This might seem a strange sort of post for “first drop” but it came up on YT last night and I went exploring. Just a note on the use of terms “till close of play” and “first drop” … they’re cricketing expressions … first drop refers to the opening batting partnership broken and in comes the batsman who’s often the best player, the stroke player, often enough the captain of the side.
Also “the lion sleeps tonight” could well be allegirical or metaphorical for the west sleeping, remaining too long in slumber, given the threat to the west. Anyway, to this song …
YT provided original footage of Jay Siegel singing it, they called it falsetto but I explored this:
Countertenor and falsetto are intimately connected, as the countertenor voice relies heavily on the falsetto register. However, while falsetto is a mechanical way of producing sound, a countertenor is a fully trained, professional vocal category.
The Mechanics: How They Relate
Falsetto: This is a technique where only the edges of the vocal cords vibrate. It is often lighter, airier, and used casually by most people to imitate a high-pitched voice.
Countertenor: This is a professional classification for a male singer who sings in the alto or soprano range (typically equivalent to a female mezzo-soprano). While countertenors generally speak in a lower, natural “chest voice” (modal voice), they train their falsetto extensively to build a powerful, resonant, and supported singing voice.
Not sure which to call him but he seems more countertenor to me and modern scribes call him that … scribes in the day called him falsetto, possibly because Tiny Tim and Franki Valli were also around then. Whatever, whichever, he certainly did a fine job and their version of Solomon Linda’s jazz age song was and still is a massive hit, a staple.
Now, I have a severe criticism to make. In those days back then, artists who were brought in, e.g. guitarists, even female classical singers, were paid their agreed fee, but they did not appear on the band label and were often not on stage, certainly not upfront. Jay Siegel and/or producer did the same … perhaps the band was lipsynching, I can’t say, don’t know.
Ordinarily, this would not have been an issue in most cases but on Lion Sleeps … it was. For a start, the lady is almost singing a duet with Jay Siegel, then she is always asked about, much loved, much praised. Yet she is never officially mentioned, except by music pundits. This, to me, is quite wrong, very wrong, as both made the song what it was.
The original lady was Anita Darian (above). Then, in an “oldies” reunion performance (also on youtube), the lady was Kelley Krepin DeFade (yes, for real). Both were much loved, the latter is married, with child, lives and works in Pittsburgh and I think it stinks that she’s overlooked. Do you remember those husband wife, brother sister or Paul and Paula duets? Imagine if only Paul were in the clip but Paula could still be very much heard.
Why? To save money? To deny her royalties, as happened to Solomon Linda? Anyway, here’s the original, with Anita:
Interesting sidelight (to me at least) was that JS did not like the song, it was put out as the B side of the single, only for it to go to n1 across the world, still being played today. Full marks to the countertenor for sure … but also to the soprano. Here’s the more recent version: