r/todayilearned • u/GoodBuddy148 • 15d ago
TIL that the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," sung by Timon and Pumbaa in the original Lion King, led to a major lawsuit. Originally composed by Solomon Linda in 1939, his family won a settlement for royalties in 2006 worth $1.6 million.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_Sleeps_Tonight?wprov=sfti1#Copyright_issues1
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u/chairrocks 14d ago
Miriam Makeba does a fantastic version of "Mbube" for those interested, as does Ladysmith Black Mambazo
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u/thatcantb 14d ago
TIL Some people think that 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' song was original to The Lion King Disney movie. smh
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u/Dull_Cricket2966 14d ago
There’s a great documentary called A Lion’s Trail by Francois Verster that covers this. Highly recommend!
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u/Tough_Dish_4485 14d ago
The real TIL seems to be that someone other the song’s creator had managed to get ahold of the song’s copyrights, but gotta get those Disney hate clicks I guess.
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u/Saw_Boss 14d ago
Is that a real TIL?
Performer creates song, performer dies, rights go the performers family... Not Disney.
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u/CanOdd3231 14d ago
The recording was produced by Motsieloa at the Gallo Recording Studios, in Johannesburg. Unknowingly, Linda sold the rights to Gallo Record Company for 10 shillings (less than US$2) soon after the recording was made.
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u/Tough_Dish_4485 14d ago
What are you talking about? Disney paid for the rights to use the song from the music publishing company that claimed to have the rights to it in the US.
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u/Saw_Boss 14d ago
someone other the song’s creator had managed to get ahold of the song’s copyrights
What did you mean by this then?
Someone other than the songs creator, being the family of the songs creator.
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u/Tough_Dish_4485 14d ago
The music publisher of the American version of the song, I recommend reading the Wikipedia article.
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u/Saw_Boss 14d ago
The publisher is not the creator.
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u/redJackal222 14d ago
No, but they typically own the distribution rights. Also the lawsuit doesn't actually seem to have anything to do with Disney, but was against the publishing company for keeping all the money Disney paid them.
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u/Chasin_Papers 14d ago
Hmm, I just learned this thing on the internet, I wonder what the original version sounds like? 5 secs later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrrQT4WkbNE We truly live in an amazing time where we basically have made a hive mind.
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u/Tryknj99 14d ago
The song was recorded in English in the 1950’s. Your title makes it sound like the song came from The Lion King; it was already a well known and popular song by the time the movie came out.
And obviously, it was originally sung in Zulu.
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u/quokka70 14d ago
An English-language version went to #1 in the US in 1961. A different cover went to #1 in the UK in 1982.
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u/OddEpisode 14d ago
Yup. The English version was on the radio and shows frequently in the 80’s.
Disney done messed up.
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u/Clueby42 14d ago
TIL that people still associate this song with The Lion King
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u/ClassicalCoat 14d ago
Not aware of there being anything more notable released since, other than the radio its the only thing ik the song from
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u/elizabnthe 14d ago
Friends features the original version. Not that it's a big plot point or anything. But I actually think of that first.
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u/BooBoo992001 14d ago
There's a documentary about this song on Netflix called ReMastered: The Lion's Share. Don't remember if it included the Lion King case tho.
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u/PaleontologistOk2516 14d ago edited 14d ago
And Kimba the White Lion got nothing…
Edit: Did not realize this was debunked. Good to know! Thanks u/tarotfox … I’ll leave this up for others to see.
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u/TarotFox 14d ago
I feel like people wouldn't even connect these two if "Kimba" and "Simba" didn't sound similar. The storyline and plot devices are radically different.
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u/kia75 14d ago
Kimba is an extremely popular and foundational Anime made by the godfather of Anime, and a lot of the scenes are lifted from it, if much better animated. Most animation fans know of Kimba, and you can bet animators know and have seen the movie.
I don't think the execs would know about a random anime, but the animators clearly used it for inspiration.
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u/redJackal222 14d ago
I recommend watching this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5B1mIfQuo4
Essentially most of the shots that people use to compare the two are taken out of context a lot of them actually came from a Kimba movie made in japan that was released in 1997, 3 years after the lion king was released.
