Hip to be Square
“Wbube” by Solomon Linda & the Evening Birds (1939)
“Wimoweh” by the Weavers (1955)
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens (1961)
Not surprisingly really; this song's origin is really in Africa. The guy that wrote it died a popper and his daughters tried to get royalties with limited success. Wimoweh is kind of a corruption of the native word ‘Uyimbube’, a Zulu word which means ‘you are a lion’. Solomon, a cleaner and record packer for Gallo Record Company in South Africa yodelled his way through this compelling chant with the inspired lyric “in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight”. By 1949 this version of the song had sold over 100, 00 copies in Africa with its isicathamiya style (mbube), popularized by Ladysmith Black Mamabazo that Paul Simon introduced to us on his ‘Graceland’ album.
Some have argued that this song does not sound like the Tokens version, but I believe that the essence of the chanting and the lyric are the song. The blending of voices and the soaring falsetto are trademarks of the song. It is hard to say it is not an original sound and an original lyric.
