Earliest Wimoweh Mbube Lion Sleeps Tonight ? '51

[welcome2myhell]

earliest? not even close

[ngiyaxolisa]

@welcome2myhell Perhaps you could enlighten us with more details as to what precisely you mean by "not even close"?

[welcome2myhell]

@ngiyaxolisa I see you know of the 1939 recording. So...because it's a different tempo and pitch it's not the same song? LOL.

[ngiyaxolisa]

@welcome2myhell Sorry, I don't understand quite what you're getting at here. Of course it's the same song (I am a musician after all). It's a different recording of the song than 1939 pressing is all I'm claiming.  Am I the only one who can hear it? Seeger personally sent money to Linda (bless his heart for that), but I know more about the culture of the amaZulu than he ever imagined. Check out some of my other videos

[welcome2myhell]

@ngiyaxolisa why is '51 in your title then? That's all I'm claiming?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@welcome2myhell To my knowledge, this song was a hit in and around Joberg in the 40's, but the first time it was recorded and released on record internationally was in November 1951 (by The Weavers). Since this movie was filmed before that, this soundtrack appears to be the first international exposure of mBube/Wemoweh/Lion-sleeps-toni­ght ever. If anyone can find a version released outside of Southern Africa before 1950, then I'm wrong. Anyone?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@ngiyaxolisa Check Wiki. Aside from the original Linda/Evening Bird recording of 1939, the Weavers 1952 (sic) version is the earliest listing. This soundtrack is from 1951 (presumably filmed in 1950). Wiki has overlooked this recording entirely and so it seems has everyone else. Can you tell me of another recording post dating Linda's in 1939 and predating this from 1951?

[therealjoebloggs]

And that was only the first hosing the fundisi would get in Jo'burg.

[ngiyaxolisa]

I gotta say that this version has an entirely different tempo and is in a different key than the 1939 version by the Linda and Evening Birds. I've a pretty good ear and it isn't even close to the same. BUT the recording might have been speeded up (thereby raising the pitch), perhaps to make it more palatable to western viewers.Worthy of further research...Anyone out there with perfect pitch?

[don1carter]

@ngiyaxolisa How could there have been a 1939 version of "Cry the Beloved Country" when the novel was not written until 1948?

[ngiyaxolisa]

@don1carter Don, I didn't mean to suggest that the movie was from 1939, but rather the tune was recorded in 1939 by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

[SleepingLionGuy1]

I'd done some research in the past regarding the song and it's origins. IIRC, Linda made three separate recordings of the song that were released at around the same time. As far as I know, there were no in-between recordings of the song up to the Weavers version. Although CD's and later issues of many recordings gave credit to Linda as the song's composer, he never really received his due credit until 1960 when Miriam Makeba recorded her version in New York. Certainly sounds like Linda's record.

[kittyprydekissme]

I had no idea there was an earlier movie version.

This sounds like the original Solomon Linda recording to me.

[ngiyaxolisa]

@kittyprydekissme Yes, the first version of the movie was actually only Sidney Poitier's second credited acting role and just a year after his performance in No Way Out. Some critics consider that he "stole the show" . I'm certain that this rendering of the song Wemowheh is not the original version by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds, but II'm not sure who it is. It does sound like Linda, but if you listen to one of the originals here on Youtube, I think you'll agree that this is different.

[monkey7347]

@ngiyaxolisa It is actually them.

[7734Duke]

@ngiyaxolisa Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds - Mbube (ORIGINAL VERSION OF WIMOWEH) TYPE IN THAT TITLE ON YOU TUBE and get the 1939 full recording

[ngiyaxolisa]

@7734Duke Realize that I'm a person (possibly the only person) who thinks "Delta Dawn" is "Amazing Grace" with different lyrics. That said, I'm familiar with the 1939 recording of mBube and to be honest with you, this doesn't sound a bit like it to me although the singer(Linda) seems to be the same. I believe this might be one of SLG's "other" recordings or a new one entirely.

[ngiyaxolisa]

Paton's novel has been made twice into a movie (that I know of). This version was released in 1951, only three years after the book was published, so its perspective is less "distant" than the 1995 release. And Paton himself wrote the screenplay! Potier excepted, the acting is stronger in the '95 release, especially Harris.What's not to love about James Earl Jone's voice? Roodt, who did Yesterday and Sarafina, directed. Both are good and if you liked the book you should see either or both.

[ImperialistRunningDo]

I read the original novel by Alan Paton. I would hate to see a film version; movies seldom do a novel any favors. Maybe this version breaks that rule.

[deyoungaza]

I don't know of any other takes by Solomon Linda. From what I can hear over the dialog, it sounds like the original Gallophone recording with the Evening Birds. The Evening Birds broke up in 1948, so they probably didn't re-record this for the film.

[deyoungaza]

Seems to be Solomon Linda's recording in the film.

[ngiyaxolisa]

@deyoungaza You think so? It's seems to me to be "A" Solomon Linda recording, but you think it's "THE" recording -- the one with the Evening Birds? I don't know...

[janiemc1291]

Earliest? I think not. This basic tune has been a part of South African culture for many many years.... A passed down oral tradition...

[ngiyaxolisa]

Please note that I talked of the earliest version distributed "outside of South Africa". If it's a "passed down oral tradition", you'll have to take that up with Solomonn Linda who wrote the song in 1938 and recorded it with his group The Eveningbirds in 1939. It was a hit in and around Jo'berg where this movie was filmed in 1950ish , but never "charted" outside SA until the Weavers recorded it..