A 2019 documentary on the writer of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and his family's efforts to wrest away some royalties from one of the biggest corporations in the world, Disney. Disney's operating budget is larger than the entire South African economy.
I'd done a CD-R on the history of TLST in 2004 so I knew a little bit of the history, and even knew the names of some of the lawyers and activists involved, mostly due to a
2000 Rolling Stone article about this.Bottom line: Disney settled, and imposed a gag order on anyone ever disclosing the amount (it was several million dollars, but not the hundreds the lawyers initially sought). That's probably fair -- to protect the family, and to protect Disney from copycat lawsuits.
The three surviving daughters of Solomon Linda felt shortchanged.
They were expecting to become multi-millionaires. Instead they each got about $250,000 -- after lawyers fees. That's still a hell of a lot of money in Soweto.
And their father wrote the song, not them. He died penniless in 1962. His daughters have only their relation to him as a claim.
And the song he wrote in 1939, "Mbube," was SUBSTANTIALLY improved upon and elaborated by Pete Seeger and The Weavers and The Tokens and everyone that came after. I think the sisters got a good deal and should STFU.
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