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.

"Africa"
US 7-inch (180 mm) shaped picture disc edition
Single by Toto
from the album Toto IV
B-side
  • "Good for You"
  • "We Made It"
ReleasedMay 10, 1982 (1982-05-10)
RecordedOctober 18, 1981 (1981-10-18)
GenreSoft rock[1][2]
Length
  • 4:55 (album version)
  • 4:21 (radio/video edit)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Toto
Toto singles chronology
"Make Believe"
(1982)		 "Africa"
(1982)		 "I Won't Hold You Back"
(1982)
Music video
"Africa" on YouTube
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

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,[3][4][5] including a fan-requested cover by American rock band Weezer which peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] It has since been certified five times platinum.[7]

Background

The initial idea and lyrics for the song came from David Paich. Paich was playing around with a new keyboard, the CS-80,[8] 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!'"[9] Paich reckons that he refined the lyrics for six months before showing the song to the rest of the band.[9]

In 2015, Paich explained that the song is about a man's love of a continent, Africa, rather than just a personal romance.[10] 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."[11] 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.[12] 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.[12]

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.[13] Engineer Al Schmitt stated that "Africa" was the second song written for Toto IV and had been worked on extensively in the studio.[9] According to Steve Porcaro, it was the last song they recorded and barely made the cut.[13] At one point, Jeff Porcaro considered saving "Africa" for a solo album because some members did not think the song sounded like Toto.[14] The band was more focused on the album's lead single "Rosanna".[13]

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.[8] Porcaro programmed six tracks of a Yamaha GS 1 digital piano to emulate the sound of a kalimba.[8] Each track featured a one-three note gamelan phrase with different musical parameters.[8] Steve Porcaro's brother, Jeff, played his parts live without a click track.

So when we were doing "Africa" I set up a bass drum, snare drum and a hi-hat, and Lenny Castro set up right in front of me with a conga. We looked at each other and just started playing the basic groove. [...] The backbeat is on 3, so it's a half-time feel, and it's 16th notes on the hi-hat. [...] We played for five minutes on tape, no click, no nothing. We just played. And I was singing the bass line for 'Africa' in my mind, so we had a relative tempo. Lenny and I went into the booth and listened back to the five minutes of that same boring pattern. We picked out the best two bars that we thought were grooving, and we marked those two bars on tape. [...] Maybe it would have taken two minutes to program that in the Linn, and it took about half an hour to do this. But a Linn machine doesn't feel like that!

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.[9][15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

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 January 2021, the music video has over 629 million views on YouTube.[17]

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,[18] has appeared in television shows, such as Stranger Things, Family Guy, Chuck, and South Park, and was used by CBS during their coverage of the funeral of former South African President Nelson Mandela, albeit not without controversy.[19][20]

In 2012, "Africa" was listed by music magazine NME in 32nd place on its list of "50 Most Explosive Choruses."[21]

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.[22]

Personnel

Guest musicians

Charts and certifications

Weezer cover
"Africa"
Single by Weezer
from the album Weezer (The Teal Album)
B-side"Rosanna"
ReleasedMay 29, 2018
Recorded2018
Genre
Length3:58
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Patrick Wilson[50]
Weezer singles chronology
"Happy Hour"
(2017)		 "Africa"
(2018)		 "California Snow"
(2018)
Music video
"Africa" on YouTube

In December 2017, Twitter user "@WeezerAfrica," run by 14-year-old Cleveland, Ohio resident Mary Klym,[51] tweeted, "@RiversCuomo it's about time you bless the rains down in Africa." After much back-and-forth between Mary and Weezer's drummer, Patrick Wilson, the band released a cover of "Rosanna", a different Toto song, in order to troll Klym and those clamoring for a version of "Africa".[52]

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.[53] "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.[54]

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.[55][56]

Shortly after the song's release, Weezer appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! along with keyboardist Steve Porcaro of Toto to promote the single.[56] 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.[57][58]

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.[59]

Weezer included the cover on their surprise release of the all-covers "Teal Album" in January 2019.[60]

Weekly charts
Chart (2018) Peak
position
Canada Rock (Billboard)[61] 33
Mexico Ingles Airplay (Billboard)[62] 42
US Billboard Hot 100[63] 51
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[64] 19
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[65] 3
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[66] 5
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[67] 26

Year-end charts
Chart (2018) Position
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[68] 23
US Adult Contemporary Songs (Billboard)[69] 47
US Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[70] 73
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[71] 10

Samples
  • 2002: Ja Rule sampled the song on his song "Murder Reigns" taken from his fourth studio album The Last Temptation.[72]
  • 2006: American pop singer JoJo sampled "Africa" in her song "Anything", which served as the third single from her 2006 second studio album, The High Road.[73]
  • 2007: Lebanese-Canadian pop and R&B singer Karl Wolf sampled "Africa" in his own remake, also called "Africa", with added lyrics and musical composition and arrangement. The Karl Wolf song featured a rap section by the Canadian-Bahamian rapper Culture. The track served as the first single from his 2007 second studio album, Bite the Bullet, and reached number two on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100.[74]
  • 2010: American experimental artist Daniel Lopatin heavily sampled "Africa" in the song "A1", a song featured in Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1.[75]
  • 2011: R&B singer Jason Derulo's "Fight for You", the fourth single from his 2011 album Future History and released on Warner Music incorporated both sampling of the tune of "Africa" and re-sung lyrics from the song.[76] The song largely based on Toto's song with additional lyrics by Derulo and Stevie Hoang peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart,[77] and at number four on the UK R&B Singles Chart,[78] number 28 in Ireland[79][80] and number 5 in Australia's ARIA Singles Chart[81] and was certified double platinum in Australia. It also charted in Italy (#22), Denmark (#27), Scotland (#16) and US Billboard Hot 100 (#83).[82] The official video release has been watched near to 40 million times on YouTube Jason Derulo YouTube channel.[83]
  • 2016: Swedish production duo Bacall & Malo sampled "Africa" in their remake, also called "Africa", with added lyrics and musical composition and arrangement. The Bacall & Malo music video also featured vocals by UK-based Nigerian singer Prince Osito. The track was the debut charting single of the Swedish duo peaking at number 18 on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish Singles Chart.[84]
  • 2018: Rapper Pitbull and Rhea heavily sampled "Africa" on their song "Ocean to Ocean" for the soundtrack to Aquaman.[85]

See also
  • List of RPM number-one singles of 1983
  • List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1983

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Further reading
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