Download Lyrics Africa
Haldis Momeni
A friend of mine asked me to make a post on here because he has been looking for the lyrics to this song for a long time. He's a big Reggae fan, and he really likes this song, but he hasn't been able to find lyrics for it anywhere on the internet. If any of you have those lyrics, it would mean a lot if you could post them.
The initial idea and lyrics for the song came from David Paich. Paich was playing around with a new keyboard, the CS-80,[15] 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. "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. Something just happened here!'"[16] Paich refined the lyrics for six months before showing the song to the rest of the band.[16]
In 2015, Paich explained that the song is about a man's love of a continent, Africa, rather than just a personal romance.[17] 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. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about it if I was there and what I'd do."[18] Jeff Porcaro elaborates further, explaining: "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."[19]
Some additional lyrics relate to a person flying in to meet a lonely missionary, as Paich described in 2018.[20] As a child, Paich attended a Catholic school; several of his teachers had done missionary work in Africa. Their missionary work became the inspiration behind the line: "I bless the rains down in Africa." Paich, who at the time had never set foot in Africa, based the song's landscape descriptions from an article in National Geographic.[20] At the time, Steve Lukather humorously remarked that he would run "naked down Hollywood Boulevard" if the song became a hit, due to his bemusement over the lyrics; Paich argued that it was a "fantasy song" in the vein of previous songs such as "Margaritaville".[21]
During an appearance on the radio station KROQ-FM, Steve Porcaro and Lukather described the song as "dumb" and "an experiment" and some of the lyrics as "goofy" that were just placeholders, particularly the line about the Serengeti.[22] Engineer Al Schmitt stated that "Africa" was the second song written for Toto IV and had been worked on extensively in the studio.[16] Eventually, the band grew tired of the song and considered cutting it from the album entirely.[22] David Paich considered saving "Africa" for a solo record but decided against it.[23]
This song is about self cleansing and starting over. The rains in africa are washing away his present life. He wants to get away from the modern world and technology and politics and return to the place of human origins, Africa, which throughout history was also known as an undiscovered place. He wants to leave all the bullshit in his life and find the meaning.
This is my theory... I think it is more interesting than a love story. Also if this song is a love song then the whole Africa motif is really stupid and irrelevant... Who in their right mind would write a love song and try to incorporate a safari or a tourist trip into the lyrics...That doesn't make sense.
@Dumbdumb Putting aside novelty nonsense like Viva Espania, what's wrong with including tourists and/or tourism in lyrics? The wonderful, The Year of the Cat, by Al Stewart is about a man visiting the Orient. He sees and gets caught up with a mysterious women and spends the night with her. The next day, he finds that "the bus and the tourists have gone" and (he's) "thrown away (his) choice and lost (his) ticket, so (he) has to stay on". If the words fit the story - and in this case they do perfectly - there's nothing wrong with it, no matter what the subject matter of the song is.
I've always liked this song, but never really could figure out the meaning of the lyrics until I listened real closely the other day and applied the words to circumstances in my own life...and they took on a real meaning for me. My interpretation is that it relates to the ever-present battle in a man's heart between ramaining a faithful husband and the lure of the uncommitted and single life.
I love this song. I always associated it with an Australian girl that I was fond of, who returned home in 1982. I saw her plane going past Africa to Australia.
Recently I looked at the lyrics and reviewed members comments about them and I got a different slant on the song.
Toto released the song in 1982. Barack Obama's father died that year. He came from a traditional sheep owning tribe in Kenya. he was determined to learn about Western modern ways of life and initially worked in a Colonial type club in Kenya. From there he sent applications to Universities in America. The rest of his family derided his efforts to learn about Western values (Theres nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do). His university application was successful and he was set to fly to America (She's coming in 12:30 flight, The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation). Did he have last minute doubts?. ( I stopped an old man along the way, Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies, he turned to me as if to say "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you").
Musicians are communicators and also visionaries (The Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones). I read that Toto was comprised of really experienced musicians. Could they have anticipated that the son of this humble sheep herder would in 16 years be the president of the most powerful nation on Earth. Only 14 years before that Martin Luther King said "Ive been to the mountain top and seen the promised land". Food for thought?
I didn't really care for the lyrics of this song, but one day I actually listened to it, not just the lyrics but also the music.That's what I imagined while listening.It's a whole story, haha.So, there's a man. And a woman. She went to Africa a while ago and he didn't know what she meant to him before she left. But while she was away, he was going insane. He realized he had to tell her what he feels. So, this song is about the day she gets back. He is impatient, waiting for her. He drives to the airport and because he is so excited, he can hear the drums, or maybe his heart beating so fast and loud ("I hear the drums echoing tonight"), but she doesn't know that he'll be there, waiting for her, she hears people around, talking. ("But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation") She always loved him, but he didn't at first, so she was disapointed with him. She is excited to get back home and see him again, but at the same time kind of sad, because she thinks he hasn't changed. ("She's coming in, 12:30 flight") I thought that's at night because of the next verse ("The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation"). He is driving, looking up the sky, so excited to finally meet her again. He kind of doesn't know what he's doing, he just wants to see her, so he stops a stranger and asks him, maybe if he knows what to say to her to make her forgive him for being such a fool. But the old man says he should just go for it. ("I stopped an old man along the way Hoping to find some long forgotten words or ancient melodies He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you")I think the chorus goes back in time, when she was still in Africa, but he already realized he loves her. ("It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do I bless the rains down in Africa Gonna take some time to do the things we never had") He decides that when she'll come back, he won't let her go, he will tell her the truth about his feelings. He blesses the rains down in Africa, because he knows she's there and he wants her the best, he wants the blessed rains touch her. And when she comes back, they'll take some time to do all the things they never did.("The wild dogs cry out in the night As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company I know that I must do what's right As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become") I think he's one of those wild dogs, crying out fot her. He wants company, but no just anyone, he wants her to be with him. He's frightened of what he's become, because he cannot be the same without her, he's not happy when she's gone.So I thought that's a song playing when he's driving to the airport to pick her up, surprise her and he is impatient, just cannot wait to see her again.That's what I think.
As the song spread into different regions, the lyrics were adapted to represent the location of the performer. In the case of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, words of encouragement, trekking advice, and geographical landmarks are infused into the song to fit their particular situation.
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