Hi Lisa ... great reaction. Yes, the song is originally from Africa and was originally recorded in 1939 in the African Zulu language; it was written by Solomon Ntsele (also known as Solomon Linda) ... the song was titled "Mbube"; the Zulu word for Lion. In 1950, Pete Seger and the Weavers did the version of the song that was titled "Wimoweh". Then in 1961 the English lyrics were added, the song was re-titled The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and The Tokens sang it and the song went gold reaching #1 on the Billboard Charts that year. _This is the version you just listened to by the Tokens_ So, it was over 60 years ago when the Tokens that you just listened to made it a hit. The original Zulu version from 1939 is beautiful too. The song originally told the story of the Zulu king who was killed in battle ... the words of the song says the king would rise again from his sleep even though "the lion sleeps tonight" ... Here is the original artist, Solomon Ntsele and his band the Evening Birds singing the original version from the 1930's. it's on youtube at ... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mrrQT4WkbNE.html
Hello, thank you because I didn't want to put out the wrong information. Oh... wow thank you for the history of this song and explaining the meaning behind the words
Hi Dalisa, first time watching your posts and these are the best reactions where 'You Tubers' watch a song for the first time without knowing anything. Don't change your method, please keep doing what you are doing, can't wait to watch other reactions. Here down in New Zealand, this was pretty big in the day from the Patea Maori Club. It's worth a watch 🙂 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tq2K8ak47nM.html
This song was from a group out of Africa, I'm not sure, but I think the group's name is the Solomon Linda & The Evening Birds in 1938, They were from Johannesburg South Africa and the song's name was MBUBE which means Lion in Zulu.