The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #23813   Message #1683250
Posted By: bfdk
02-Mar-06 - 10:35 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Lion Sleeps Tonight
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lion Sleeps Tonight
Reading about this song made me remember something I saw on TV here in Denmark a couple of years back. I went hunting for it and finally found it.

The text is in Danish, but it tells the story also told here about how the song was stolen from Solomon Linda.

A well-known (in Denmark, that is) Danish pop singer - Flemming Bamse Jørgensen - used the song as the basis for one of his biggest hits called "Vimmersvej". For years and years he paid royalties to the American company, not knowing that the song didn't actually belong to them by right.

However, he eventually found out, and he was pretty p**ed with the company in question. So, he decided to do something about it. He got in touch with Solomon Linda's three daughters Elizabeth Ntsele, Fildah Ntsele, Delphi Ntsele and together they made a new recording of the Danish song. The new recording is based on some original recordings of the song, featuring Solomon Linda himself, and with his three daughters doing the backing (thus adding their voices to that of their deceased father). These recordings were done in South Africa in 2003, and later on Flemming Jørgensen added his song to their backing and the recording was released.

ALL revenues from this new recording are being / will be sent to the three Linda daughter in South Africa, and at the time of writing the article (2003) DKK 25,000 (about $ 4,000) had already been sent to them. Don't know how much has been sent as per today, though.

Best wishes,

Bente