Some of the story’s elements also pull from Masai tradition, which has its own language.Īnd so, “The Lion King” is less a product of one nation than of pan-Africanism, and of universal values. It’s a language of South Africa, while all the characters’ names in “The Lion King” are in Swahili, a language of eastern and southeastern Africa. You probably know the rest of the lyrics by heart.Īs the Genius annotations explain, it’s notable that the opening of the song is sung in Zulu. Source: Brought to you by the crew at The Games Day Podcast. However, we’re in luck, because now there’s a translation of the lyrics into English, via Genius.Ī lion and a leopard come to this open place”.įrom that point, the song segues into English lyrics. Questinon: What does A-weema-weh mean in the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' Answer: Coming from Africa, its 'a mishearing of the original songs chorus of uyimbube (meaning 'youre a lion').' 08/24/12. But, those who aren’t fluent in the language have likely never understood those lyrics. If you speak Zulu, it might be pretty underwhelming. Here are the immortal words of Elton John, Tim Rice, and the animals of the Savannah:
The opening song of “ The Lion King” has some pretty distinctive lyrics, though few of us actually know what all of them mean. “The Circle of Life,” starts out in Zulu before switching over to English. And sometimes they can impresse me more even than the original. I know in the foreign version, meanings of the lyrics are sometimes a little different from the original English version. And TLK is translated in many languages all over the world, as well as its songs. Circle of life (Nederlands: De kringloop van het leven) is een lied uit de. Listen that you may learn of the great king, Sundiata, whose name lives forever in the songs of griots and in the hearts of men. It goes without saying that TLK songs are pretty splendid. English translation of the ‘Circle of Life’ By Lawlinguists In Facts, translator Circle of Life is a Disney song from the 1994 animated film The Lion King.