Hello {{ first name | friends}},
The Lion Sleeps Tonight is three things. First, an iconic song. Second, an example of colonial extraction. Third, a reminder of the first time I began to censor myself at work.
It was the 1990s and I was working in a small editorial department in the UK. It was my first job after moving back to the UK as an adult, and my second job (or third if you count my student experience) overall. As you know, I grew up in the Caribbean, where it wasn't unusual to hear someone humming along to a song, even at work, or to have someone make reference to a song and have everyone join in for a bit. But as I discovered, that wasn't de rigueur in a UK workplace.
At the time, The Lion Sleeps Tonight was the earworm of the moment. Finding myself alone in the bathroom, I sang a little bit of it. But when I got back to my desk I discovered two things. First, that the walls in UK offices were super thin. And second, that people thought singing in the bathroom at work was weird. Lesson learned, and I never did it again, but my life was the poorer for having that tiny expression of happiness taken away.
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