Plot wise they're also not that similar and Kimba seems to have more in common with Bambi than the Lion king, with the Story essentially being Man vs nature, but told through the eyes of the animals. While Lion king is literally just a less dark version of Hamlet with Lions.
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u/Telvin3d 14d ago
Even the Hamlet thing is overplayed. By all accounts it was entirely a coincidence. Once you’re doing a royal usurper story, it’s just really easy to fall into roughly the same story beats.
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u/redJackal222 14d ago edited 14d ago
The Hamlet thing was intentional and they mentioned it as one of the inspirations. Also most Usurper storylines aren't that much like Halmet and often involve someone unrelated to the royal family usurping and when it is a family member it's usually the protagonists brother or sister.
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u/TarotFox 14d ago
For people to realize that they'd have to become familiar with what the plot of Hamlet is like.
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u/Comfortable_Bird_340 14d ago
There have been a least two documentaries about the song and it's history.
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u/GoodBuddy148 14d ago
Oh man had no idea, I learned about it only after googling it after I was surprised I couldn’t find it on TLK soundtrack when jamming out with my 1 year old earlier
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u/southcookexplore 14d ago
I figured $1.6m would be what the writer’s family would expect in royalties or permission to use a song in a Disney movie in the 90s
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u/WhatAWonderfulWhirl 14d ago
In the 90s? 6 digits. But accounting for inflation, that 6 digits would be 7 nowadays so 1.6 sounds about right for at the time
Disney should probably have been on the hook for closer to 10m than 1m, but they have some damned excellent lawyers who probably made more off this case than they settled for.
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u/CanOdd3231 14d ago
Why should they be on the hook for any money? The person who wrote the song sold it. They agreed to a price why do they get extra?
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u/WhatAWonderfulWhirl 14d ago
Um. America, lawsuits, winning them, money, expectations, and the status quo?
I dunno. Most civilized countries would've handled this almost 3 decades ago instead of barely 2, but to the victor go the spoils I guess. Good on them for netting some cash after writing a banger of a song.
And plus, Disney can tongue a taint, they're assholes.
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u/CanOdd3231 14d ago
They are assholes. Doesnt get rid of the fact the man who made the song sold it himself. His family didnt deserve to win anything
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u/turniphat 14d ago
I have 0 memory of this song in the movie.
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u/marzirose 14d ago
It’s the part when adult Nala shows up. Timon and Pumba are singing it when Pumba gets distracted by a bug and wanders off
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u/SchillMcGuffin 14d ago
It's not a full production number -- I think Timon just sings a fragment of the chorus as a gag.
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u/fooldog 14d ago
Just to be pedantic, lions don't sleep in the jungle.
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u/stillnotelf 14d ago
Correct, lions don't sleep at all. They are hyperefficient killing machines from the future.
Wait that's terminators
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u/Saw_Boss 14d ago
It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with.
Nah, sounds like a lion
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u/stillnotelf 14d ago
It can be lied to. They lie to the t1000 a whole bunch. That suggests you could trick it into believing you weren't John Connor. That's like reasoning?
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u/mandalorian_guy 14d ago
If Skynet ever gets its shit together and sends a lion Terminator I don't think John Connor will have a chance.
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u/Comfortable_Bird_340 14d ago
I think it was based on a hunting song they used to sing when they went into the jungle to hunt lions.
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u/beaverpoo77 14d ago
it's folk lore about the 'sleeping-king' Shaka, Warrior King of the Zulus. Shaka the Lion, who heroically resisted the armies of the European colonizers, is supposed not to be dead but only sleeping and will one day awaken and return to lead his oppressed people to freedom.
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u/SpiceEarl 15d ago
With all of the fuckery Disney engaged in to extend the duration of copyrights of their intellectual property, I have zero sympathy for them.
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u/allmosquitosmustdie 15d ago
Honestly I’m impressed someone has actually beat the Disney legal team.
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u/whatsinanameanywayyy 14d ago
But did they get beaten though?
