Toto's "Africa" is a song by American rock band Toto, the tenth and final track on their fourth studio album Toto IV (1982). 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. "Africa" is one of the world’s most popular and/or well-known songs.
The single was a massive worldwide hit upon its release (25 June 1982 (UK) and October 1982 (US)). Ever since Africa was released, it has been played on every single tour the band has done, and is usually one of the show highlights. Radio stations all over the world still play Africa. The song has also found a new audience on streaming platforms, pushed by continual use in movies and TV series, where the song has seen an increase in streams of over 220% the last few years.
In 2021, it was listed at No. 452 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Best Songs of All Time. Two years later, the song reached 1 billion plays on the streaming site Spotify.
Origins and Inspiration
David Paich and Jeff Porcaro wrote ‘Africa’. 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. In an interview with Mix, he said “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.
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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 on 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.
As a child, Paich attended a Catholic school; several of his teachers had done missionary work in Africa. They had told him about how they would bless everything down there: the people, bibles, harvests, and the rain. The missionaries also told of a lonely life. Paich wanted to write a romantic story about someone who flew to Africa to visit a lonely missionary.
Funnily, according to Paich, neither of the writers had been to Africa as of the time the song was written. He based the descriptions of its beautiful landscape came only from what he’d read in National Geographic. As a kid, Paich had always been fascinated by the continent and loved watching movies about Dr. Livingstone and missionaries.
Musical Composition and Production
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. Jeff Porcaro played his drum parts live without a click track.
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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.
Despite its warm reception, Lukather said in January 2025 that he was not a fan of the cover, claiming that Cuomo did it for the money with no real affection for the song, a sentiment which Steve Porcaro expressed in a separate interview.
Toto - Africa (Lyrics)
Lyrical Interpretation
Lyrically, the song concerns a man torn between staying in Africa, a continent he is enamored with, and travelling to stay with a girl he is seeing. The lyrics to ‘Africa’ are elusive, elliptical, suggestive, baffling, and frustrating. Is this a song about the literal continent of Africa, or is ‘Africa’ functioning as some kind of metaphor?
The rains in Africa are a symbol of renewal, breaking the drought and signifying the return of life and water to the dry, barren land. The singer confesses that he is frightened by what he has become (unfaithful? addicted to infidelity? addicted to sex?), and seeks to cure it. Whether the singer is actually in Africa is harder to determine.
He could simply be drawing on the imagery and locations of the continent because it provides him with the perfect metaphor for the conflicting emotions he is feeling, and the huge weight of emotion he is experiencing. But perhaps that flight is coming in at half-past midnight to somewhere in Africa, where the singer is located. ‘Africa’ is a song which remains tantalisingly poised between the figurative and literal modes so far as its lyrics go.
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In the chorus, he "[blesses] the rains down in Africa"; several other references to other parts of the continent are made throughout, such as "wild dogs [crying] out in the night" and "Kilimanjaro [rising]... above the Serengeti" (which are, in reality, about 420 kilometres (260 mi) apart).
Stereogum writer Tom Breihan interpreted the song's Africa as an "extended metaphor" - a "stand-in [for] a thing that you long for even before you've said goodbye to it", and therefore potentially a partial allusion to Paich's own "rock stardom..."
Music Video
The music video used the radio edit and was directed by Steve Barron. It 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.
In the video, a researcher in a library (portrayed by 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 female librarian (portrayed by Jenny Douglas-McRae) working at a nearby desk takes occasional notice of him, while an African man in a generic tribal outfit carrying a shield that matches the picture begins to close in on the library from the surrounding jungle.
When the researcher finds a book titled Africa, the man throws a spear at a bookshelf, 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.
Critical Reception and Legacy
The song has continued to be a popular rock classic up to the 21st century. Cash Box called it an "image-filled package of pop exotica with its gently tropical synth and marimba." Billboard called it an "evocative number" that should return the group to the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 after the weaker single "Make Believe". Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian rated it as Toto's 5th greatest song.
The song's inaccurate lyrical depiction of Africa, especially as seen from an otherwise-detached American perspective, has been commented on by various critics. Stereogum writer Vivek Maddala argued that "it's not hard to view [the song] as an expression of a glib neo-colonial mentality" and a "Rudyard Kipling 'White Man's Burden'-type narrative", especially with the lyrics being written in an "awkward, reductive way", but nevertheless noted that Paich wrote it "from a benign (if naïve) standpoint".
Michael Hann of the Financial Times claimed that the lyrics are "filled with false nostalgia and riddled with errors", referencing the unrealistic line "as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti", and even referred to the marimba and "cod-African solos" which might also be perceived as cultural appropriation.
Resurgence and Covers
"Africa" saw a resurgence in popularity via social media during the mid- to late 2010s, inspiring numerous Internet memes as well as a fan-requested cover by American rock band Weezer which peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. A limited edition 7-inch vinyl pressing was released by Weezer in July 2018 and sold exclusively through Urban Outfitters.
Shortly after the song's release, Weezer appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! 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.
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.
Members of the band have since expressed their amazement at the song's cultural footprint. Though he admits that he "sometimes hates" it, having played it "since 1982", Lukather has notably been surprised over the evergreen popularity of "Africa", which he claims has "outlived [Toto's] haters and been very good to [him]".
Chart Performance
The single was a massive worldwide hit upon its release (25 June 1982 (UK) and October 1982 (US)). It got all the way to the top of the Billboard charts and was a massive hit everywhere.
| Chart (1982-1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report) | 5 |
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) | 1 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM) | 3 |
| Germany (Official German Charts) | 14 |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 5 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) | 4 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) | 3 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) | 6 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) | 1 |
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