TOTO "africa" classic or dud

i'm sure you have it handy. get back with us on that quicklike.

What the hell? Are you talking about the 3:34 mark? How did you even catch that?

PATRICK SWAYZE!!

xp
that's it! just latched onto it as a kid i guess.

HURRY BOY SHE'S WAITING THERE FOR YOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Um, that's a bgd singer going, "Ooh, oooh!!!"

or the guitarist rubbing the strings a bit--same tone

does anyone else mis-remember the lyrics as featuring the line

"I passed the rains down in Africa"

?

Wait a minute, you suspect that it's not really a TURKEY GOBBLING? Get out of here!

So classic I paid a quarter for the cassette only to discover that it's unlistenable dreck past "Africa" and "Rosanna." I think the clunky insertion of the word "Serengeti" is part of this song's charm.

I feel like if you were going to suddenly surprise people by blurting out part of a pop song from this period "FRIGHTENED BY THIS THING THAT I'VE BECOME!" would be a top-notch choice.

the key of dreams version w/ the vocoder is super-ace, too!!

Jeff Porcaro died in a bizarre gardening accident.

No he didn't. He dropped dead of a cocaine overdose while mowing his lawn.

Explain the cover-up for us, Naive Teen Idol.

Africa? classic.

Toto? Huge motherfucking dud.

Explain the cover-up for us, Naive Teen Idol.

-- Pleasant Plains

Hahahahah!

Me, I like "Africa" fine, but "Georgie Porgie" was their peak. (They shoulda made Cheryl Lynn their fulltime singer)

oh man i just remembered. as a kid i misheard the chorus as "there's nothing that a hundred men on mars could ever do." with my powerful 3rd-grade intellect, i figured they meant that what with mars' gravity being different and all, a man maybe could lift much greater weights on the surface of mars. and it would take over 100 men lifting great weights on the surface of mars to keep me away from this special lady down in africa! how romantic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

"there's nothing that a hundred men on mars could ever do."

You mean that isn't the chorus?

the chorus is catchy but kinda generic

UTTERLY preposterous

It's been nearly three years since I last saw the video (upthread!) and I think I finally understand it ... Mr. Toto is trying to hunt down the warrior guy, but before he can positively identify him through piecing together the picture in the book, the warrior hunts *him* down (he carries exactly the same shield as the one in the book) and the evidence is burned. An African librarian observes everything and her glasses get rained on, which is supposed to be ironic or whatever.

STILL one of the best songs ever.

...nd her glasses get rained on...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2292/2081138864_5675a12dfb.jpg?v=0

That's right.

i also thought he sang "i guess the rain's down in africa." like out of resignation. well, i guess the rain's down in africa. so it goes.

Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but the lyrics to this song are not exactly hard to discern. And I, too, was a kid when it came out.

I stress the blames on the swastika?

This song can kiss my goddamn arse.

"Africa" is great, and I also thought "men on Mars" for a while. That's all.

HURRY BOY SHE'S WAITING THERE FOR YOU!

I wish TEH AMAZE RANDY would post the lyrics of Africa.

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation
Shes coming in 12:30 flight
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
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, its waiting there for you

Chorus:
Its gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
Theres 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

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do whats right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure whats deep inside, frightened of this thing that Ive become

Chorus

(instrumental break)

Hurry boy, shes waiting there for you

Its gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
Theres nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in africa
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in africa
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

>'Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus over the Serengeti'

Horrible lyric, and they DON'T manage to make that clunky line scan at all!

Absolutely true. Not only is the rhythm bad, but it's such a poor analogy. Comparing a mountain to another mountain! Still an amazing song though.

Best Singstar song ever.

I hear the drums echoing tonight

You are teh false amaze randy.

"Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti" = most unnecessary syllables crammed into one line evah

I always thought it was "rises like a leapress," as in female leopard (`cos, y'know, it being Africa and all).

Me too, Alex. But I also thought Paul Simon was saying he had a "night's agenda" in Kodachrome, instead of a Nikon camera - only heard it correctly a month or so ago.

The problem with that line is actually two *missing* syllables. "Serengeti" seems shoehorned in with overlong "Ser" and "get".

Classic for its lyrics. Dud for its music.

rong

The problem with that line is actually two *missing* syllables.

ahh man you try singing it

"Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti" = most unnecessary syllables crammed into one line evah

― who makes the nachos? (braveclub), Thursday, August 13, 2009 3:45 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark

This makes it one of the best lines in any song ever. fact.

it always sounded awkward to me tbh

totally but awkwardly awesome

Yes Classic, along with the video.

great line for how little sense it makes; why is Kilimanjaro, which actually (I assume) rises above the Serengeti, being compared to Olympus, which does not?

this is pretty sweet, at least the Rain-emulation bits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw

wait hold on a sec... it's "I *BLESS* the rains..."?????????????

I heard it as "i FELT the rains" for oh, the past 27 years...

dude playing bass in video is pretty roflmao esp at 2:27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPT_3PEjnsE

wait hold on a sec... it's "I *BLESS* the rains..."?????????????

I took me something like 20 years to find out the lyric isn't "I guess the rain's down in Africa".

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company

I think this lyric is pretty weird too... How can company be "solitary"?