skippy the bush kangaroo: rip george david weiss

Thursday, August 26, 2010

rip george david weiss

george david weiss, the writer of such seminal hits as "what a wonderful world" and "the lion sleeps tonight" has died at age 89. nytimes:

among his most famous numbers were “can’t help falling in love,” recorded by elvis presley; “the lion sleeps tonight,” recorded by the tokens; and “what a wonderful world,” recorded by louis armstrong.

“can’t help falling in love,” introduced in presley’s 1961 film “blue hawaii,” was a million-seller. it has words and music by mr. weiss, hugo peretti and luigi creatore.

“the lion sleeps tonight” (1961), based on a south african zulu song first recorded in the 1930s, was given a reworked melody and new lyrics (“in the jungle, the mighty jungle/the lion sleeps tonight”) by mr. weiss, mr. peretti and mr. creatore.

their adaptation, which kept the refrain — “wimoweh, wimoweh” — popularized in a 1950s version by the weavers, became a million-selling hit for the tokens. widely recorded since, the song has been used in many motion pictures, including “the lion king” (1994).

ew.com tells us how weiss re-worked what was then a standard:

for “the lion sleeps tonight,” weiss reworked an old song called “mbube,” originally penned by south african musician solomon linda. “i did some research and found out that the chant was connected to the lion,” weiss recalled in 1995. “so i began to think and i came up with the notion that the darn lion was sleeping tonight and nobody had to worry. and i incorporated the chant into the song and wrote some melodies and counter melodies.” the track was a hit for the tokens in 1961 and would subsequently be recorded by robert john, brian eno, and the nylons, amongst others. it would also feature in both the film and stage versions of the lion king. “the song leads a magical life,” weiss said in 1995. “i don’t know what to think about it. i never thought of it as a song, but rather as a series of gimmicks thrown together. it just shows you—you can’t second guess the public.”

this humble space traced the evolution of that song, ironically about a year ago, here.

the nytimes goes on to tell us the depth of mr. weiss's talents:

mr. weiss’s other standards include “lullaby of birdland” (1952), the vocal version of george shearing’s jazz standard, and many songs with his frequent collaborator bennie benjamin, among them “surrender” (1946), recorded by perry como; “confess” (1948), recorded by patti page; and “wheel of fortune” (1952), recorded by kay starr.

he collaborated on several broadway musicals, the best known of which is “mr. wonderful” (1956), starring sammy davis jr., for which mr. weiss contributed original music and lyrics with jerry bock and larry holofcener.

his other broadway credits include “first impressions” (1959), an adaptation of jane austen’s “pride and prejudice” starring polly bergen, hermione gingold and farley granger, for which mr. weiss wrote music and lyrics with robert goldman and glenn paxton; and “maggie flynn” (1968), starring shirley jones and jack cassidy, with book, music and lyrics by mr. weiss, mr. peretti and mr. creatore.

we close this small tribute to one of the 20th century's more prolific pop lyricists w/the apropos sentiment of his great hit, as rendered by one of the best musicians of all time:

rest in peace, george david weiss.

posted by skippy at 5:31 PM |

1 Comments:

I had the pleasure of seeing the Tokens (older but the real, original group) at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey around 1991. The performed The Lion Sleeps. They were touring with Francis Stephen Castelluccio.

Mr Weiss contributed many fine songs to the culture. RIP.

commented by