan Lomax, a talent scout, and ethnomusicologist, picked it out of a pile of other imported records and gave it to then-popular folk singer Pete Seeger.
Going back to 1938, Solomon Linda and The Nightbirds’ recording of the song ‘ Wimoweh‘ became a small, regional hit in South Africa. But Solomon Linda received nothing he was not even credited with being a co-writer. The Token’s version of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ became one of the biggest hits of all time. The record label said the song was written by George David Weiss, Luigi Creatore, and Hugo Peretti. By the time The Tokens released “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” in 1961, Solomon Linda’s name was nowhere to be found. ‘Wimoweh’ slowly evolved into ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight ‘ was written and recorded as ‘Wimoweh” in 1938 ( you can listen here), in Johannesburg, South African by singer and itinerant worker Solomon Linda and his band The Evening Birds. In this form, groups of voices singing homophonically in rhythmic unison are employed to create intricate harmonies and textures…” ( Wikipedia “Mbube (genre)”. Traditionally performed a cappella, the members of the group are male although a few groups have a female singer. “…Mbube is a form of South African vocal music, made famous by the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” has its roots in “Mbube”. a poor man and his family.Īnd it’s also the story of one of the biggest and most recognizable hit songs of all time. And it’s a story of poverty and of strong vs. Is there anyone who doesn’t know the song, ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’? If you’re an older person, you remember it as a hit record by The Tokens in the early 1960s, if you’re younger you remember it from “The Lion King”.īut there’s a backstory to that song that few people know. “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…”
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