the lion sleeps tonight?

Question

Who sings it?

Answer 1

the tokens

Answer 2

A group by the name of the Tokens sings that song. In the Jungle the mighty Jungle the lion sleeps tonight.

Answer 3

The New York Times
March 22, 2006
Johannesburg, South Africa

A lawsuit was filed in 2004 by the family of Solomon Linda seeking damages for the copyright of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Mr. Linda had written and recorded the song in 1939 under the name "Mbube," which is Zulu for "The Lion." In 1952 he sold the copyright of "Mbube" to Gallo Studios, the company that produced his record, for 10 shillings (about 87 cents today). He also got a job sweeping floors and serving tea in the company's packing house. Born in 1909 in the Zulu heartland of Africa, Mr. Linda never learned to read or write, but he knew music and had the ability of writing lyrics. He died in 1962 at the age of 53, with $22.00 in the bank. His wife could not afford a gravestone.

Over the years, more than 150 artists have recorded the song under the name, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." The song has survived many versions; a jazz version, nightclub version, folk version, pop version, and finally a 1994 Walt Disney hit movie under the name "The Lion King." Mr. Linda and his family should have enjoyed a very comfortable life, but instead, the family lived in Soweto with barely a stick of furniture, sleeping on a dirt floor carpeted with cow dung. His eight children survived on maize porridge, known as pap. When they passed a grade in school, their reward was an egg. Two died as babies, one of malnutrition.

Solomon Linda's daughter, Ms. Nsele contends the family was hoodwinked by a South African lawyer, now deceased. They have won their law suit, and Ms.Nsele commented,, " I was angry before. They didn't ask permission. They just decided to do anything they wanted with my father's song. But now it seems we must forgive because they have come to their senses and realized they have made a mistake. The Bible says you must try to forgive." Her daughter Zandile corrected her by saying, "Not 'try'. It says 'forgive.'"

In February of 2006 an undisclosed settlement was reached between Linda's heirs and Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights. The heirs received payment for past uses of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and an entitlement to future royalties from its worldwide use. A trust has been set up to administer the heirs' copyright of the song.

Answer 4

The Tokens did it originally in 1961, but Robert John put it on the charts in 1972 with an almost note perfect version of the original that went top 40. There have been other versions, but the ones mentioned are the definitive ones.

Answer 5

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" began as a 1939 African popular music hit "Mbube" that, in modified versions, also became a hit in the US and UK.

"Mbube" (Zulu for "lion") was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. Gallo Record Company paid Linda a single fee for the recording and no royalties. "Mbube" became a hit throughout South Africa and sold about one hundred thousand copies during the 1940s. The song became so popular that Mbube lent its name to a style of African a cappella music, though the style has since been replaced by isicathamiya (a softer version).

Record company Folkways brought the song to the attention of the folk group The Weavers' Pete Seeger. In 1952, they recorded their version entitled "Wimoweh", a mishearing of the original song's chorus of 'uyimbube' (meaning "you're a lion"). Pete Seeger had made some his own additions to the melody. The song was credited to Solomon Linda and Paul Campbell (Campbell being a pseudonym for the four members of the group).

Pete Seeger explains in one recording, "it refers to an old legend down there, [about] their last king, who was known as Chaka The Lion. Legend says, Chaka The Lion didn't die when Europeans took over our country; he simply went to sleep, and he'll wake up some day." (See "Senzenina / Wimoweh" on Seeger's With Voices Together We Sing (Live).)

It was published by Folkways. Their 1952 version, arranged by Gordon Jenkins, became a top-twenty hit in the U.S., and their live 1957 recording turned it into a folk music staple. This version was covered in 1959 by The Kingston Trio.

New lyrics to the song were written by George Weiss, Luigi Creatore, and Hugo Peretti, based very loosely upon the meaning of the original song. The Tokens' 1961 cover of this version rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and still receives fairly frequent replay on many American oldies radio stations. A little known fact about The Tokens' recording is that in the recording studio they improvised the melody for those new lyrics that ended up being used in the final recording, however they received no official writer's credit and were bamboozled out of the publisher's credit as well (information in this sentence provided directly by members of the band). In the UK an up-tempo rendering of this version was a top-ten hit for Karl Denver and his Trio. In 1972 Robert John did a cover of this version. Since then, "Wimoweh" / "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" has remained popular and frequently covered.

Answer 6

The Tokens originally, The Nylons did an a cappella version that did well too.

Answer 7

My favorite version (so far) is the arrangement as performed by The Tokens. That's the one I grew up with. Even seeing them late in their careers I still got chills.

Answer 8

lion king

Answer 9

Some dude shoveling his walk outside at 5 am. He even does it all in falsetto. Frrrreaky.

Answer 10

the tokens sing it originally. covered by others later.

Answer 11

I know They Might Be Giants did a version of it.