Yep, this is the version I grew up with. We used to sing it on the bus as kids also the "Jeramiah was a Bullfrog" song . I want a one way ticket back to the 70's.
I was born in 1968 and my parents gave me a small transistor radio when I was four. I couldn’t really discern lyrics at that age, but Inalways remembered the song with the barking dog,...or at least that’s what it sounded like to me. As an adult, I looked for the song for years. Googling “barking dog”,...NOTHING. a few years ago a friend gifted me the top 100 songs per year from 1970-2006, on MP3. I listened to every song from 1970-73 that I didn’t already know well, ...and this jewel comes on, “HUP HUP”, right before the high falsetto. It sounds like a barking dog, or it did to this 4 year old kid listening on a tiny radio in 1972. Mystery solved.
Finally, the version I remember hearing on WABC radio in the 1970s. It's the tuba or euphonium at 1:30 that called my attention to this version as I played baritone horn in school.
On this day in 1972 {April 1st} Robert John performed "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" on the late Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand'... Exactly three months earlier on January 1st it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #3 and spent 17 weeks on the Top 100... And exactly ten years earlier on January 1st, 1962 the Tokens version of the song was the #1 record on the Top 100... In 1979 on October 6th Mr. John had his biggest hit with "Sad Eyes", it peaked at #1 {for 1 week}...
This song always reminds me of the Cuban Missile Crises, which took place later in 1962. While the song, particularly this version, sounds happy and bouncy, the theme of a sleeping lion implies a looming, ominous threat. Of course, in the case of the Missiles, that threat is still very much with us.
While this version does sound similar to the Tokens version, the nuances delivered by Robert John definitely make this the best version of the song. In a nutshell, he nailed it. This rendition is catchy as all get-out. It's one of those songs that makes you instantly go into be-bop mode, if you're the kind of pop music fan who totally digs the 60's, 70's, and 80's (which I definitely AM, and which were undeniably the best decades for pop music EVER)
I first heard it on AM radio in Cleveland about 1972. The announcer announced it as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Robert John, Otherwise known as Bob John". (John Lanigan, maybe?) I was very familiar with the Tokens version., but this one felt so much more real. It's been my favorite ever since.
Awesome moment! A personal favourite of mine I sang this in choir the other day. This is the first rendition where I can hear the 2nd Bass part :) Great vid!
I don't know who sang this first, but this is the version I will always remember. Me and my dad used to ride around listening to this all the time. I would always lip sync at the part where the guy grunts. Good, simple times, back before life got complicated.
It was first publicly performed by a young man named Solomon Linda. The modern version is based on an old traditional African lullaby called "Mbube" It has been recorded by more artists more times than any other song in the English language, including "Amazing Grace" which comes in second.
@ElijahMathewsHenry2007 search up Robert John, sad eyes, lion sleeps tonight. Maybe search up familly, he has a sister named Dorothy, she is my grandmothed
I love the bass line in this..... I used to listen to this on WLS back in their "Rock of Chicago" days. They came into Baltimore like thunder at night.
It was released as "Mbube" in 1939 by Linda (South Africa) and rewritten as "Wimoweh" for The Weavers in 1951. Their version reached the Billboard Top 10. In 1961, the doo-wop group "The Tokens" recorded it as a B-side to the single "Tina". Their version went #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1972, Robert John (Pedrick) took the song to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
At a Gallo Records sponsored talent show in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1939, a young Zulu musician named Solomon Linda, urged by his friends, stepped up to the microphone, opened his mouth...and stepped into history. Since that day, The Lion Sleeps Tonight has been recorded more times and by more artists than any other song ever written.
No, there are many Christmas songs that have been recorded by more artists than any other songs. And I believe "Yesterday" may have the record for pop songs, but I'm not sure.
All the history of the song that some here seem to know about going way back (to before The Tokens had a hit with it in '61) is interesting. I was actually born in '61--so was 11 when Robert John's version hit the airwaves on AM radio in 1972, and I've always thought it was great, ever since. Definitely better than the Tokens' version.
I think this is the better version of this song as well. That being said, I am a bit biased because this was the first version I heard when I was 12 or 13 yrs old. Usually the first version of any song you hear, in many instances becomes your favorite. I remember his song Sad Eyes. That song reminds me of when I was in the Army and got stationed in Germany in 1979. I believe it came out in 1980, and it used to play a lot on the radio, and there was a juke box in our little laundry place on post. That song seemed to play a lot. I used to like the guitar solo that is done about 2/3rds of the way through the song. Whoever did that solo definitely did a great job with it!!
Only heard the Tokens version after Robert John's was released. I may have only been seven but I thought the Tokens version sounded like something my parents would listen to. I enjoy both now but, this is the better of the two. I had to go look this up and play it to remind me if I listened to a different version back in '72. lol You're know getting old when you have to jump start your memory. lol
The song Sad eyes brought me here.. to more R J music. Quickly recognizing this Lion King used song.. i notice RJ has a Beach Boy sounding voice. Nice .
Yup...I have the 45 of Lion Sleeps tonight with Janet on the flip. In fact, I liked the song so much at 6 or 7 years old, family members bought it for me, so I have about 4 copies of the one you are mentioning... ;-)
This song originated from Solomon Linda's "Mbube" back in 1939, a South African Zulu singer!. Then, The Weavers recorded "Wimaweh" in the early 50's. Then, along came The Tokens and made it popular in 1961 with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" I didn't even know Robert John did a version. I only remember "Sad Eyes". (Which is a great song, by the way)
Right you are, Karm. I read a write-up on Solomon Linda maaaaaaaaaany years ago in the editorial section of Rolling Stone magazine. The original tune was loosely based on a Zulu lullabye slightly updated by Linda and some musicians he was in tight with at the time. I do love Robert John's version, however. It just has a certain sound to it...
This song was also covered by by progressive rock/new wave/art-rocker Brian Eno on a now-rare 45. By the way, I like ALL THREE VERSIONS -- each is great in its own way! :)
As we celebrate and enjoy this great version of the song, let us never forget the creator of the original "Mbube" (that evolved into this song): Mr. Solomon Linda!
A #3 hit for Robert John in the Spring of 1972. It also went to #6 on the Adult Contemporary charts. In Canada, it went to #15 and to #17 on the Canadian AC charts. It went to #40 in Germany.
When Solomon Linda did this, the song was called Mbube. The Tokens did the 1st version of the song when it was changed to the name The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
this is the version I grew up with. more sun-shiney happy-face sound.. the male "huh-heh" in the background is reminiscent of "oogah-chaka" from Blue Suede's "Hooked On A Feeling".
