um, ok, call it 'rain down in Antartica' or 'Sigma 5' or whatever, christ
― Stormy Davis, Friday, 14 August 2009 08:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Cool cumbia remix http://generationbass.com/2009/05/14/toto-vs-sonido-del-principe/
― joost666, Friday, 14 August 2009 10:26 (fourteen years ago) link
How can company be "solitary"?
Baahahahahahahahaha. Excellent point.
― Alex in NYC, Friday, 14 August 2009 11:47 (fourteen years ago) link
solitary company = wanting another doggie to mate with?
― I am using your worlds, Friday, 14 August 2009 12:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, but solitary means you're alone. If you got company, neither of you is solitary.
― Tuomas, Friday, 14 August 2009 12:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Toto sucked but Africa is cool. it just needs to be remade by Devin Townsend
― Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Janitor (Elvin Wayburn Phillips), Saturday, 15 August 2009 00:49 (fourteen years ago) link
why is Kilimanjaro, which actually (I assume) rises above the Serengeti, being compared to Olympus, which does not?
Because it's a figurative, rather than a literal comparison: Kilimanjaro has such majesty that the author feels that it too could be a home to the gods. Still, it's a poorly constructed couplet. Because the Kilimajaro/Olympus analogy is nestled inside an emphatic statement of fact (Kilimanjaro overlooks the Serengeti), the casual listener can assume that the author's actual intent is to claim irrefutable similarities between Kilimanjaro and Olympus.
― Vast Halo, Saturday, 15 August 2009 10:08 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, 'rises' is the wrong word to hang the comparison on really
also, this record is vile.
― thomp, Saturday, 15 August 2009 10:25 (fourteen years ago) link
it's weird that no one has mentioned the harmonies on the word "africa" in the chorus, which as far as i can tell is the stroke of genius that lifts this song clear of all the other power ballad rabble it was contending with at the time, and the one thing that is really truly great about it.
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 15 August 2009 11:06 (fourteen years ago) link
man the drumming guy from stormy's choir video is one funky wite boy.
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 15 August 2009 14:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Classic, always. One of my v v favorite escapist singles from middle school.
"Solitary company" = a paradoxical desire. Wanting to be alone and in company at the same time. C'mon ppl you've felt this.
― 333,003 Prevarications On A Theme By Anton Diabelli (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 15 August 2009 16:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Tracer is OTM. I saw this done by some 20-man a cappela choir and it was fucking brilliant. This song is made for that shit.
― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Saturday, 15 August 2009 16:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah it's cool how the backing harmony keeps insisting on that same half-tone interval while the lead does other things.
― 333,003 Prevarications On A Theme By Anton Diabelli (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 15 August 2009 19:59 (fourteen years ago) link
The lyrics are the worst kind of poesy. Too many syllables. They "sing' horribly. Perhaps the worst/best lines (it's hard to choose) are--
"I know I must do what's right / As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti"
That said, the hooks are kind of undeniable.
― amateurist, Saturday, 15 August 2009 20:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Classic. I really like the synth hooks.
― Sundar, Saturday, 15 August 2009 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
there is some startrekman shit all over the wiki article if you so desire.
― (*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・) °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 15 August 2009 22:03 (fourteen years ago) link
C
― Tip from Tae Kwon Do: (crüt), Friday, 25 October 2013 19:05 (ten years ago) link
the key of dreams version w/ the vocoder is super-ace, too!!
― max, Thursday, December 20, 2007 6:24 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yep
― brimstead, Friday, 25 October 2013 19:24 (ten years ago) link
there is some Idjut Boys-related remix of this as well
― money, chicken and other DNA (sleeve), Friday, 25 October 2013 20:34 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bddd_xfZLYA
― Bailey (Collins) Lover (Eazy), Friday, 25 October 2013 20:40 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vcA6xwHJPY
― the late great, Saturday, 26 October 2013 02:37 (ten years ago) link
^^ that one sleeve?
yes, thanks to you on the late Leonardo thread!
― money, chicken and other DNA (sleeve), Saturday, 26 October 2013 17:09 (ten years ago) link
I would like to add to the catalog of mishearings on the chorus: I always thought it was "I *miss* the rains down in Africa"
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 26 October 2013 17:29 (ten years ago) link
that edit is actually an edit of this i think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pSc2aNdWvM
― the late great, Saturday, 26 October 2013 20:45 (ten years ago) link
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
This line has always bothered me. Beyond that, probably Toto's best song, for whatever that's worth.
