When We Were Kings – Brian McKnight & Diana King

Today we have a double-billing of sorts, featuring both the sporting documentary When We Were Kings and the song of the same name featured in the film.

I have mentioned the film and Muhammad Ali’s colossal feat on other occasions, but it’s nice to now have a dedicated post to the documentary, including the beautifully inspiring song and video attached to it.

When We Were Kings is centred around the “Rumble in the Jungle“, the heavyweight championship boxing match held on October 30, 1974, in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) between reigning world heavyweight champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.

It remains one of my favourite documentaries and, for sporting enthusiasts, is about as close as you are going to get to obligatory viewing. It focuses on one of the most significant sporting achievements ever, which took place in a country few people would have associated with hosting such event.

For film purists, however, it is much more than a film about a boxing match. It is also a fascinating cultural portrait of Zaire and its people, capturing the atmosphere, politics, music and extraordinary sense of occasion surrounding the fight.

The film was released in 1996 and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 1997 Oscars. It is also widely regarded as one of the finest boxing documentaries ever made.

The film ends with today’s featured song, accompanied by a spectacular montage of images from Muhammad Ali’s career. I can’t really think of another song put to film that is quite as impactful, rousing and moving as this one, particularly because it is so closely tied to the heart of the film. You can’t really separate the song from the film; such is their unison in feeling and context. I never grow tired of hearing it, even after more than perhaps a hundred listens over the years. People do say I exaggerate a million times ;-P

As someone commented beneath the video:
“This song does something so few songs have accomplished. It captures the essence and power of an individual creating a lasting legacy for all that were there and for those who were not.”

It’s a shame that the duet “When We Were Kings“, performed by American R&B singer Brian McKnight and Jamaican reggae-pop artist Diana King, doesn’t have a dedicated page containing more information about its creation and recording. Of all the songs that deserve some background about their realisation, this is certainly one of them.

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The Rumble in the Jungle

Below are some extracts from other articles where I have referred to this legendary documentary and fight:

Most journalists in the lead-up to the Rumble in the Jungle thought Ali was toast. Some even suggested that Ali might die in the ring. If I had seen Foreman hitting the heavy bag at the gym in Zaire, leaving concave fist imprints, I might have thought the same.

Ali’s fight against Foreman remains one of the greatest sporting comebacks in history. Ali entered the fight as a 4–1 underdog against the unbeaten and devastatingly powerful Foreman.

Ali did what almost no-one thought he could do: withstand Foreman’s relentless attack, employ what became known as the “rope-a-dope” strategy and allow the younger champion to exhaust himself. In the eighth round, Ali knocked Foreman down and reclaimed the heavyweight championship of the world.

Muhammad Ali had this amazing glare in his eyes between one of the rounds realising he was getting pummelled and had to do something. It’s a surreal moment of concentration, composure, determination and creativity. It’s now or never. The scene was perfectly captured in the film here, where an astute boxing journalist covering the event said the following:

Ali went back to the corner. The nightmare he’d been awaiting in the ring had finally come to visit him. He was in the ring with a man he could not dominate. He was stronger than him. Who was not afraid of him. Who was going to try to knock him out and punched harder than Ali could punch. This man was determined and unstoppable. And Ali had a look on his face that I’ll never forget. It’s the only time I saw fear in Ali’s eyes. Ali looked as if he looked into himself…’Alright this is the moment.This is what you’ve been waiting for. This is that hour. Do you have the guts?’ He kind of nodded to himself. Like, got to get it together boy. Really got to get it together and you are going to get it together. He nodded some more as if he was looking into the eyes of his maker. And then he turned to the crowd and yelled ‘Ali boma ye‘ and a hundred thousand yelled back ‘ Ali boma ye‘.

After losing the title to Ali, Foreman entered a long period away from boxing and experienced a profound personal crisis. He eventually returned to the ring in 1987, more than a decade after his defeat.

Then, remarkably, at the age of 45, Foreman defeated Michael Moorer in 1994 to become the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. There is a wonderful short documentary about this remarkable comeback called How Big George Foreman Took Back His Title (20 Years After Ali).

In every heart there is a drum that beats
Steady and strong, it does not know defeat
I feel it pound and know the sound of true beliefs
In every soul, there is a memory
Of standing tall, the proudest we could be
I cannot fall, for I recall we were born in majesty
And when the long fight
Has been fought and won
We’ll stand in the sun
And we will raise out hands, and we will touch the sky
Together we will dance in robes of gold
And we will leave the world remembering
When we were kings, when we were kings
Now is the time, here is the mountain top
When one man climbs, the rest are lifted up
With every step we’re closer yet to a higher destiny
And when we reach out
To claim the thrown
Every man will know
And we will raise out hands, and we will touch the sky
Together we will dance in robes of gold
And we will leave the world remembering
When we were kings, when we were kings
Do you remember when we were kings?
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
And when the long fight
Has been fought and won
We’ll stand in the sun
And we will raise out hands, and we will touch the sky
Together we will dance in robes of gold
And we will leave the world remembering
When we were kings, when we were kings

References:
1. When We Were Kings – Wikipedia