Wimoweh (Mbube)
The first version of Solomon Linda's Mbube I recall hearing was the Weavers’ hit song Wimoweh, in the fifties; I knew it was vaguely “African”, maybe “Zulu”, but those terms didn’t really mean much to me at the time. I liked that it was about hunting lions (turns out it's about chasing them away, which is close enough).
My father favored classical music – chamber in particular – but was also, among other things, a lifelong Social Democrat, a strong union man, and a lover of folksongs. We didn’t have a lot of records, but along with his trios and quartets and my mother’s operatic baritones and bassos(she adored Ezio Pinza), you’d find the Weavers, Josh White, Burl Ives, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, Josef Marais and Miranda, Harry Belafonte. At first, I associated the song with the Pete Seeger vocal. It was the Weavers version that we sang around the campfire at Camp Wel-Met, along with other songs they had brought to our attention like "Good-night, Irene", and "Twelve Gates to the City" and "If I Had A Hammer".
A Kingston Trio version came and went and then, when I was in High School, The Tokens rearranged Wimoweh as doo-wop, sweetened the harmonies, and smoothed out the “folky” qualities. In the early sixties, although things were changing, the pop was basically still all about true love and romance (rock got to be about sex; sometimes they crossed lines, like the Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"); the Tokens version of Mbube/Wimoweh, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", isn’t a hunting song, it’s a lullabye, a soothing reassurance ("Don't worry - the lion is sleeping") – and I’ve always liked it just for what it is - not overinterpreting it as a song whose subtext is the suppression of masculine libido. :)
So a few years ago, I was watching a rerun of a PBS special, produced by Spike Lee and called “Do It Acappella” which brought together different kinds of acappella groups including The Persuasions (who released a terrific set of Beatles songs a few years ago), a jazz-infused gospel number by Take 6, and – to my delight – Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
For the last number, they combined with a solid doowop styling group, the Mint Juleps, and together they did a version of Wimoweh/The Lion Sleeps Tonight that combined Ladysmith’s Zulu bottom (and occasional solos by Joseph Shabalala, whose last name is a doowop phrase) with the Tokens’ parts floating above, ably sung by Mint Julep. I liked it enough - along with the other numbers - to buy the CD Soundtrack of the show, and I still like it now when I play it, which I did at work today, occasionally singing under my breath. The only downside was that I didn’t get to watch Ladysmith’s rhythmic movement and dancing, which can be purely joyous.
My father favored classical music – chamber in particular – but was also, among other things, a lifelong Social Democrat, a strong union man, and a lover of folksongs. We didn’t have a lot of records, but along with his trios and quartets and my mother’s operatic baritones and bassos(she adored Ezio Pinza), you’d find the Weavers, Josh White, Burl Ives, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, Josef Marais and Miranda, Harry Belafonte. At first, I associated the song with the Pete Seeger vocal. It was the Weavers version that we sang around the campfire at Camp Wel-Met, along with other songs they had brought to our attention like "Good-night, Irene", and "Twelve Gates to the City" and "If I Had A Hammer".
A Kingston Trio version came and went and then, when I was in High School, The Tokens rearranged Wimoweh as doo-wop, sweetened the harmonies, and smoothed out the “folky” qualities. In the early sixties, although things were changing, the pop was basically still all about true love and romance (rock got to be about sex; sometimes they crossed lines, like the Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"); the Tokens version of Mbube/Wimoweh, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", isn’t a hunting song, it’s a lullabye, a soothing reassurance ("Don't worry - the lion is sleeping") – and I’ve always liked it just for what it is - not overinterpreting it as a song whose subtext is the suppression of masculine libido. :)
So a few years ago, I was watching a rerun of a PBS special, produced by Spike Lee and called “Do It Acappella” which brought together different kinds of acappella groups including The Persuasions (who released a terrific set of Beatles songs a few years ago), a jazz-infused gospel number by Take 6, and – to my delight – Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
For the last number, they combined with a solid doowop styling group, the Mint Juleps, and together they did a version of Wimoweh/The Lion Sleeps Tonight that combined Ladysmith’s Zulu bottom (and occasional solos by Joseph Shabalala, whose last name is a doowop phrase) with the Tokens’ parts floating above, ably sung by Mint Julep. I liked it enough - along with the other numbers - to buy the CD Soundtrack of the show, and I still like it now when I play it, which I did at work today, occasionally singing under my breath. The only downside was that I didn’t get to watch Ladysmith’s rhythmic movement and dancing, which can be purely joyous.
posted by DJStan at 9:06 PM
4 Comments:
One day I arrived at Mr. Toad's house (at that stage where I wasn't living in it yet but had the key) to find him strumming and singing "Wimoweh" to his cat. He explained that it was the cat's favorite song. Later, as Tadpole grew but before he showed his face, we'd sing him "Wimoweh" (and some other songs). After he made his appearance, we were singing him songs and he seemed to like them, and we tried "Wimoweh." He cried! He wailed! He hated that song! We tried it again another day -- wails upon hearing that song! After a year or so we happened to buy a CD (actually, four of them, all by Laurie Berkner; the one in question is called Whaddya Think of That) that had "Wimoweh" on it. A nice & peppy version.
He liked it. Whew! So now we can sing "Wimoweh" again.
Weird coincidence: We had to go to B&N today to pick up a new Sesame Street Platinum CD (the old one started skipping yesterday, and we cannot do without this CD), and I saw some Pete Seeger CDs for kids, so I had to get one . . . and the one I picked has "Wimoweh" on it! Also "This Land Is Your Land" and other standards plus stuff I don't know. I might like this one more than Tadpole does.
I can still hear that high tenor voice of his. "This Land" was another camp anthem, ours being a progressive kind of place. One counselor used to wake us up by singing "The Internationale" - which begins "Arise, ye prisoners of starvation"; this was cool because we hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
"Prisoners of starvation" . . . (snort).
I went to Protestant church camp. Fave song that year (when we weren't doing "Pass It On" or "Kum Ba Ya" around the campfire) was Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young."
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