Mitch Margo, an original member of the Tokens, the singing group best known for their hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” died on Nov. 24 at his home in Studio City, Calif. He was 70.
His family announced his death in a statement but did not specify the cause.
Mr. Margo was only 13 in 1960 when he and his brother, Phil, joined the Linc-Tones, who soon renamed themselves the Tokens. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” the group’s biggest hit, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1961 and one week in 1962.
When my older brother went off to Grinnell College in 1960 or so, he came back at Christmas with (1) the first pair of white jeans I'd ever seen, and (2) "The Weavers at Carnegie Hall," where I first heard "Wimoweh." For me at least, The Tokens version was a cultural appropriation of the Weavers cultural appropriation.<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/19/The_Weavers_at_Carnegie_Hall.jpeg">
There was a time, my children, when the Rolling Stones and the Doors and Beatles and Jefferson Airplane and Strawberry Alarm Clock and Procol Harum and Bob Dylan and Donovan (the elder) and the Yardbirds (w/and w/o Clapton) all had things called "Top 40 hits" that you listened to on a device called "AM radio." You never knew when that one song your really needed to hear was going to come on, so you had the listen all the time. The radio in your dad's car radio had buttons you could preset to your favorite stations, so when he got in on Sunday morning to take the family to church, |"Surfin Bird"| by the Trashmen came on at ear-splitting volume.
Engineer, mostly civil. No degree but grandfathered in as a PE when Illinois started that guild. Construction management was his gig with the electric company. He had his PE license hanging over the workbench in the basement, and once I asked him what it was. "Nothing important," he said.
My first intro to FM was via a Heathkit my uncle built. He kept it tuned to KABL, classical music. By the time underground rock stations came on the scene, I was living in LA and listening to KLOS, KPFK and KMET.
<img src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/12/02/obituaries/02margo/xp-margo-master768.jpg">Mitch Margo, second from left, with members of the Tokens. The others, from left, are Eddie Rabkin, Hank Medress, Phil Margo (seated) and Jay Siegel.
When my older brother went off to Grinnell College in 1960 or so, he came back at Christmas with (1) the first pair of white jeans I'd ever seen, and (2) "The Weavers at Carnegie Hall," where I first heard "Wimoweh." For me at least, The Tokens version was a cultural appropriation of the Weavers cultural appropriation.<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/19/The_Weavers_at_Carnegie_Hall.jpeg">
White Levi's were the [shit!]
(Let it play…)
|don't let this play|
<img src="https://dangerousminds.net/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/hoffman_levis_09238432_051167_465_843_int.jpg"</img>
[Here's the one I was looking for!]
I'm so old I remember hearing this on WLS in Chicago. Whose voice is that saying "I am a duck"—Kantner?
I heard it on KYA and KFRC in San Francisco. And yeah, probably Kantner.
I was a kid like that. It worked out okay.
There was a time, my children, when the Rolling Stones and the Doors and Beatles and Jefferson Airplane and Strawberry Alarm Clock and Procol Harum and Bob Dylan and Donovan (the elder) and the Yardbirds (w/and w/o Clapton) all had things called "Top 40 hits" that you listened to on a device called "AM radio." You never knew when that one song your really needed to hear was going to come on, so you had the listen all the time. The radio in your dad's car radio had buttons you could preset to your favorite stations, so when he got in on Sunday morning to take the family to church, |"Surfin Bird"| by the Trashmen came on at ear-splitting volume.
Boppa-ooh ma-ma mau!
Engineer, mostly civil. No degree but grandfathered in as a PE when Illinois started that guild. Construction management was his gig with the electric company. He had his PE license hanging over the workbench in the basement, and once I asked him what it was. "Nothing important," he said.
My first intro to FM was via a Heathkit my uncle built. He kept it tuned to KABL, classical music. By the time underground rock stations came on the scene, I was living in LA and listening to KLOS, KPFK and KMET.