I Bless The Rains Down in Africa...

When the chorus drops in the song Africa by Toto, everyone cheers. This is a fact sure as Kilmanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti. (This is an inside joke if you’ve heard the song.) I will start out by immediately recommending this 1982 classic. It gained popular attention recently in the meme world of the internet starting in about 2015 with a ton of cover singers and a subreddit for submitting them. The song has been described as being over the top, which it is, but I’ll be the first to tell you that it can give you chills with how powerful it is.

In a tongue-in-cheek article published by Gizmodo by Rae Paoletta (here) it says that Africa is the best song ever according to science. Although that is framed as more of a joke, the truth is that the beats, melody, and rhythm are definitely pleasing to the ears. Many people agree with that assessment, although it is likely due to meme exposure.

The famous song was developed by Toto’s keyboardist/vocalist David Paich and the drummer Jeff Porcaro. The song is about a young man flying to Africa as a missionary and falling in love with the continent. Paich was inspired by documentaries detailing the suffering of the people in Africa which occupied his thoughts. He found a keyboard riff that he liked and started to write the music.

One of the biggest keys to the success of the song is its drums. They were inspired by African drummers who would play a constant beat. Porcaro, the drummer, attended the World’s Fair in New York City when he was eleven and heard African drummers playing. He described the effect as being mesmerizing and as being an almost “religious experience.”

The song has received various awards and accolades. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in the 1983 chart and went Platinum in the United States and United Kingdom. It was recently given a place on the “50 Most Explosive Choruses” list in NME magazine with the rank of 32. It also gets the very distinguished Pragmus recommendation. Go and listen to it and I know you’ll like it.

H. Logan Christensen