Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)

The song's composer was a Zulu South African who died in obscurity and poverty in South Africa while The Tokens and other American groups profited from the song. An American music publishing group claimed the copyright while the original composer/recording by Solomon Linda was only paid a little for his record's sales in South Africa and Britain.
Here is the original Wimoweh, sung by Solomon Linda with some other vocalists in 1939.

Here is an early American folk group's interpretation of Wimoweh (a.k.a. Mdube in the original song)

Pete Seeger and the Weavers. Apparently Pete Seeger and The Weavers learned of the song from Alan Lomax, the man who personally traveled the world for his field recordings of folk music. The Weavers are also responsible for popularizing the song in the 1950s

Here is another example of the song as recorded by the folk trio, The Kingston Trio

Here is South African vocalist Miriam Makeba's interpretation. 

The Tokens' version, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," was a big hit in 1961 and perhaps the most popular version of the song here in the United States