The Tokens' version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a multi-generational and cross-genre song, as it had already been well before The Lion King ever came out as a family music (sorry Timone and Pumba).
It features a genuine African lyric in the famous refrain [a whim-o-weh, a whim-o-weh...], and in the moving harmony that pervades this stellar pop classic and propels it rythmically like a train along the rickety trains. Listen for terrific "Frankie Valli"-style falsetto, the wonderful wooden drums (played with mallets!), a sneaky hint of the lengendary Theremin (an electronic instrument that never fully came out of the lab, with a few notable exceptions such as The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," the theme from the ancient television show "The Outer Limits" and some others -- an eerie, but distinctive sound), and other wonderful touches that make this melodic, harmonious sing-along-or-die-trying record immortal.
And with all of that going for it, it came into being after a gifted chap had visited Africa and couldn't get the refrain (actually based upon a chant of the indigenous people) out of his mind.
Listen to a RadioDAZZ re-discovered classic. You know what to do next. Enjoy this wonderful musical treat from your ears and your soul -- it will replay itself over and over inside your mind long after you've listened. Share or forward this to your friends, colleagues and even your your old classmates - People will be grateful at your seconding that emotion and passing the song along. Music is the language of the soul. It can help bring us together.
Thank you one and all. Thank you for sending a universal signal of love around the world. It's one way that we can all be Human together.
DAZZ [http://RadioDAZZ.blogspot.com]
Douglas E Castle [http://aboutDouglasCastle.blogspot.com] - An admirer of Dazz', the musical ambassador who never grew up, and reminds me of who I really am deep inside.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LBmUwi6mEo
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.