Song 179 - The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens

So June is going to be the month of songs that almost make up some of the soundtracks of my life as I come to terms with this new decade. One of my favourite songs which also reminds me of one of the biggest adventures I've had in my life, is The Lion sleeps tonight, Mbube or Wimoweh depending on which you would prefer.

The version which I remember first is the hit by The Tokens in 1961 which reached number one on the US chart and number 11 in the UK Chart.  But the song itself is far older than the hit I know. 

Written in the 1920s, by Solomon Linda, a South African Singer of Zulu origin,  Mbube (Lion in Zulu) was first recorded in 1939 and within a decade the song had sold over 100,000 copies throughout Africa & in parts of GB. Perhaps not the most mind blowing tune, but there is something in the rhythm and chatting that just makes you smiles and the words "In the jungle, the mighty  jungle the lion sleeps tonight." You can hear that harmonic yodel inside your head as soon as you say the line.


Nowadays, the song is widely linked to The Lion King and the loveable characters Timon and Pumbaa. However, the use of the track in the 1994 smash hit Disney film led to a battle over copyright for the song and the journalist Rian Malan helped to secure the royalties for use of the song were paid to Solomon's estate. Disney and others had thought the song was a traditional folk song. To date, the estate had earnt somewhere in the regional of $15million dollars. It goes to show you only need one success hit song.

In 1982, Tight Fit took the song to the UK number one spot and looking at the date, it is more likely that this is the version I knew as a kid.   But whether it is this version, The Tokens or the Ladysmith Black Mambazo's version; my body will sway, smile and try to sing along all at the same time. Another modern day cultural reference to the song is its use in the hit comedy Friends when Ross sings it to Marcel the Monkey when he returns to New York with the film crew.

Listen to a piece of sunshine yourself:
The Lion sleeps tonight.


Written: Solomon Linda, 1920s
English translation: Luigi Creatore, George David Weiss & Albert Santon