Write this down lyrics meaning8/16/2023 ![]() ![]() '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 seen falling to the floor.Īcross 19, the song became a massive hit around the world. When the researcher finds a book entitled 'Africa', the native throws a spear, and the shield the native carries is the same as the one in the picture, sending a stack of books crashing down. ![]() In it, a researcher in a library (played by David Paich) tries to match a scrap of a picture of a shield to the book from which it was torn out.Īs he continues, a librarian (Jenny Douglas-McRae) working at a desk takes notice of him, while natives in the surrounding jungle begin to close in on the library. The music video was directed by Steve Barron. 'Africa' saw Eagles member Timothy B Schmit provide a 12-string acoustic guitar to the song, and he also sang backing vocals. At the time, the band were more focused on the album's lead single 'Rosanna'. Steve Porcaro said it was the last song they recorded and it barely made the cut for the album.Īt one stage, Jeff Porcaro considered saving 'Africa' for a solo album as other members didn't think it sounded like a Toto song. Steve Porcaro and Steve Lukather once described the song as "dumb" and "an experiment", and that some of the lyrics were "goofy", particularly the line about the Serengeti. It almost didn't make the album at all.As a child, he attended a Catholic school, and several of his teachers had done missionary work in Africa.Īt the time, Paich had never set foot in Africa, and based the song's landscape descriptions from an article in National Geographic. Jeff Porcaro added: "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."įurther lyrics are about a person flying in to meet a lonely missionary, as Paich explained in 2018. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about it if I was there and what I'd do." It had a lasting impact on him: "It both moved and appalled me, and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. He based the lyrics around a late night documentary with depictions of African plight and suffering. In 2015, David Paich said that the song is about a man's love of the continent Africa, rather than a personal romance. Paich then spent about six months refining the lyrics, before showing the song to the rest of the band. I thought, 'I'm talented, but I'm not that talented. ![]() He finished the melody and lyrics for the chorus in just ten minutes, much to his surprise: "I sang the chorus out as you hear it. Read more: There's a hidden laugh in Toto's 'Africa' and the world seems different now Paich was playing around with his new keyboard, the CS-80, and found the brassy sound that became the song's famous opening riff. The initial concept and lyrics for the song came from David Paich. 'Africa' was written by Toto members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, and it ended up on the band's 1982 album Toto IV. Toto's David Paich (left) and Jeff Porcaro (right). QUIZ: How well do you know 'Africa' by Toto?īut did you know its fascinating backstory? What is the song actually about? Who wrote it? How was it made? Find out all you need to know about the iconic tune right here. And that chorus? "I bless the rains down in Africaaaaa". Incredible. ![]()
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