Heirs of "Lion Sleeps Tonight" composer win royalt

Outtsyder · Unread post by **Outtsyder** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:37 am

Almost everyone knows the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". But not everyone knows that the original composer of the song -- Solomon Linda of South Africa -- or his heirs ever got a penny for the royalties from one of the world's most popular songs in history.

It was originally written in 1939 in South Africa, but the apartheid laws at the time led to Linda selling the copyrights off, and the original song being re-adapted many times over, with neither the composer or his family receiving any royalties for the work, until now.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/200603 ... 1O0G5.html

Outtsyder

Unread post by **Sapphire** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:05 am

Huh! I never knew that! I don't think I ever really stopped to think about who the original composer was. It's a pity that the man himself never got to see and enjoy any of the gold. But at least his family are finally benefitting from it, which is a nice end to a touching story. That was an interesting read, Outty.

Outtsyder · Unread post by **Outtsyder** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:02 pm

Sapphire wrote:Huh! I never knew that! I don't think I ever really stopped to think about who the original composer was. It's a pity that the man himself never got to see and enjoy any of the gold. But at least his family are finally benefitting from it, which is a nice end to a touching story. That was an interesting read, Outty.

Now you know! And knowing is half... okay, I think I'll stop myself before someone hits me.

But yeah, I figured I'd post this, considering it involved something from your home country, Sapph. *HUUUUG!*

It does kind of make me wonder (though not often); we hear all these songs and just about everyone knows at one point or another in their lives, but we never stop to think about who originally wrote them or how they originated. Even kiddie songs like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb".

And I'm almost shocked that no one's come forth to try to claim ownership of "Happy Birthday To You", but knowing how it's sung all the time, even if anyone ever did come forward, would anyone believe them?

Outtsyder

varyn · Unread post by **varyn** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:15 pm

*delurks for the joy of random factoids*

And I'm almost shocked that no one's come forth to try to claim ownership of "Happy Birthday To You"

It's actually owned by Warner communications, and generates a couple million dollar's worth of revenue each year for them.

It's sung in just about every country, though, and in many different languages. I've read that, along with the word 'taxi' and the striped poles outside of barber shops, it's one of the top 3 things that can be found in near-identical form in almost any country you can think of.

It was originally composed by a schoolteacher in the mid-1800s, and there have actually been a couple lawsuits over it, I think.

Lawsuits over such a simple little tune [I actually can't stand the song and find it deathly annoying] are odd to imagine. Ah well, Go humanity

Outtsyder · Unread post by **Outtsyder** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 4:17 pm

Warner, huh? I guess that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. If it weren't for Sony, Warner would probably be owning freaking almost everything.... (I mean, Superman, Batman, everything under DC Comics, Warner Bros. Studio and cartoons, Madonna, TBS, CNN, Time magazine, Life magazine, the distributors of "The Matirx" and "Lord Of The Rings"... shall we go on?)

varyn wrote:Lawsuits over such a simple little tune [I actually can't stand the song and find it deathly annoying] are odd to imagine. Ah well, Go humanity

Anything for a couple quick (hundred thousand) bucks, I guess.

Outtsyder