Africa (Toto song)



"Africa" is a 1982 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 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.

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.

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!"

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.

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

Personnel

 * Steve Lukather – backing vocals, guitar
 * Bobby Kimball – lead vocals (chorus), backing vocals
 * David Hungate – bass
 * Jeff Porcaro – drums, percussion
 * Steve Porcaro – synthesizer
 * David Paich – lead vocals (verses) and backing vocals, piano, synthesizer

Guest musicians

 * Jim Horn – recorders
 * Lenny Castro – congas, percussion
 * Joe Porcaro – marimbas, percussion
 * Timothy B. Schmit – backing vocals

Sales and certifications
It also reached number 1 on the New Zealand iTunes chart on 15 May 2013.

Samples

 * 2002: Ja Rule sampled the song on his song Murder Reigns taken from his fourth studio album The Last Temptation
 * 2006: JoJo sampled the song on her single Anything taken from her second studio album The High Road.

Covers

 * 2004: Andy McKee, an American Fingerstyle guitar player, on his album "Dreamcatcher"
 * 2009: Perpetuum Jazzile, a cappella group from Slovenia, on their album Africa.
 * 2010: The singer Mike Massé, featuring Jeff Hall, covered the song on YouTube.
 * 2011: Pop Punk band Quietdrive featured a cover version on their album "Your Record / Our Spin"
 * 2011: Pop rock band Relient K featured a cover version on their album "Is for Karaoke"
 * 2012: Progressive metal band Chaos Divine released a cover version as a single with two original b-sides.
 * 2016: Metalcore band Affiance released a cover version as a single.
 * 2016: Comedy rock duo Ninja Sex Party confirmed that a cover version would be included on the follow-up to their album Under the Covers.

In popular culture

 * The song was used in an advertisement for Castle Lager in South Africa in the late 1990s.
 * The song was used in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the fictional radio station Emotion 98.3.
 * A Foster Farms commercial in the United States features a choir of animatronic chickens singing the song as part of the poultry producer's "Amazing Chicken" campaign.
 * On an episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake perform a rendition of the song during a skit called "Summer Camp".
 * "Africa" was featured in multiple episodes of the 20th season of South Park.
 * The song was featured at the beginning of the Scrubs episode "My Way Home". The song was being played through J.D.'s iPod and the band's name was the first of many references to The Wizard of Oz.
 * The song was featured in the first episode of the first season of Stranger Things.