ReMastered: The Lion's Share

So I've finally made my way to the end of all the music-related documentaries Netflix made in 2018 under the banner "Remastered" and I personally found most of them to be interesting and informative.

This episode was by far the longest but it did have a rather tortuous story to tell. We all know the song "Wimoweh" a.k.a. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", indeed it's twice been a number one hit in the U. K. by Karl Denver in the early 60's and Tight Fit in the early 80's and also a chart-topper in America by the Tokens in the early 60's and before that in the early 50's it made the top 10 by the Weavers, after the song was first picked up and publicised there by the U. S. folk artist Pete Seeger.

I must admit it's not a tune I've ever much cared for but with its later inclusion in Disney's blockbuster movie (twice!) and stage musical "The Lion King", obviously there should have been considerable publishing royalties due to the original writer of the song.

Now if you had asked me who wrote the song I would have guessed it was an old traditional attributable to the very prolific Mr or Mrs Anonymous, but no, the fascinating story is told of the song being actually written by a South African singer called Solomon Linda in 1939 when it was called "Mbube", with the lyric in fact referring to the struggle of the black majority against apartheid.

Later in the early 60's, an American lyricist called George Weiss wrote some Anglicised lyrics to the song, laying claim to the sole songwriting credit in the process and footage is shown of this particularly smug and smarmy individual actually stating he wrote the tune too.

However, it was only in the 90s when South African writer Rian Malan, working for the US Rolling Stone music magazine, penned an article investigating the origins of the song, that he uncovered the story of Solomon Linda and started the dispute on behalf of Linda's heirs for years and years of backdated royalties they had barely received.

Eventually, after he has co-opted the assistance of a prominent South African lawyer and most importantly a copyright specialist, a legal case against Disney on behalf of the family was finally successful in 2005 and saw Linda's three surviving daughters (a fourth died while the case dragged on), who as we have seen, still live in close to abject poverty in South Africa, receive a settlement, although under the terms of the agreement, no figures were to be divulged of the actual amount paid out.

And there you go, as someone says, an almost Disney-like happy ending you would have thought, but no, the three sisters now claim they received only a comparatively small amount with the bulk of the award being taken by lawyers and experts.

Underpinning the whole story of course is the exploitation past and present of native black South Africa by the white man although here it's clearly not quite as simple as that.

It's only natural to feel sympathy for the three surviving sisters, especially when they seem to be still living in the same impoverished state today as before, and this presumably after they've received their payment. But then counterclaims are made that they squandered their inheritance which is when things get really muddy. In a subtitle at the end, a figure of $250,000 is mentioned as having been paid to each sister, which I personally wouldn't have thought was chump change.

In this film, the story is told from the viewpoint of Malan who despite his undoubted good intentions does come across as a rather sanctimonious individual, keen to play the martyr and expiate the sins of apartheid in exchange for doing this good deed.

I'm not really sure in the end if anyone comes out of this programme very well apart from the original Mr Linda, but this sure was an interesting combined detective story and morality tale. My only complaint would be the centring of the story on the journalist and also that it perhaps took a little long in the telling, but this otherwise was an unknown story the background to which I'm now happily aware.

Unfortunately for me the bitter aftermath is that I can't get the damned tune out of my head now!

I had no idea how much history was behind 'The Lion Sleeps tonight' and its original Mbube. The roots of this and the history are quite fascinating and tragic. I found it remarkable how simple facts still had a complicated outcome. Solomon Linda wrote the song, the proceeds should go to his family. Ironic how laws and systems go against justice and reparations. A simple barter system of giving the loaf back to the person you took it from would yield a better result. Heartbreaking when others benefit from someone's work and they receive the short straw.

If Owen Dean was not a professional in that area, why was he responsible for setting up that trust and who must have then advised him? Where was the government's invoice from Owen Dean Assoc. And the reciprocal movements? At the very least, what was the percentage of the settlement that was to be paid?

All these questions need to be asked and answered.

No trust in The Linda Sisters' name can be acted on without their full knowledge of the accounting. Hence not set up correctly and therefore never just. Pay up Disney.

This is the second Netflix's ReMastered series I've watched. The first was the Johnny Cash story "Tricky Dicky and the Man in Black" which I gave 10/10 to, and I'd give this one 11/10 if I could.

Disclosure: I'm an acquaintance of Rian Malan and Rob Allingham (I'd like to say friend, but we only bump into each other irregularly) and only became aware of this fantastic documentary via finding the above one on Johnny Cash.

I'm also acquainted (not in a friendly way) with some of the executives and other shysters put in the spotlight here. As Rian explains, this is an ambiguous tale with no clear heroes (other than the deceased composer) or villains, so not an easy story in which to pick the goodies or baddies (except if, like me, you've had personal experience with some of these crooks, but even then we're talking generations down the line.)

Long story short, this is a documentary I can't recommend highly enough.

I watched this from start to finish. I'm actually disgusted with what 2 of the reviewers said. They have said that the daughters of Solomon Linda did things that they did not do. "In the end, the journalist discovers he's been duped, for all his ill-conceived intentions. Poor daughters? Nope. Just inheritance mongers off the blood, sweat and tears of others." NOT TRUE. "It's not a happy ending as the man who started the effort to right the wrong eventually comes to realize that Linda's family has not dealt honestly with him." Also NOT TRUE. It seems to me that the Linda sisters had the majority of their money stolen by lawyers. In the end, out of a large settlement from Disney, each of the 3 daughters received LESS than $250,000 over the life of the deal. The things these other reviewers said were not true, and were not in this documentary. Don't believe every review you read. I learned that tonight.