In 2006, Three South African women whose father, Solomon Linda, wrote ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ in 1939, won a six-year court battle that gave them 25 percent of all past and future royalties from the song. Linda, who was a cleaner at a Johannesburg record company when he wrote the song, received virtually nothing for his work and died in 1962 with $25 in his bank account. The song had been recorded by Pete Seeger (as ‘Wimoweh’), The Kingston Trio, The Tokens, Karl Denver and R.E.M. and was featured in the Disney film The Lion King. It was estimated that the song had earned $15 million for its use in The Lion King alone.

As an added note from Ben Blackwell, "If you want to get DEEEEEP, check out the article that lays out the whole damn history on this…one of the best things Rolling Stone magazine has ever published: http://reprints.longform.org/in-the-jungle"