'Lion King' Stage Actor -- Theme Song Mystery Solved ... The Opening Lyrics Are ...

It's "The Circle of Life" and the lyrics confuse us all ... but the lady who plays Rafiki in the stage version of "The Lion King" is ready to change that.

Everyone's tried singing the African chant at the beginning of the movie's theme song -- and it turns out they've all been belting the wrong lyrics.

Brown Lindiwe Mkhize -- aka Rafiki -- tried teaching our camera guy how to sing the opening of "Circle" correctly during an event in L.A. yesterday.

Watch the video to see how well that worked. Then try it yourself. You know you want to.