Africa (Toto song)

"Africa" is a song by American rock band Toto, the tenth and final track on their fourth studio album "Toto IV" (1982). It was released as a single through Columbia Records on October 30, 1982, the album's third single overall and second in Europe. The song was written by band members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, produced by the band, and mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Elliot Scheiner.
Critics praised its composition and Toto's performances. The song reached number one on the United States' "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, the band's only "Billboard" number one, and number one on the Canadian charts. It also peaked in the top ten in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
The song was accompanied by a music video, which premiered in 1983, and was directed by Steve Barron, who collaborated previously with the group for "Rosanna". The video features Toto in a library, as they perform and showcase various aspects of African culture. While popular in the 1980s and 1990s, with the song being certified gold by the RIAA in 1991, "Africa" saw a resurgence in popularity via social media during the mid- to late 2010s, including a fan-requested cover by American rock band Weezer which peaked at number 51 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It has since been certified six times platinum.
Background.
The initial idea and lyrics for the song came from David Paich. Paich was playing around with a new keyboard, the CS-80, and found the brassy sound that became the opening riff. He completed the melody and lyrics for the chorus in about ten minutes, much to Paich's surprise. "I sang the chorus out as you hear it. It was like God channeling it. I thought, 'I'm talented, but I'm not that talented. Something just happened here!'" Paich reckons that he refined the lyrics for six months before showing the song to the rest of the band.
In 2015, Paich explained that the song is about a man's love of a continent, Africa, rather than just a personal romance. He based the lyrics off a late night documentary with depictions of African plight and suffering. The viewing experience made a lasting impact on Paich: "It both moved and appalled me, and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about it if I was there and what I'd do." Jeff Porcaro elaborates further, explaining: "A white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he's never been there, he can only tell what he's seen on TV or remembers in the past."
Some additional lyrics relate to a person flying in to meet a lonely missionary, as Paich described in 2018. As a child, Paich attended a Catholic school; several of his teachers had done missionary work in Africa. Their missionary work became the inspiration behind the line: "I bless the rains down in Africa." Paich, who at the time had never set foot in Africa, based the song's landscape descriptions from an article in "National Geographic".
During an appearance on the radio station KROQ-FM, Steve Porcaro and Steve Lukather described the song as "dumb" and "an experiment" and some of the lyrics as "goofy" that were just placeholders, particularly the line about the Serengeti. Engineer Al Schmitt stated that "Africa" was the second song written for "Toto IV" and had been worked on extensively in the studio. According to Steve Porcaro, it was the last song they recorded and barely made the cut. At one point, Jeff Porcaro considered saving "Africa" for a solo album because some members did not think the song sounded like Toto. The band was more focused on the album's lead single "Rosanna".
Composition.
Musically, the song took some time to assemble. Steve Porcaro, the band's synth player, introduced Paich to the Yamaha CS-80, a polyphonic analog synthesizer, and instructed him to write a song specifically with the keyboard in mind. Paich gravitated towards a brassy flute sound, which he found to be a unique alternative to the piano. Porcaro programmed six tracks of a Yamaha GS 1 digital piano to emulate the sound of a kalimba. Each track featured a one-three note gamelan phrase with different musical parameters. Steve Porcaro's brother, Jeff, played his parts live without a click track.
Jeff Porcaro also acknowledged that he was influenced by the sounds created by fellow Los Angeles session musicians Milt Holland and Emil Richards. He also described the significance of the African pavilion drummers at the 1964 New York World's Fair and a "National Geographic" Special. To recreate those sounds, he and his father Joe Porcaro made percussion loops on bottle caps and marimba respectively. I was about 11 when the New York World's Fair took place, and I went to the African pavilion with my family. I saw the real thing ... It was the first time I witnessed somebody playing one beat and not straying from it, like a religious experience, where it gets loud, and everyone goes into a trance.
Music video.
The music video used the radio edit and was directed by Steve Barron. In the video, a researcher in a library (portrayed by band member David Paich) tries to match a scrap of a picture of a shield to the book from which it was torn out. As he continues his search, a librarian (backing singer Jenny Douglas-McRae) working at a nearby desk takes occasional notice of him, while a native in the surrounding jungle begins to close in on the library. When the researcher finds a book titled "Africa," the native throws a spear at a bookshelf (the shield the native carries is the same as the one in the picture), toppling stacks of books. "Africa" falls open to the page from which the scrap was torn, but a lantern lands on it and sets it on fire, after which the librarian's eyeglasses are shown falling to the floor. The scenes are intercut with shots of a spinning globe and the band performing atop a stack of giant hardcover books, in which "Africa" is the topmost.
This video also features Mike Porcaro on bass, replacing David Hungate, who had already left the band before the video was made. Lenny Castro is also featured in the video on percussion.
As of April 2021, the music video has over 656 million views on YouTube.
Legacy.
The song was popular upon its release, hitting number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in February 1983, and the song has continued to be a popular soft-rock classic up to the 21st century. The song has been utilized in many internet memes, has appeared in television shows, such as "Stranger Things", "Family Guy", "Chuck", and "South Park", and was used by CBS during their 2013 coverage of the funeral of former South African President Nelson Mandela, albeit not without controversy.
In 2012, "Africa" was listed by music magazine "NME" in 32nd place on its list of "50 Most Explosive Choruses."
In January 2019, a sound installation was set up in an undisclosed location in the Namib Desert to play the song on a constant loop. The installation is powered by solar batteries, allowing the song to be played indefinitely.
Weezer cover.
In December 2017, Twitter user "@WeezerAfrica," run by 14-year-old Cleveland, Ohio resident Mary Klym, tweeted, ""@RiversCuomo it's about time you bless the rains down in Africa"." The band released a cover of "Rosanna", a different Toto song, in order to troll Klym and those clamoring for a version of "Africa".
Weezer finally released "Africa" on May 29, 2018. It was the band's first Hot 100 hit since (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" in 2009. "Africa" reached number 51 on the Hot 100 and peaked at number one on the "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart in August 2018, becoming the band's first number-one single since "Pork and Beans" in 2008.
A limited edition 7-inch vinyl pressing was released by Weezer in July 2018 and sold exclusively through Urban Outfitters. The pressing was limited to 1,500 copies, with "Africa" as the A-side and "Rosanna" as the B-side. The cover artwork features a background of palm fronds with the tweet that inspired the song in the center of the cover.
Shortly after the song's release, Weezer appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" along with keyboardist Steve Porcaro of Toto to promote the single. Toto responded on August 9, 2018, by releasing a cover of Weezer's 2001 single "Hash Pipe", after debuting it in concert a week prior.
Weezer released a music video of their "Africa" cover in September 2018, styled as a parody of the video for their earlier single "Undone – The Sweater Song." Stand-ins for the band members perform the song on a soundstage, with "Weird Al" Yankovic replacing singer/guitarist Rivers Cuomo, with his band members replacing Weezer. Yankovic had previously appeared onstage during the band's tour to perform "Africa" with them.
Weezer included the cover on their surprise release of the all-covers "Teal Album" in January 2019.