Jay Siegel

I think everyone knows "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Was this your biggest hit? "Tonight I Fell in Love" was the first record we wrote and produced and it was a top ten record in the United States. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," that took four weeks to reach number one and initially sold 3 million records. We were on a major record label, RCA, and because of that it became a number one record in 36 countries all over the world. 

Why do you think it's had such staying power? It was that unusual when it came out and 45 years later it's still a very unique piece of music. Everyone from three to 93 remembers and loves to sing that song.  One of the high points of this song, my gramdddaugther who was five at the time, she brought me into her class for show-and-tell. Two classes came into the room and sang, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for me.

Steven Van Zandt [Little Steven of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band] picked that song to put on the ultimate New York soundtrack in an article in the New York Times. What makes it a New York song? Maybe  because the group was from Brooklyn? I never considered it a New York kind of song, our first hit record, "Tonight I fell in Love" was more of a New York doo-wop song because that was what came out of the New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey area. But "Lion" was just our take on what we would do to an old folk song.

What's the story behind the song? Everybody, they ask us what that means. When I first heard the song it was quite different. I was in high school and a big fan of folk music. I heard this song by The Weavers, on their album, "The Weavers at Carnegie Hall," and I heard Pete Seeger doing "Wimoweh." No lyrics. I was able to do that falsetto, that's me doing the high part, by the way. I did some research about what the song meant. I found out it was written in 1939, by a South African songwriter. When the South African people would go on a lion hunt, they considered this a lullabye The lion would go to sleep, and then they could make the kill and have lion meat in the village.

We sang it to producers at RCA. They wrote a lyric and we had to change the melody to fit. All the guys in the group thought it was way too weird to release as a single. I consider myself right and them wrong, and they were glad.

How did the Tokens become producers for The Chiffons "He's So Fine?" Being four college kids, we would listen to radio and hear a big hit record and then never hear from that artist again, a one-hit wonder. I figured what was the longevity of The Tokens after "Tonight I Fell in Love," so we decided to learn about the whole music business, the publishing, the producing. We were the first group to produce a number one record for another group and that was "He's So Fine," by The Chiffons. Then we got very heavily involved in that.

We produced all the records by The Chiffons, we got very involved in production and started our own record company. We'd be in the studio in the day and anight making records for other people and for The Tokens. We have a bunch of hits by us, and other artists who might have remained unknown until we brought them into the recording studio.
 
=What do you like about producing?=  That's being very creative. When you produce another vocal group you are teaching them the parts and giving them the knowledge you have and seeing if you can crete another hit record. We produced ourselves as well, but with another artist, you get their input as well, and were every very successful at it. It was another creative outlet.

When we produced The Happenings, their number one is "See You in September." We produced their recording very much like doing a Tokens record. The disc jockeys would think it was a Tokens recording, until The Happenings went on tour and did personal appearances. They asked, "Why didn't you make the record yourself?" And it's because we love taking unknown artist and make them stars.

Do you have a favorite among the songs you've recorded? It's not "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," even though that  song is an amazing thing. There was a recording we made in the late 60s, a song by Carole King, "He's in Town," a top 30, and the arrangement was beautiful. That was one of my all-time favorites and of course, "Tonight I Fell in Love," because it was our first.

Is there any particular Jewish music that speaks to you or has influenced you? I just remember being that impressed on the High Holidays the beauty of the melody of Kol Nidre. I've always wanted to sing that. I was a member of Pomona Jewish Center for many, many years. Everyone wanted me to do it, but the cantor didn't want me to. I wanted to sing it one time. He wanted to do it all three times, but nope he had more power than I did.

My first paid job was I was 12 years old. I was a boy soprano for a choir for the Jewish High Holidays. I was in a choir with 10 men and two boys and I got a solo. We sang at the Grand Concourse Hotel in the Bronx and I got paid $50. Maybe I was 11. My big solo was the middle part of Avinu Malkenu. I even thought I'd be a cantor, but that was a lot of work. Rock and roll was much easier.

What is you first musical memory? I guess that was, I don't know if you remember, they had stores where you could go in an buy a record for 50 cents.

When I heard "Tonight I Fell in Love" on the radio for the first time, whoever thought that would happen, it was the most thrilling moment and thousands and thousands of people were hearing it.

Did you always think you'd become a musician or entertainer? No. Absolutely not. When I was in high school, they had all these musical plays and I would work backstage doing light and sound because I was very, very shy. I never thought I'd be able to get up on stage and sing. People say that person on stage is not the one they know. A lot of entertainers are that way.

When I was growing up, most people I knew who had a job, they would hate Mondays and couldn't wait until Friday. When I had success, I thought you can have this as a job? I feel fortunate I can do this all these year later. I can't wait for the next show. The job is not the show, but getting to the show. The travel is not fun. But the show is.

We were four Jewish kids from Brooklyn doing this. Everyone else doing it, they were all Italians, like Dion and the Belmonts. We were supposed to go to college and become doctors. I guess that's why we became involved in music.

Marla Cohen