"Africa" is a song by the American rock band Toto. It was included on their 1982 album Toto IV, and released as a single on September 30, 1982. It reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 5, 1983 (the band's only number one there), and number three on the UK Singles Chart the same month. The song was written by the band's keyboardist/vocalist David Paich and drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Video Africa (Toto song)
Background
The initial idea and words for the song came from David Paich. Jeff Porcaro explains the idea behind the song: "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."
Songwriter David Paich said:
At the beginning of the '80s I watched a late night documentary on TV about all the terrible death and suffering of the people in Africa. It both moved and appalled me, and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about if I was there and what I'd do.
In 2015, Paich explained the song is about a man's love of a continent, Africa, rather than just a personal romance. In 2018, Paich explained the song is about a person flying in to meet a lonely missionary. As a child, Paich attended a Catholic school. Several of the teachers had done missionary work in Africa, and this became the inspiration behind the line "I bless the rains down in Africa".
Paich was playing around with a new keyboard and found the brassy sound that became the opening riff. He started humming a melody and by the chorus the words just came to him.
Musically, the song took quite some time to assemble, as Paich and Porcaro explain:
On "Africa" you hear a combination of marimba with GS 1. The kalimba is all done with the GS 1; it's six tracks of GS 1 playing different rhythms. I wrote the song on CS-80, so that plays the main part of the entire tune.
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. Lenny started playing a conga pattern. 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!
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 influence the drummers at the Africa pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair and a National Geographic Special.
I was about 11 when the New York World's Fair took place, and I went to the African pavillion 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.
Maps Africa (Toto song)
Music video
The music video 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 (Jenny Douglas-McRae) working at a desk takes occasional notice of him, while natives in the surrounding jungle begin to close in on the library. When the researcher finds a book entitled Africa, the native throws a spear (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 percussions.
Reception
In 2012, "Africa" was listed by music magazine NME in 32nd place on its list of "50 Most Explosive Choruses".
Personnel
- David Paich - lead vocals (verses) and backing vocals, synthesizers, piano
- Bobby Kimball - lead vocals (chorus) and backing vocals
- Steve Lukather - electric guitar, backing vocals
- Steve Porcaro - synthesizer
- David Hungate - bass
- Jeff Porcaro - drums, gong
Guest musicians
- Lenny Castro - congas
- Timothy B. Schmit - backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Charts and certifications
In addition to the above, the song also reached number 1 on the New Zealand iTunes chart on May 15, 2013.
See also
- List of RPM number-one singles of 1983
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1983
References
Further reading
- Jeff Porcaro reminisces about how the song's percussion tracks took shape at Mix
External links
- Billboard Chart Listing - Allmusic.com
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
- Africa official video on YouTube
Source of article : Wikipedia
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