***

Monday morning, the lion awakens. In addition to this recording by The Tokens, Pete Seeger and the Weavers had a version called “Wimoweh” based on Solomon Linda’s “Mbube,” and the song was used in Disney’s The Lion King. A lawsuit was brought by the Linda family to recover their royalties from the various versions of the song.

I can remember as a boy trying to wail those high notes the way those Brooklyn Tokens did, but even my pre-adolescent voice could not reach those glorious heights.