"The Lion Sleeps Tonight", also known as "Wimba Way" or "Wimoweh" (and originally as "Mbube"), is a song recorded by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. It was covered internationally by many 1950s pop and folk revival artists, including The Weavers, Jimmy Dorsey, Yma Sumac, Miriam Makeba, and The Kingston Trio. In 1961, it became a number one hit in the U.S. as adapted by the doo-wop group The Tokens. It went on to earn at least US$15 million in royalties from covers and film licensing. Then, in the mid-nineties, it became a pop "supernova" (in the words of South African writer Rian Malan) when Warner Bros. promoted its Ace Ventura films and licensed to Walt Disney for use in the film The Lion King, its spin-off TV series and live musical, prompting a lawsuit on behalf of the impoverished descendants of Solomon Linda.
Read more about The Lion Sleeps Tonight: History, Copyright Issues
Famous quotes containing the words lion, sleeps and/or tonight:
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and a little child shall lead them.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Isaiah 11:6.
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I’m a poor underdog,
But tonight I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)