Of Weiss’ 18 years in the voluntary position of president of the guild, Carnes said: “He gave a large portion of his career back to songwriters.”Īnd, Carnes said, “he had a remarkable career.” “He was a very strong advocate for songwriters’ rights,” said Rick Carnes, the current president of the Songwriters Guild, adding that Weiss testified before Congress a number of times on copyright issues. Weiss, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984, served as president of the Songwriters Guild of America from 1982 to 2000. and featured the title song and “Too Close for Comfort.” Wonderful” (with Jerry Bock and Larry Holofcener), which starred Sammy Davis Jr. Weiss also collaborated on three Broadway musicals, including the 1956 hit “Mr.
Weiss teamed with Bob Thiele to write “What a Wonderful World,” which was recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967 and later featured in the 1987 Robin Williams movie “Good Morning, Vietnam.” And I incorporated the chant into the song and wrote some melodies and counter-melodies.” “So I began to think and I came up with the notion that the darn lion was sleeping tonight and nobody had to worry.
“I did some research and found out that the chant was connected to the lion,” Weiss told the Santa Fe New Mexican in 1995. In 1952, the American folk group the Weavers released an adapted version of the song titled “Wimoweh.”
The song was based on a 1939 South African hit called “Mbube” (Zulu for “lion”) by Solomon Linda and performed by his group.