Africa is undeniably one of the most recognized and widely played songs globally. Yet, this popularity doesn't shield it from being a divisive piece, even among Toto's dedicated fans and within the band itself. Radio stations worldwide continue to air Africa, countless cover versions exist, and people enthusiastically sing "bless the rains down in Africa" at karaoke bars every night.
The song has also garnered a new audience on streaming platforms, propelled by its consistent use in movies and TV series, resulting in a stream increase of over 220% in recent years. Given the song's enduring legacy and somewhat cryptic lyrics, many have wondered about its true meaning. Let's delve into the history, creation, and various interpretations of this iconic song.
Album cover of Toto IV featuring the hit song "Africa"
The Pressure to Deliver a Hit
At the time of the song's creation, Toto was under considerable pressure to produce hits. Their initial sound blended pop with synth and hard rock elements. While many fans consider their ventures into hard rock and prog territory as their best era, the band struggled to replicate their early success. Consequently, Columbia Records insisted that they return to delivering a hit album to avoid being dropped from the label.
To appease the label, the band revisited the formula that fueled their initial success, incorporating various genres while ensuring each song had a catchy hook. The recording process spanned several months during 1981 and 1982, and the band was granted a larger recording budget due to their commitment to delivering a commercially successful album.
Read also: "Africa" by Toto: A Cappella Deep Dive
The Birth of "Africa"
The initial idea and lyrics for Africa originated from keyboardist and co-lead vocalist David Paich, often regarded as the band's principal songwriter. Paich experimented with a new keyboard and discovered the brassy sound that became the song's opening riff, which he considered a distinctive alternative to the piano. Jeff Porcaro programmed six tracks of a Yamaha GS 1 digital piano to emulate the sound of a kalimba.
With that, Paich completed the melody and the chorus lyrics in about ten minutes, much to his own 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.
Lyrical Interpretations
The lyrics in the song seem to describe a man’s torn feelings about a girl he meets in Africa, as well as his love for the continent. He is not sure he can commit to her and stay in Africa, or if he should return to his home and career. A strong connection to the continent and its people is implied, as well as a fear of losing himself and becoming someone he doesn’t recognize. He sings that he will “take some time to do the things we never had,” implying that he is moving on and might leave her behind.
In 2015, Paich explained that the song is about a man’s love of a continent, Africa, rather than being about 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.
Paich had attended Catholic school in his youth and met several missionaries who had worked 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.
Read also: Download "Africa" Sheet Music
There was only one problem: Paich had never been to Africa. Everything he knew about it was what the missionaries had told him, old movies about Dr. Livingstone, and articles from National Geographic. Additionally, some of the lyrics - specifically “I seek to cure what’s deep inside / Frightened of this thing that I’ve become” - seem to be a bit introspective.
In a Songfacts interview from 2015, Paich admitted: “There’s a little metaphor involved here, because I was at the age where I was so immersed in my work, 24/7, that at times I felt like I was becoming just a victim of my work.
Musical Composition
Bobby Kimball handled most of the lead vocals for Toto, but Paich sang the verses on Africa himself. His subdued delivery suited the verses better, and Kimball also had a hard time wrangling lines like “as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti” which admittedly is a mouthful. Jeff Porcaro (drums) is credited as co-writer of the song’s music alongside Paich.
The rest of the band were not immediately convinced that the song would be a hit. “I thought the melody was good,” guitarist Steve Lukather told NRK.no, “but when I heard the lyrics I just said, ‘I bless the rains down in Africa? What the hell are you singing about?
If it had been up to Lukather, the song would never even have been on the album. “I told the rest of the band that if this song became a hit, I would run naked down Hollywood Boulevard” he laughs.
Read also: The Enduring Appeal of Toto's Hit
For all the misgivings there might have been about the song, the label had faith in it, and the band really did work hard on it. Engineer Al Schmitt stated that Africa was the second song written for Toto IV and had been worked on extensively in the studio. The work was actually so extensive that the band would grow tired of the song, to the point that they considered cutting it from the album entirely.
Jeff Porcaro played his drum parts live without a click track. “So when we were doing Africa,” he recalled for Mix, “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. […] 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.
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.
The Music Video
As soon as Africa had been earmarked as a single, plans were made to shoot a music video for it. In the video, a researcher in a library (portrayed by David Paich) tries to match a scrap of a picture of a shield to the book from which it was torn out. There is a cute librarian, taxidermy, a book called “Africa,” a burning spear, and a globe.
The music video used the radio edit of the song. It was directed by Steve Barron who also did their Rosanna video as well as many other early MTV favourites. 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.
Here's the music video for Toto's "Africa":
Here are some key elements of the music video:
- Researcher in a library: Portrayed by David Paich, symbolizing the quest for knowledge and understanding of Africa.
- Shield and book: Represents the fragmented and incomplete understanding of the continent that the researcher is trying to piece together.
- Burning spear: Adds an element of danger and the potential for destruction, perhaps hinting at the complexities and conflicts within Africa.
Mixed Feelings and Lasting Impact
During an appearance on the radio station KROQ-FM in 2018, Lukather and Steve Porcaro still had mixed feelings about the song. While they praised the song’s melody, its colours, the loops on it, and the overall satisfaction with the hard work that went into giving the song its shape, the lyrics were still not above ridicule. They described some of the lyrics as “dumb,” “just something to put there” (i.e.
Some of the misgivings are possible to understand. It is probably Toto’s most famous song, but Lukather in particular would like you to know that there is much more to the band. He told NRK.no: “People have said, ‘I hate that Africa-band. The lyrics make no sense.’ And they are right about that. But they often haven’t listened to our other songs.
At the same time, the song has clearly been a blessing for the band, contributing not only to their fortunes but also making Toto one of the most well-known bands in the world in the process. 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.
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. Everybody knows it, as it continues to be played on radio around the world. On the popular Norwegian hit station NRK P3, they have a rule about not playing music that is older than 10-15 years. The song has never really gone away.
The Weezer Cover and Internet Phenomenon
Africa | Cover by Weezer | Lyrics
The campaign went viral, and the American poprock-band started getting requests from fans all over the world. There was a jokey feel to it all, and Weezer decided to be a bit jokey in return. They covered the correct band, even the correct album, but the wrong song! Half a year later the pressure had become too much. The band buckled, and Mary got her wish as the original request was fulfilled.
Toto was in on the joke, surprising everyone by returning the favour when they covered the Weezer track Hash Pipe. Alongside Weezer, the list of bands that have covered Africa seems endless. Many of these covers have millions of streams.
Ubiquitous Presence
The song has nearly become inescapable, to the point that even if you should find yourself in one of the largest deserts in the world, away from modern life and society in general, you might still be able to hear the song play. The German-Namibian artist Max Siedentopf has built a sound installation in an undisclosed location in the middle of the Namib desert in January 2019 which plays Africa on a constant loop.
The "Africa" installation in the Namib desert.
Accolades
Listing all of the song’s accolades beyond its initial chart success would take some time. To name but a few, in 2012 Africa was listed #32 by music magazine NME on its list of 50 Most Explosive Choruses. Two years later, the song was one of the first to reach 1 billion plays on the streaming site Spotify. In 2021, it was listed at No. 452 on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Best Songs of All Time.
Chart Performance and Certifications
"Africa" achieved significant chart success globally. Here's a summary of its peak positions in various countries:
| Region | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| United States (Billboard Hot 100) | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 3 |
| Australia | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Germany | 14 |
| Ireland | 5 |
| Netherlands | 6 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
The song has also received numerous certifications, including:
- Gold certification by the RIAA in 1991
- Platinum certifications in several countries
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