― henry s, Saturday, 26 October 2013 21:53 (ten years ago) link
http://wayneandwax.com/?p=6273
― balls, Saturday, 26 October 2013 22:08 (ten years ago) link
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/totos-africa-by-ernest-hemingway
― balls, Saturday, 26 October 2013 22:14 (ten years ago) link
http://youtu.be/yjbpwlqp5Qw
― Vasco da Gama, Sunday, 27 October 2013 03:02 (ten years ago) link
i find it so weird that a guy (porcaro) capable of doing the amazing drum part on MJ's "rock with you" is in his own band and chooses to make music like "africa" (and this is a highlight in the Toto discography, of course).
― display name changed. (amateurist), Thursday, 5 June 2014 01:32 (nine years ago) link
?
― display name changed. (amateurist), Friday, 6 June 2014 21:06 (nine years ago) link
Classic, of course!
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Friday, 6 June 2014 21:09 (nine years ago) link
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/toto-bassist-mike-porcaro-dead-at-59-20150315
I didn't know he had ALS. Rest in peace, sir.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 15 March 2015 21:00 (nine years ago) link
this is one of the only songs that consistently shows up on my brother's playlists that aren't by young thug or travis scott
― Treeship, Tuesday, 1 November 2016 23:50 (seven years ago) link
Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus?! I thought it was "rises like a lepress." Like, a female leopard.
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:49 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtHsqAjoXXY
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 17:54 (seven years ago) link
In my head it was always "rises like a Memphis above the Serengeti," which makes no sense whatsoever.
― pumpkin spice was the Spice Girl who died suspiciously (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 21:59 (seven years ago) link
I've always thought that verse specifically to be so convoluted and awkward in syntax that I could never figure out why they never gave it another pass. But hey, it was a hit, so what do I know. Still:
The wild dogs cry out in the nightAs they grow restless, longing for some solitary companyI know that I must do what's rightAs sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the SerengetiI seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become
That's as head-scratcher wacky as "We Built This City," or, hmm:
And now it's all right, it's okayAnd you may look the other wayWe can try to understandThe New York Times' effect on man
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 November 2016 22:09 (seven years ago) link
yeah kilimamjaro rising like another *much smaller* mountain has always been lol to me
olympus is like half the size!
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 2 November 2016 22:27 (seven years ago) link
I thought it was riding like an empress but I like lepress much better
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 3 November 2016 15:23 (seven years ago) link
Olympus is, at least, a mountain that does in fact rise above its surrounding plain. As Kilimanjaro rises above its surrounding plain.
This is tangential because synth flute = classic.
― pumpkin spice was the Spice Girl who died suspiciously (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 3 November 2016 15:40 (seven years ago) link
Also a female leopard is a leopardess.
A lepress would be a female leper.
― pumpkin spice was the Spice Girl who died suspiciously (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 3 November 2016 15:43 (seven years ago) link
I always thought it was "rises like an empress". Olympus sucks. Song ruined.
― Manitobiloba (Kim), Thursday, 3 November 2016 16:09 (seven years ago) link
Imagine a rising lepress, body parts corroded and raining down on the unfortunate residents of the Serengeti
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, 3 November 2016 16:29 (seven years ago) link
Never really noticed the oxymoronic "solitary company."
Wish I could find a clip of Zoey Deschanel and Nelson Franklin singing "Africa" on New Girl as a campfire singalong from this season.
― and this section is called boner (Phil D.), Thursday, 3 November 2016 16:37 (seven years ago) link
https://sizemattersscience.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/mountains.png
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 3 November 2016 18:34 (seven years ago) link
on top of everything that has been mentioned, I just realized that "above the Serengeti" is an ambiguous modifier
― Vinnie, Friday, 4 November 2016 03:23 (seven years ago) link
the phrasing to make it fit is hilarious
above the seeeeeerengetiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 4 November 2016 03:33 (seven years ago) link
sure as Kiliman-jair-oooooooo
― Neanderthal, Friday, 4 November 2016 04:31 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwJWPz1K-UY
― Neanderthal, Friday, 4 November 2016 04:33 (seven years ago) link