- The opening lyrics of "The Circle of Life" are very literal.
- They open with "Here comes a lion, father/Oh yes it’s a lion."
- They were written by Lebo M., a South African composer who worked on the soundtrack.
The opening song of "The Lion King" has some pretty distinctive lyrics, though few of us actually know what all of them mean.
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"The Circle of Life," starts out in Zulu before switching over to English. Here are the immortal words of the animals of the Savannah:
"Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba
Sithi uhm ingonyama
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama
Siyo Nqoba
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala"
If you speak Zulu, it might be pretty underwhelming. But, those who aren't fluent in the language have likely never understood those lyrics. However, we're in luck, because there's a the translation of the lyrics into English, via Genius.
"Here comes a lion, father
Oh yes it’s a lion
Here comes a lion, father
Oh yes it’s a lion
A lion
We’re going to conquer
A lion
A lion and a leopard come to this open place"
From that point, the song segues into English lyrics. You probably know them by heart.
As the Genius annotations explain, it's notable that the opening of the song is sung in Zulu. 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. Some of the story's elements also pull from Masai tradition, which has its own language. And so, "The Lion King" is less a product of one nation than of pan-Africanism, and of universal values.
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The lyrics for the opening chant of "Circle of Life" were written by Lebo M, a South African composer brought on to work on the movie's soundtrack by song producer Hans Zimmer, according to the 1994 documentary "The Making of 'The Lion King."
"We explained to him, it's a story of one lion who loses his father in tragic circumstances and ultimately has to rise up to his responsibility as king," director Rob Minkoff said in the documentary. "[His composition] was just magic. It was unbelievable... When he explained the English translation, he had found the heart of the movie."
Listen to "The Circle of Life" from "The Lion King":
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