Public Domain/ Three Minute Pop Songs: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Tokens: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

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Here is the perfect transition tune to welcome our new theme. Of course, The Lion Sleeps Tonight is a traditional song, known in its home of Africa as Wimoweh. And it was a huge hit for The Tokens here in the United States. So Public Domain and Pop Song are covered. Three Minutes? Ahh, there’s the rub. The Tokens’ hit version in the sixties came in at 2:45. What to do? Well, I had a bit of luck. It turns out that The Tokens recorded the song again for one of those wonderful doo-wop specials on PBS. And their voices still sound great. And there are the extra 15 seconds, without having to resort to just applause at the end. To top it all off, you get to hear The Tokens recorded with modern equipment. It’s a win-win-win situation.