Uyimbube

I came across this very funny video in my RSS feeds (Google Top 10 Videos). So funny I decided to “blog” it, meaning, a little backgrounder related to the video and the lyrics as well for those who wanna sing along with hippo.

When you play the video, you’ll hear the repetitive word “a-wimoweh” while Dog does its amazingly choreographed step. According to Wiki, wimoweh is uwimbube which means “you’re a lion” in Zulu. The root word here is mbube (lion) and Mbube is the original title of the song recorded in 1939 by Solomon Linda‘s group The Evening Birds and became a hit in South Africe in 1940. A copyright issue arose when the movie The Lion King used the song although a number of renditions were made out of it and a number of movies used it too.

And now, calm your nerves down and let’s hear it from Hippo’s rendition of The Lion Sleeps Tonight joined by Dog.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

As performed by Pixar’s Crazy Hippo and Dog We-de-de-de De-de-de-de-de De-we-um-um-a-way We-de-de-de De-de-de-de-de We-um-um-a-way A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh In the jungle The mighty jungle The lion sleeps tonight In the jungle The quiet jungle The lion sleeps tonight A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh Near the village The peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight Near the village The quiet village The lion sleeps tonight A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh Hush, my darling Don’t fear my darling The lion sleeps tonight Hush, my darling Don’t fear my darling The lion sleeps tonight A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh A-wimoweh, a-wimoweh We-de-de-de De-de-de-de-de De-we-um-um-a-way We-de-de-de De-de-de-de-de We-um-um-a-way

Written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti, and Luigi Creatore Performed by Lebo M. *Translations of Zulu in italics and enclosed in braces Lala kahle [Sleep well] In the jungle, the mighty jungle The lion sleeps tonight In the jungle, the mighty jungle The lion sleeps tonight (Chorus) Imbube Ingonyama ifile [The lion’s in peace] Ingonyama ilele [The lion sleeps] Thula [Hush] Near the village, the peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight Near the village, the peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight (Chorus) Ingonyama ilele [The lion sleeps] Hush, my darling, don’t fear, my darling The lion sleeps tonight Hush, my darling, don’t fear, my darling The lion sleeps tonight He, ha helelemama [He, ha helelemama] Ohi’mbube [lion] (Chorus) Ixesha lifikile [Time has come] Lala [Sleep] Lala kahle [Sleep well] Near the village, the peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight Near the village, the peaceful village The lion sleeps tonight (Chorus) My little darling Don’t fear, my little darling My little darling Don’t fear, my little darling Ingonyama ilele [The lion sleeps]