DJ Allyn – The Soundtrack for my Life

The Lion Sleeps Tonight ~ The Tokens  

The Tokens are an American male doo-wop vocal group from Brooklyn, New York. They are best-known for their chart-topping 1961 single, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”

The group was formed in 1955 at Brooklyn’s Abraham Lincoln High School, and was known as the Linc-Tones. Originally featuring members Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin, Rabkin was replaced by Jay Siegel in 1956, and the band recorded its first single, “While I Dream” that same year. In 1957 Sedaka and Zolotin left the band, leaving only Jay and Hank, who would recruit two additional band members and record the single “Picture in my Wallet” as Darrell & the Oxfords. Finally establishing its most famous name and lineup, the band become known as The Tokens in 1960 after Jay and Hank recruited 13-year-old multi-instrumentalist and first tenor Mitch Margo and his baritone brother Phil Margo.

In early 1961, The Tokens released a single for Warwick Records entitled “Tonight I Fell In Love,” which went to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned them an opportunity to appear on American Bandstand. The popularity that the band garnered as a result of this performance brought them new recording opportunities, culminating in their famous cover of Solomon Linda’s “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” for the Radio Corporation of America. Jay Siegel’s characteristic lead vocals helped the song rise to #1 on the Billboard charts, where it remained for three weeks.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

“Mbube” (Zulu for “lion”) was first recorded by its writer, Solomon Linda, and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. Gallo Record Company paid Linda a single fee for the recording and no royalties. “Mbube” became a hit throughout South Africa and sold about 100,000 copies during the 1940s. The song became so popular that Mbube lent its name to a style of African a cappella music, though the style has since been mostly replaced by isicathamiya (a softer version).

Alan Lomax brought the song to the attention of Pete Seeger of the folk group The Weavers. It was on one of several records Lomax lent to Seeger.^[1] After having performed the song for at least a year in their concerts, in November, 1951, they recorded their version entitled “Wimoweh”, a mishearing of the original song’s chorus of ‘uyimbube’ (meaning “you’re a lion”). Pete Seeger had made some of his own additions to the melody. The song was credited exclusively to Paul Campbell.

Pete Seeger explains in one recording, “it refers to an old legend down there, [about] their last king, who was known as Chaka The Lion. Legend says, Chaka The Lion didn’t die when Europeans took over our country; he simply went to sleep, and he’ll wake up some day.” (See “Senzenina / Wimoweh” on Seeger’s With Voices Together We Sing (Live).)

It was published by Folkways. Their 1952 version, arranged by Gordon Jenkins, became a top-twenty hit in the U.S., and their live 1957 recording turned it into a folk music staple. This version was covered in 1959 by The Kingston Trio.

New lyrics to the song were written by George Weiss, Luigi Creatore, and Hugo Peretti, based very loosely upon the meaning of the original song. The Tokens’ 1961 cover of this version rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and still receives fairly frequent replay on many American oldies radio stations.

(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)
(A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh)

In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle the quiet jungle
The lion sleeps tonight

Near the village the peaceful village
The lion sleeps tonight
Near the village the quiet village
The lion sleeps tonight

Hush my darling don’t fear my darling
The lion sleeps tonight
Hush my darling don’t fear my darling
The lion sleeps tonight

Nothing Else Matters ~ Metallica  

Metallica was formed in 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a Los Angeles paper called The Recycler looking for musicians who were interested in forming a band.

The original members consisted of Ulrich, James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney. Mustaine and McGovney were later kicked out of the band and replaced by Kirk Hammet and Cliff Burton. Burton was killed when the tour bus skidded out of control and was later replaced by Jason Newsted, who eventually was replaced by Robert Trujillo.

Metalica is considered the pioneer of “thrash metal”, and some critics consider their 1986 release of Master of Puppets to be one of the most influential and heavy “thrash metal” albums.

Nothing Else Matters

“Nothing Else Matters” is a song by heavy metal band Metallica. It was first released in 1991 on the self-titled Black Album. Many long-standing Metallica fans, who were used to the harsh lyrical nature of the first three Metallica ballads, did not appreciate the inclusion of a love song. It was one of the principal songs fans pointed to when accusing the band of “selling out.” Regardless, the song is now very popular among Metallica fans and hit #11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Charts in 1992. It is still played frequently on the radio.

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for things they say
Never cared for games they play
I’d never cared for what they do
I’d never cared for what they know
And I know

Yeah!

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who we are
And nothing else matters

Spill the Wine ~ Eric Burdon and War  

Eric Burdon was a founding member and vocalist of The Animals, a rock band formed in Newcastle, England in 1962. The Animals, combining electrified blues with rock, were one of the leading bands of the “British Invasion.” Along with, among others, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, and The Kinks, the group introduced Americans and the world to British music and fashion, its outspokenness and attitude. Burdon’s powerful, deep voice is featured on such Animal singles as “The House of the Rising Sun”, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “Bring It On Home to Me”, “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place“, “Don’t Bring Me Down” and “See See Rider”.

By late 1966 the other original members of The Animals, including keyboardist Alan Price had quit, and Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins reformed the group as Eric Burdon and the Animals. This more psychedelic incarnation of the group featured future Family member John Weider, and had hits such as “When I Was Young”, “San Franciscan Nights”, “Sky Pilot”, and “Monterey”. This ensemble lasted until 1969, going through several line-up changes sometimes called itself Eric Burdon and the New Animals.

Burdon is claimed by some to be the “Eggman” in The Beatles song “I Am The Walrus“. The reason for this is that Burdon was known as “Eggs” to his friends, from his fondness for breaking eggs over naked girls. Burdon’s biography mentions such an affair taking place in the presence of John Lennon, who shouted “Go on, go get it, Eggman …”

When the New Animals disbanded, Burdon joined forces with funky California jam band War. The resulting album, Eric Burdon Declares “War” yielded “Spill the Wine” and “Tobacco Road”. A second Burdon and War album, a two-disc set, The Black-Man’s Burdon, was released later in September 1970. The singles “Paint it Black” and “They Can’t Take Away Our Music” charted in 1971.

Spill the Wine

I was once out strolling one very hot summer’s day
When I thought I’d lay myself down to rest
in a big field of tall grass
I lay there in the sun and felt it caressing my face

And I fell asleep and dreamed
I dreamed I was in a Hollywood movie
And that I was the star of the movie
This really blew my mind, the fact that me,
an overfed, long-haired leaping gnome
should be the star of a Hollywood movie

But there I was, I was taken to a place, the hall of the mountain kings
I stood high upon a mountain top, naked to the world
In front of every kind of girl, there was
black ones, round ones, big ones, crazy ones…

Out of the middle came a lady
She whispered in my ear something crazy
She said:

Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl
Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl

(::spoken:::)

I thought to myself what could that mean
Am I going crazy or is this just a dream
Now, wait a minute
I know I’m lying in a field of grass somewhere
so it’s all in my head
and then.. I heard her say one more time:

(::sung:::)

Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl
Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl

(::spoken:::)
I could feel hot flames of fire roaring at my back
As she disappeared, but soon she returned
In her hand was a bottle of wine, in the other, a glass
She poured some of the wine from the bottle into the glass
And raised it to her lips
And just before she drank it, she said:

(::sung:::)
Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl
Spill the wine and take that pearl, Spill the wine and take that pearl