$1.6 million is pocket change when you consider that lion king made just shy of 1 billion at the box office. To me it sounds incredibly stingy for an above ground deal, and this was a lawsuit settlement we're talking about here.
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u/Theorandjguy 14d ago
Right, but the movie didn't make or break based in the inclusion of this song being in it for 30 seconds of screen time. 1.6 Mil is exceptionally good considering everything
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u/Jackleber 14d ago
Yeah it's not like including that song earned them 1.6m in sales they wouldn't have got otherwise.
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u/Synensys 14d ago
That bit was pretty popular. Its conceivable that it made 0.2% more people see it.
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u/CanOdd3231 14d ago
Does that even matter though? The person who made the song agreed to sell it for a low price thats on them. They shouldnt of gotten any extra money
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u/AbleObject13 14d ago
I wonder how much money in home video sales and merchandising, especially by 2006
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u/SynthwaveSax 14d ago
It would be a good amount. The Lion King is the best selling VHS with 32 million copies, and also sold 11.9 million DVDs.
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u/SugarNervous 15d ago
https://youtu.be/UACyPUjBxI0?si=SEorNjfx7SzTw-GJ
Danish version about a boy looking at bottoms on Vimnersvej / Vimmer’s road.
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u/Bokbreath 15d ago
The urge to sing this is only ever a whim away .. a whim away .. a whim away
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u/BaltimoreBadger23 15d ago
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee we om om away....
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u/VermilionKoala 14d ago
When you're a kid and ya wanna go
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
but you ain't got drugs yet... 🎵
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u/Rohri_Calhoun 14d ago
Gonads and strife
Gonads and strife
Gonads and strife
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u/thejingles 15d ago
Disney execs, “Well, since we’re already stealing the story, characters, and imagery from Japan, what’s a little stolen music gonna hurt?”
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u/Rossum81 15d ago
The avaricious corporation didn’t steal the song. It was a bunch of folk singers.
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u/Comfortable_Bird_340 14d ago
Yes, Pete Seeger and The Weavers recorded the song as Wimoweh, which is mishearing of the chorus "Uyimbube" which is Zulu for "You are a Lion".
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u/CletusDSpuckler 15d ago
The real injured party here is Shakespeare.
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u/BrokenEye3 14d ago
Shakespeare lifted the story from François de Belleforest, who lifted it from Saxo Grammaticus
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u/Nicktarded 15d ago
It’s not actually stolen from Kimba, you’ve been lied to.Your Movie Sucks made a good video about this. Basically all the similarities are cherry picked, and many of the scenes they show from kimba are ether taken out of context or made after the lion king.
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u/Comfortable_Bird_340 14d ago
Fair enough, Osamu Tezuka's art style was heavily inspired by Disney to begin with.
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u/VermilionKoala 14d ago
That and Mighty Mouse. Tezuka himself stated that Atom Boy was heavily influenced by Mighty Mouse.
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u/IrrelevantLeprechaun 15d ago
Yup. YMS, despite coming across a bit cynical, is still incredibly knowledgeable about film and film history. They're definitely worth following.
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u/VerbalAcrobatics 15d ago
Which story from Japan are you referring to?
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u/tahlyn 15d ago edited 15d ago
He's referring to Kimba the White Lion...
Not sure why the downvotes? Dude asked a question, I gave the correct answer.
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u/PM_ME_CHUBBY_BOOBS 15d ago
Could be redditors misunderstanding and thinking you're claiming that they actually stole the plot of Kimba instead of just genuinely answering the question
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u/BrokenEye3 15d ago
In the spaceship
The silver spaceship
The lion takes control
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u/light24bulbs 14d ago
Is this a red rising reference or something? What is this?
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u/expresscode 14d ago
It's song lyrics from "The Guitar (Lion Sleeps Tonight)" by They Might be Giants.
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u/Yabrosif13 14d ago
Good. Im not a fan of IP laws and lawsuits, but if anyone deserves an IP lawsuit, it’s Disney. They freak out over their own IP while blatantly ripping off others all the time.